But for me, the question is more akin to the High Holy Days prayer Unetaneh Tokef, which asks the question: Who will live and who will die?
With whom shall I spend my Passover Seder is not about composing a guest list. It’s not about the dilemma of spending time with parents or with in-laws, or about staying close to home or traveling. It’s not about having some of the kids over or all of the kids and grandchildren over, or about which hotel to choose.
It is, still, about life and death.
Is it finally time to emerge from the isolation of this last year and spend Passover, the holiday of freedom, with other people? And the answer is: It all depends.
Vaccines have provided the world with new-found freedom, but now it is up to us to determine how far to take that new freedom. In Israel, much of the decision-making is taken out of the hands of individuals. Rules and regulations are mandated by the various ministries and the office of the prime minister, his cabinet and those infamous committees. Annoying, certainly, but the expectation is that these rules and regulations are the work of experts in their fields. Police enforce the rules and fine the violators.
In the United States, there is more leeway. In place of ministries there is the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And in place of mandates, there are recommendations. And then there are the executive orders of each state’s governor and health department and every state with its own set of rules.
According to the CDC, a person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the final dose of vaccine. People in that category are then able to “visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or staying six feet apart.” That makes, I believe, perfect sense. But upon closer inspection, what it is really saying for Passover Seder purposes, is that those people who are over 65 years old – which is the golden number for vaccines in the United States – can share their Seder with other 65-year-olds. So much for spending Seder with children and grandchildren.
Or maybe not.
Then the CDC adds that fully vaccinated people are also able to “visit with unvaccinated people from one other household indoors without wearing masks or staying six feet apart if everyone in the other household is at low risk for severe disease.” Who determines that? It’s only natural that wishful thinking will persuade most people to determine – or rationalize – that the people they most want to spend time with are at “low risk for severe disease.” We are, after all, only human.
The internal debate is wrenching. The decisions are ours to make.
This pandemic has upended our lives. But we are the lucky ones. We are still here, still alive, still healthy enough to wrestle with the dilemma this Passover presents. Let’s not, at this late date, try to evade the warnings, restrictions and mandates that are being handed down.
We’ve made it this far. Let’s make it to next year when, God willing and we all cooperate, we will be able to enjoy Passover Seder with whomever we please, wherever we please.
However you spend it, I hope it’s a happy and healthy Passover. We can greet people and instead of “Next Year in Jerusalem” we can say “Next Year at the Passover Seder!”