With Passover just over a week away, I want to share a memory from a year ago.
I am sitting with my immediate family on our coach. My kids, looking at our small dining table with only five-place settings blurt out, “This is terrible!” They were incredulous, “Really? No guests? Seder this year is a regular dinner with just us?”
I knew at that moment that it could have all gone south. After all of the cleaning, cooking, and creative ideas to make our intimate pandemic seder memorable, our plans could have been upended by our small gang of uncooperative Israelites.
I was surprised, then, when a few minutes later, one of my kids piped up, “Come on guys, let’s make this good.” It was a very welcome turning point.
And now as we plan for a seder with a few more guests and the vaccination rollout underway, I am remembering what made last year’s seder so good.
We focused on asking questions.
A Simple Activity
We wrote down a bunch of questions and cut them into squares that we then folded up and put into a big glass bowl. Throughout the seder when we needed to refocus our attention, we passed around the bowl and everyone got to pick a question.
They were simple questions like,
“What is your favorite Kosher for Passover dessert?”
And more intentional ones too like,
“What is a memory from past seders you want to remember tonight?”
There were questions that cultivated connection between our family members like,
“What is one thing that someone at this table did for you leading up to Passover that you want to thank them for?”
And ones that cultivated resilience,
“What is something hard you did over the past week that you are most proud of?”
The questions we posed opened up space between us to wonder about each other’s lives and to help us become more reflective.
And after a year of pandemic parenting and living, my family will be adding to our list of questions to help us take stock in the year that passed with all of its restrictions and look forward toward a year that may hold more promise.
I wanted to share my list with you and invite you to use these questions at your seder table as well!
Wishing you all a meaningful Passover ahead,
Dasee
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