Last night, Dennis and I attended an orthodox seder. 13 people. To the orthodox, the passover seder is not a fun holiday event, it's something that God obligated you to do, thus you must do it. It does not matter how long it takes. This family has 5 grown children, w have 4. I think they only had 1 of their grown children there. Because it's Friday night, the husband of the house was at shul and the seder doesn't start until he comes home which is unknown. So it didn't get started until 9 pm. It rolled along, a lot of chanting but a tone of happy celebration. But the charoses didn't hit until nearly midnight and the meal was served at 1 am. Because it's an obligation to fit in with other obligations, you fit it in as best you can. Ended shortly before 2 am and I know they zoomed through the end. But I cannot remember when I've stayed up so late. OK, yes I do, last year in Santa Cruz. Sometimes, it felt a little like a ghost ship. A lot of chanting by the leader leading a table of snoozing adults.
Anyway, I'm so grateful for the invite Dr. H. It really was great and I so appreciate it.
As I reflect, I can see that it was more an activity a doing rather than a beautiful seder table. As Dennis says, just skip the meal. That was my mother's idea, By 1 am, I wasn't really wanting to eat anything!
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