We just completed celebrating our Seders and I hope they were enjoyable and uplifting. I had a wonderful seder at home with family and friends on the first night. On the second night I co-officiated at a community seder at the JCC. More Jews celebrate Passover than any other holiday during the year. It is a time for families to come together to share in this remarkable story of liberation and faith. Jeremy celebrated Passover in Israel, we of course missed him very much, but due to technology we Skyped and shared Passover greetings. He sent me a picture of the seder table at the house of the people he was staying with. I sent him a picture of our seder table as well so he could have a little slice of home. I have included both the pictures in this article. I purposely did not label them because they look alike.

The table in Israel could be any table set by Jews throughout the world, the same can be said for the Sussman-Vaida seder table. That gave me a moment of reflection concerning our tradition. It is a tradition that spans time and space. When you come to services on Friday night, think for a moment that Jews around the world at that very moment will be singing the Sh’ma with us. So too, last Monday and Tuesday night Jews throughout the world qvelled as their youngest child sang the four questions as their mothers and fathers did before them. It gave me comfort to know that although Jeremy was thousands of miles away he would feel the warm embrace of being with a Jewish family doing exactly what he did when he was with us.

Chag Sameach
Cantor Sussman