Virtual Passover: Pass Over the Computer

This spring is different for everyone. With the outbreak of Covid-19, nothing is the same, especially religious holidays. People cannot attend their respective places of worship nor be face-to-face with their extended family members.

For those who celebrate Passover, like myself, we eat unleavened bread (bread without yeast) for a week; however, being in quarantine made “keeping Passover,” among other things, difficult. Because of the lack of matzah at the grocery store, my family made a unanimous decision that for the first time, we would be allowed to eat leavened bread. Not only would we be allowed to eat bread with yeast for the week of Passover, but we would also be tuning into a virtual seder on Zoom with our other family members; something none of us ever thought we would be doing this April.

After my online school classes that ended around 12:15, I spent the rest of the day helping my mom cook an abnormally large dinner, as if we were fasting, for the seder.

Bailey and her mom also baked this flourless, "kosher for Passover" chocolate cake. 

While the aromas in the kitchen were familiar, it was not the same without my grandma in her kitchen in San Antonio cooking a meal for the other nine members of my extended family (we’re 14 in all). We go to San Antonio, where my grandparents live, pretty much every year for Passover.

The strangest part of the whole night was finding a place to arrange my computer and my dad’s, so that our family would be able to see us on camera. After testing a few locations, we decided it would be best to have one screen on the side of the table with my brother and I, and the other screen facing my mom and dad.

As we all logged onto Zoom and began our virtual seder, including family members from ages 1 to 79, some chaos ensued, but it was truly a special and unique seder this year. I enjoyed being able to see my extended family members who I miss dearly, even if it was through a screen.