Charoset, maror, matzo, matzo balls, gefilte fish. Once a year for seven to eight days at a time, these foods and words are used as commonplace at family gatherings.
As it is springtime, that week has arrived. Passover 2021 begins sundown on March 27th. A holiday normally celebrated with extended family and friends in person has turned into an event solely over Zoom in this COVID-19 world we live in.
“I normally celebrate with family or in the Dome with Hillel and 400 or so people,” SU Senior Jason Resnick said. “This year my friends’ parents are coming up and renting a house near here to have a small passover gathering, as well as Hillel’s satellite sedars.”
The Hillel at Syracuse University is running “satellite seders” for its students to be able to celebrate passover while being distanced and in small groups. The ten person or less groups will be linked via Zoom to all of the other satellite seders throughout the SU community.
“Passover is meant to be a time of giving and of bringing in outsiders to the sedar,” Rabbi Joel said. “We really can’t do that this year with the pandemic, so we want to make sure we are always thinking about those not at a seder and those that need a meal.”
The holiday synonymous with being at a 25 person dinner table with cousins you have not seen for months now has students like Jason Resnick limited to just five to ten total people in a room socially distanced and utilizing Zoom for a ceremony.
It is not the passover that anyone wanted. But, where there are matzo balls and homemade soup broth, anyone can make a happy seder over zoom.
