If Charles Dickens Had Been Jewish

Nostalgia. No Jewish observance is quite as steeped in nostalgia as a Passover Seder.  We remember how it “used to be.” We remember where we were, the people we were with, how old we were at the time, and whether the matzah balls were fluffy or hard.  Do you flash back to dipping your pinky into the wine for the ten plagues? Does it feel like just yesterday you were the youngest, reciting the Four Questions? Did you commit them to memory at a tender age and can you still recall them? And maybe, just maybe, you have memories of finding the Afikomen.

 Some of us remember,  “never-ending traditional Seders” (with very little English) that weren’t over until the last song had been sung, no matter how long it took, or perhaps, in other years, ones that barely covered all the essentials.

Talk about Seder nostalgia, if you were raised in the US or Canada there was only one Haggadah, the free one from Maxwell House Coffee.  And given that we were all literally “on the same page” how is it that our experiences varied by so much? The Haggadah is pretty rigid. After all, the word “Seder” means “order.” What makes each and every Seder unique and memorable in its own way are the intangibles that each one of us brings to the table.

Had Charles Dickens been Jewish we’d have “A Passover Story” featuring visits by three spirits; the Spirits of Seders Past, Present and Future.  All three Spirits would circle the globe and pay a visit at every Seder table to remind us gently of the way it was, the way it is, and the way it could be. 

As time passes, we treasure our Passovers’ past memories more and more, whether that “past” is as near as last year; or as far away as a distant childhood, in another place and time.  Each Seder becomes “past” the moment we utter the final words, “NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM.”

That is why it is so important to make NEW memories. While families are becoming smaller and more physically distant from each other, other social units are picking up the slack.  We are starting to see Seders redefined by a new generation who, over time, will forge new friendships and relationships to either augment or supersede the extended family. Seders are taking place in alternative venues, and for those unable to attend a physical Seder, there are multiple cyber-Seders that transmit in “real time.” You can now purchase, on-line, over 35 modern Haggadot which range from the artistic to gender neutral, and thematic interpretations as well as children’s Passover Haggadot.  Self-publishing allows anyone to create their own, and technology allows us to download directly to our iPad.

As for nostalgia, hang on to that Maxwell House Haggadah, it may well be a valuable collector’s item one day… soon.

This Passover, three US Navy sailors will be holding a Seder in a nuclear submarine at the Arctic Circle. Why?  For the same reason we each seek out the opportunity to celebrate the Exodus from Egypt and recite these words:

In every generation each person is bound to regard himself as if he had gone personally forth from Egypt.