Community gathers again for Passover
The scent is what got to me first. The Passover aromas wafting through my home, coming from my Passover oven.
It brought me back to another time, yet with the same smells and the same special feeling.
Passover is the holiday where we mark our liberation from slavery in Egypt. We eat matzah — made of flour and water to remember the food the Jewish people ate when they marched out of brutal slavery. We put away all our “Chametz” — food made with fermented grains — and only eat food that is kosher for Passover. We stay away from anything that can “puff up and rise” as a symbol of our escape from our ego and self-absorbance, and instead focus on our mission of serving G-d. The Jewish people were taken out of Egypt so they could receive the Torah on Mount Sinai and enter the land of Israel where they would serve G-d.
The Seder where we gather to commemorate this and reaffirm our commitment to G-d and our Torah values, is a beloved ritual amongst Jews. In fact, more Jews participate in a Passover seder than any other Jewish ritual.
Inhaling the delicious smell of the Passover food cooking brought me back to the special feeling of Passover, the hustle and bustle of shopping, cooking, cleaning. The busy and excited feeling in the air. After missing this feeling for the two years of COVID-19 where we did not host a large community seder, I felt something was missing.
Yet, as we got closer to Passover, there it was, the hustle and bustle of people coming into the Santa Fe Jewish Center-Chabad for the one or two products they could not find. For a recipe, for a box of matzah, for a lead on gefilte fish, for an extra Haggadah, a question on where to get good kosher wine, to commiserate on the lack of kosher for Passover food available in Santa Fe and more.
And there it was, the hustle and bustle of Passover permeating our city of Santa Fe — albeit a bit different than the streets of Brooklyn where I grew up, but still there nonetheless.
When 120 people gathered for the Seder at our center, I was overwhelmed with the familiar joy permeating the air. The sounds of children, the songs, the rituals of Passover; it was back!
A sense of calm, peace and tranquility settled over me. This was the Passover I was yearning for.
May we merit the privilege of celebrating many more beautiful Passover Seders with a vibrant and busy community here in Santa Fe, with the hustle and bustle of Passover preparations and the special aroma coming from the Passover oven.