Year 1: Sedarim on Zoom, quickly put together after we realized this “two week lockdown” was going to be much longer.
Year 2: Sedarim in backyards, with others on Zoom, trying to figure out this hybrid idea we were still attempting to understand.
Year 3: Sedarim in person, some in masks, feeling cautiously hopeful and very grateful just to be together.
Next year in Jerusalem in person with more clarity?
At my synagogue in the suburbs of Boston, I have asked that we remove the word “normal” from our communications and drashot. None of this is back to “normal,” even as we create more in-person and/or maskless opportunities for connection. There is no such thing as the “new normal” because each of us has been deeply and differently impacted by these last 2+ years. We are forever changed by our experiences, and these personal evolutions will continue to emerge in the weeks, months, and years ahead.
As we reflect on ourselves during these days of the Omer, I hope we can acknowledge that the spiritual journey from slavery to freedom is not linear. We ascend towards holiness through steps forward and steps backward each day. Our personal Mitzrayim, narrow places, both those that existed before Covid and those that emerged since, influence how we experience freedom and joy. We appreciate the little things, like sharing meals or singing together, in a new way since March 2020, and we have a checklist of cautionary steps that previously did not occupy our minds. This year during the Omer, I will work to hold my Mitzrayim close to my heart and honor their presence, and may I remember that each of us walk a winding path of fits and starts that makes the taste of Revelation that much sweeter on Shavuot.
