Passover Continues...
Hey y’all,
For those of you who had Passover seder/s, I hope it went well.
Passover can be a really heavy holiday. And not just cause of all that matzah we eat!
At the seder table, there may be people who are no longer there, childhood memories triggered, adult memories triggered, you name it!
Not to mention the current climate for Jews and their homeland.
Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d say, “I’m really grateful that I went to college before the resurgence of anti-semitism.”
First Covid changed the educational systems as we knew them, and I found myself grateful for having regular in-person classes and activities throughout my academic experiences. Again, something I never thought to be grateful for. I never thought of a world without it. Then all these heroic students had to keep up with their studies and their psychological and socio-emotional development during a pandemic. Wait, what’s a pandemic? That word wasn’t even in my vocabulary till 2020, and I have a masters from Columbia.
Columbia…
They had to make all their classes virtual last Friday because of fear of anti-semitism.
What is this world we are living in?
The shock still has not worn off.
To be in college/grad school right now. To have a child at this stage of life. I cannot even begin to imagine…
I wanted to write a more uplifting post today. About how Passover is about taking in our Judaism on a deeper level. Leaning into our heritage. Swimming in it, so to speak. After all, if Nachshon ben Aminadav hadn’t taken that first step into the Red Sea, we would have been swimming (I hope…).
In nutrition grad school, we did a project on following a Food Stamp diet (Now known as SNAP) for a week to experience what is was like to only be able to spend a certain amount of money on each meal/snack. A few weeks later, it was Passover. And I wrote a personal essay entitled, “The Jew Stamp Diet.”
Eating kosher has its own way of keeping one distinct from their surroundings, but keeping to a Passover diet is a whole other level. It’s restrictive as anything.
This holiday, I walked into a cafe to grab a coffee and was surrounded by people enjoying the company of their loved ones or co-workers while eating sandwiches—living a very non-Passovery existence.
I felt so distinct from my surroundings.
Passover can be more intense immersion into our Judaism. It’s like getting a hug from our cultural roots.
This is a very fraught hug this year. There are a lot of emotions. Many of which are quite painful.
And yet, it is a hug nonetheless.
On that note…
Hugs!
Enjoy the rest of your holiday.
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