On Sunday, we had our Easter and Passover celebrations. Last year, these holidays fell on the same day also. We could have had our Seder on another night, but with our work and life schedules, Sunday was the best day.
Now that we’re in Arizona and not geographically close to my family, we’ve done the last couple Seders on our own and I’m realizing what an undertaking it is. Especially when you’re doing both holidays.
While we’re looking for items to put in the Easter baskets, we’re also piecing together items for our seder plate and realizing all of the things we don’t have/don’t know how to do. Ex: I don’t cook, so we bought gefilte fish and brisket from a local, Jewish deli. Kyle made the matzo ball soup and haroset….
For background context, I grew up with a Jewish side of the family, a Catholic side, and a Buddhist dad. We celebrated many of the holidays from both sides/religions. We typically relied on my Jewish grandparents to organize and handle most things related to those holidays. My grandpa passed away a few years ago and my Grandma passed away in 2020.
We do still have family in Illinois who hosted these events after my grandparents weren’t able to anymore.
It’s an interesting crossroads to be at. With their passing, I had an option to really let the Jewish part of my heritage fade further into the background. After all, they did most of that work for us.
But I have many great memories with my grandparents and the Jewish traditions we were part of. I’ve decided to try to keep them going in whatever capacity feels right and manageable given our own current values and life demands.
It feels way easier to do the Christian/secular things. I’m not sure why that is? I guess partly because everyone does them. For me personally, I’ve not typically focused on the religious parts of Christian holidays. Full transparency, it’s usually about the fun, kitschy, stuff (the gifts, candy, excitement, etc).
Doing these holidays from the perspective as a parent and a person who was never fully immersed in any one religion but partly immersed in quite a few, has at times, been challenging and confusing.
But we’re figuring it out. With each year, it’s getting easier and more refined. I often have to check my “imposter” feelings and my patterns of overthinking about whether I’m doing this all in a respectable way. I remind myself that no one family is the same and traditions are unique.
And now, here are a few photos from Easter and Passover celebrations this year. I highly encourage everyone to take photos of their family at holidays and during special traditions. Some of my favorite photos are the ones of us as a kid doing these things. They feel real, special, and important.
Here are my kiddos rockin’ their “Gemilke-Fish” shirts from the Etsy shop that my siblings and I started.
This is our Seder plate. We’ve made a few alterations to it. We added fair trade chocolate and orange. The chocolate is to remind us that forced labor is still an issue today. And the orange is for solidarity with LGBTQ+ Jews and others who are marginalized within the Jewish community. Missing from our plate are the shankbone (haven’t done the work to find one of these) and the lettuce/chazeret. We also incorporate Miriam’s Cup into our Seder.
We don’t have a matching, formal dinner set but this year we decided to buy these plates and these cups from Amazon to make our table look more uniform. The Haggadah we like is Sharing the Journey because it’s modern and progressive.
Click here to read more about my experiences as a person from an interfaith background <3