The First Seder

Newsletter April 7th, 2025 Together, we're #keepingitsacred...

The pandemic caused a global shutdown 5 years ago, and that first Passover forced a lot of Jewish questions.

Do you remember the context? All flights cancelled? Hospitals overrun with scores of people struggling to breathe? The makeshift morgues made from ice trucks? It was deeply distressing and we were overcome emotionally. 

During that time, we began to ask: Is it moral to force in-person gatherings when it was so abundantly clear that to do so would be a grave mortal risk? What could Judaism look like without physical community? What, of our tradition, is translatable in this context?

And, during that time, so many of us decided to shift our focus inward. We made our world smaller. Hunkering down for safety’s sake. We were terrified (for good reason) of the coronavirus just as we started to understand the threat. 

And we were committed to continuing our traditions. We recognized that we could utilize the technology of the time to continue to enjoy the "good stuff" of Judaism-- namely gathering (virtually) in community, marking sacred time, and rooting ourselves in the sacred texts and values of our people.

The power of online community was born out of that first Passover, when we moved to gather online.

That first Passover, we hosted 80 people from 5 countries at our Keeping It Sacred Seder. I still haven’t processed how incredibly remarkable it was that we were able to pivot in order to preserve the best of our tradition- gathering to give thanks to God who had brought us out of the narrowness of oppression in Egypt. And we prayed to God to cause the shadow of death to pass over our homes- to spare us from the terrifying disease. 

Here we are, 5 years later, having formed genuine bonds of community across the internet, intertwined in our interests of uplifting Jewish traditions that enrich our experiences of life, precious. 

This Passover, we will again gather for an intergenerational, international, interfaith, interNET second night seder and reflect upon the blessings we have experienced having made exodus through those harrowing times. And recognizing that for many of us, especially those who are chronically ill, and those with suppressed immune systems, the pandemic continues to impact us in very real ways.

And so, we will gather virtually, for safety's sake, and also because this has become our new tradition! Join me and Grammy Winning Recording Artist Joanie Leeds for our seder on April 13 at 5pm PT/8pm ET (and please adjust for your time zones accordingly).  Register here: keepingitsacred.com/upcoming

Together, we will mourn our losses and give thanks for our flourishing global community 5 years since the onset of the pandemic. This is how we're keeping it sacred.

Together, we’re #keepingitsacred…

Rabbi Heather Miller,

Founder, Keeping It Sacred

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The above is an excerpt from a Keeping It Sacred newsletter. If you want to read the entire newsletter or any from our archives, please head over to: keepingitsacred.com/news 

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Thanks for your interest, and thanks for #keepingitsacred...