The Passover table set with the best of linens
Four cups of wine and well-worn Haggadahs waiting for the youngest to recite the age old question:
Why is tonight different from all other nights?
Ritual reminders of
An ancient story told and retold for thousands of years
By Jews who wanted us never to forget
This foundational story of redemption
But these herculean efforts to turn back the clock to a time of
Evil kings and plagues
Of desert survival
And following a promising leader to and ever elusive
Promised land
Are not needed this year.
The symbols on the seder plate glare up at us
As if to say, “I told you so”
For this year’s retelling could be lifted off the 24/7 news cycle
And the daily struggles of our lives.
This ancient story with Moses at the helm
has morphed into our modern life
with enough eerie relevance
to give us all shivers.
We no longer need to imagine what it feels like
To live under the rule of a king so wicked he would put the biblical ones to shame
Or what it means to live during a plague that spreads to kill the most vulnerable among us
We no longer have to sit through an entire retelling of
A story of survival
In order to realize what being a survivor means
Why is this night different from all other nights?
It isn’t
Except we now can sit and recall all of these ancient stories
And realize their lessons and values
are more important than ever
For they are not ancient at all.