In its second pandemic Passover, Houston Hillel saves Seder — again
Busy is an understatement for Imanouel Tsimchi.
The 25-year-old is enrolled in his third year at Texas A&M College of Medicine, which means he often spends about 80 hours a week on rotation at Houston Methodist.
Coming home and grabbing a meal after his long shifts can be difficult enough. Then add the pressures of completing his medical degree in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
At least Passover won’t be added to his list of concerns, said Tsimchi, who plans to let Houston Hillel take care of the details, just like last year.
“When Passover comes this year, I’m counting on Hillel for everything,” Tsimchi said.
Houston Hillel is a nonprofit faith-based agency, operating in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, that paves the way for Jewish students and young professionals to stay connected to each other and their religion.
Tsimchi, originally from Los Angeles, joined UCLA Hillel as an undergraduate. When he moved to Houston for med school, he signed up with Houston Hillel.
“I grew up around other Jews, and because of that, I was looking for a Jewish connection,” he said.
That’s exactly what Houston Hillel provided. And when the pandemic struck, the organization helped save Passover, he added.
The holiday, also known as Pesach, is usually celebrated with a Seder, or holiday meal, and reading the Haggadah, which tells the story of the exodus of Israelites from slavery in the Old Testament.
As part of the Seder, Jewish people eat matzo, or unleavened bread, as well as other symbolic foods.
For the week of Passover, Jews also abstain from eating bread and a number of other grains. Finding matzo or other Passover foods during COVID-19 was a challenge, as was figuring out how to Zoom a Seder. Tsimchi called his mother in California. “We’re in the middle of a pandemic, I’m in med school, and
I’m stressed. I might not keep Passover,” he told her.
“My mom was freaking out,” Tsimchi recalled. “She said, ‘You need to find a way to do it.’ Houston Hillel really helped.”
The organization provided virtual Passover discussions and a Zoom Seder, which Tsimchi attended, alternating the screen between Hillel’s celebration and his family’s dinner.
“I didn’t feel like I was isolated during Passover, and that was the most important thing,” Tsimchi said.
Alyssa Silva, assistant executive director of Houston Hillel, refers to this year’s Seder-in-a-box as “Passover survival kits.”
Each kit will contain a box of matzo, recipe cards for traditional foods and a DIY Seder plate kit. There will also be a few fun Kosher for Passover treats, crafts and plastic frogs to throw when the plagues are recited during the Seder.
The boxes will also contain the “Express Haggadah” by Houstonian Dr. Ron Moses.
For the past couple of years, Moses has worked to modernize and compress the ancient telling. Last year, he rushed the release of the “Express Haggadah,” knowing that a quicker story would better fit a Zoom Seder. Silva said the text works perfectly with their Passover-in-a-box offering.
“Passover is all about being able to sit around the table and do traditions with our family, eating traditional foods and telling the Passover story,” she said. “Zoom has made it possible to have those experiences online, but it’s not the same. Our Passover boxes give people a tangible piece of the puzzle.”
Silva explained that Houston Hillel serves undergraduate and graduate students at all area colleges, including the University of Houston, Houston Community College, Rice University and Texas Southern University School of Law, as well med students scattered at hospitals in the Texas Medical Center.
Houston Hillel also offers its “Jewston” program for young professionals in their 20s.
Passover is the most celebrated Jewish holiday in the world, Silva said.
“It’s so important for us to keep Passover going, and it’s important to enable people to celebrate in their own homes,” she added.
Houston Hillel executive director Rabbi Kenny Weiss usually hosts 40 to 50 guests at his home for Seder.
Last year, it was just his immediate family. “It was demoralizing and sad,” he said.
This year, even with vaccines, he expects most Seders will remain on Zoom or within small pods. He is contemplating ways to get the old crew back together for his own virtual event.
Most students plan to celebrate virtually with their families, Weiss said. For Jewston members, Houston Hillel plans to offer funds to enable 20-somethings to host their own Seders.
This fits with the organization’s “You do Jew!” student-initiated programs, Weiss said.
“Our goal is to create a situation where they don’t need Hillel,” he added. “We get them to do something on their own.”
Weiss explained that Houston Hillel has also created boxes for other Jewish holidays, such as Rosh Hashana and Hanukkah. They offer “Shabags” for Shabbat, or sabbath, complete with candles, wine and challah.
The Passover box will be another way to keep the Houston Hillel community together.
“We’re taking the community we have and maintaining and nurturing it,” Weiss said.
For Ling DeBellis, 20, Houston Hillel has provided a home away from home.
From Minneapolis, she is a sophomore at Rice University, studying evolutionary biology and digital fine arts.
“I didn’t grow up in a Jewish household,” DeBellis explained.
Instead, her parents were interfaith, mixing her father’s Catholic traditions with her mother’s Jewish ones.
“In college, I decided to get more connected with the Jewish community,” she said.
DeBellis joined Houston Hillel for a Shabbat dinner soon after moving to campus and has been going ever since — before the pandemic that is.
“It was the first real Shabbat I’d ever done,” she said. “I fell in love with the community and the food.”
Last year, when Rice canceled classes, DeBellis went home and missed Passover with Houston Hillel.
This year, however, she plans to pick up a Passover survival kit and perhaps gather with a few friends from Rice outside to have a Seder safely and socially distanced.
“I think it will be really fun to have a Passover box during a pandemic,” she said. “It could be really great to spark a new tradition.”