Passover in isolation, again

Last night we had the first seder. On Zoom, again.

I am thinking back to last year, at the beginning of the plague that we in our house call 'the big kerfuffle.' (The kids do not like talking about the virus and asked that we talk about it this way...) At last year's seder instead of 'next year in Jerusalem' we thought 'next year together in person' - this year that feels like it was so naive, and yet we have the same hope for the year to come.

Last year Zoom was still novel and weird. This year it is almost second nature for most of us. The kids have become video-conferencing experts because of remote school and even my older relatives who haven't been using it for work were mostly comfortable with it this year.

We managed an abbreviated but mostly-effective seder with the kids more or less participating. My daughter read the four questions in Hebrew for the first time, which was exciting for all of us. She will read two of them for our temple seder tonight.

Passover is a time to think about justice for all people. So much has happened in the past year that it is hard to know what to focus on now. But I think about all the horrors that people of color have suffered, the hatred that has been focused on Asians, the assault on voting rights, and the continuing resurgence of white supremacists. Even with a good man in the White House, these plagues continue and fester.

My daughter is beginning to be old enough to understand some of these things, and both kids have been learning about civil rights heroes in school. We do our best to teach them to stand up for goodness and justice for all people. The other day I overheard my daughter explaining the concept of equity to her brother, which made me very happy.

This year's Passover wish is the same as last, but perhaps it will seem less naive when we look back in a year's time. May the virus pass over all of our houses; may we see an end to the big kerfuffle and all that it has wrought; may we have peace, equity, and justice for all people; and may we join each other next year, together, in person, for a real celebration.