Passover

Gratitude 4/1/2026

I am grateful for the gift of a new day.
My heart is filled with gratitude for the many blessings I have.
I will appreciate the small joys and express my thanks in all circumstances.
Let my attitude of gratitude bring joy to others.

Today I am grateful the first night of Passover will usher in an 8 day holiday.

My family was not at all religious. We celebrated the commercial aspects of all the holidays! I don’t remember doing anything much different during Passover. My dad did stay home on the High Holy Days and was very proud of his Jewish heritage, which he passed on to me, but I didn’t know much about the religion at all.

It wasn’t until college when I got involved with a lot of Jewish friends, that my education began. The first seders I attended were during that time.

When we moved to Ohio, there were very fews Jewish people in our rural neighborhood, but we joined a Reform Temple and had kindof a traditional Jewish wedding. Stewart was raised in an Orthodox Temple in Newark, NJ, so he had quite an awakening, moving to Ohio. It has been really important to him to celebrate the holidays and to give our children a Jewish education and identity.

He LOVES Passover, which reminds him of the big family gatherings he experienced as a child.

I love it, too, even though I don’t have the memories he has. I LOVE that the holiday stops me in my tracks and makes me think about our history and change my everyday ways. I clean up and put all the leavened foods or foodstuffs in the big freezer. I get out a completely different set of dishes. I completely clean the refrigerator and go shopping and fill it up with foods that are Kosher for Passover, apples, parsley, eggs, and Passover wine! We usually have at least two seders. One with the whole family and friends and one with just the two of us.

I make matzoh brie EVERY morning. I love it! And I get lots of matzoh and forego rice, bread, noodles, beans, and grains, anything that could “rise” or be fermented.

I love the seder service. Over the years we have read from different Haggadahs. It celebrates spring and freedom. To me one important lesson is that we should consider as if we ourselves were slaves in Egypt and were led to freedom. And another is that it is important to teach our history and empathy to our children, to pass on what we have experienced and know.

I am definitely not a perfect person and many would not consider me truly Jewish for their own reasons, but that doesn’t keep me from being grateful for this heritage of family love, education, spring, and freedom.