Dear Friends,
The seder is the ritual meal eaten during the Jewish holiday of Passover. Everyone is welcome, regardless of their life circumstances or their own starting point. A seder table is not complete without all being in attendance. An orchestra comprised of a hundred soloists will never produce a symphony: each person’s contribution is indispensable.
This is one of the many empowering lessons we have learned during the COVID-19 pandemic – how much our individual contributions affected the lives of others. We shone and made a difference by adjusting our individual comfort for the well-being of others. While all the signs are here that we are at the final stretch of the pandemic, we must not allow this moment to just pass over us and go on with life as the old normal.
It is upon us to decide what the last chapter will look like. The last chapter of the seder (at least the eating part!) is the afikomen as dessert—one last taste of matzah that is to remain with us throughout the night. We want the taste of the matzah and what it represents to linger with us and leave an enduring personal connection to the lessons of the seder.
We all have a connection to COVID-19. There is not a person in the world unaffected by the past year’s events. What will be our dessert, our lasting impression, the taste that lingers? My friends and colleagues, be proud of the rung on the ladder that was climbed in your personal growth. It is a part of us forever, the taste that lasts through the night!
Happy Passover to all,
Rabbi Ilan Ginian, MSW
Director, Kesher & Partners in Caring