A Tale of Two Seasons

 Around 6:00 PM on March 5th, I parked my bus and headed home for what was supposed to be a 3 week shutdown to "crush the curve" of this new virus that was attacking the globe.

No one could have predicted what chaos and devastation was to follow.

NO ONE!

So please, I don't want to hear I knew, we should have, or they should have from anyone.

No one anywhere had a clue of what the right course of action should be.

Seven months later, there are still no definitive answers or a real concisis as to the "right" course.

We have all adopted some new behaviors that for the most part make seem to be working.

I only have to look at the Tale of Two Seasons, to see the difference.

The 3 week shutdown should have had us back to "normal" by around April 1st,in plenty of time for Passover.

Passover is no small deal.

In the Torah, God commanded the Israelites to travel to the Temple in Jerusalem to appear before the Lord, their God, three times a year, during the festivals of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot.

These pilgrimage festivals which commemorate both agricultural festivals and historical events in the history of the Jewish people, were historically celebrated with temple sacrifices.

Prayers have replaced the animal sacrifices, and the historical and agricultural themes of the festivals have become the dominant aspects of the holidays wherever they are celebrated.

For me,it is our family gatherings that are the dominant aspect of these holidays.

The Passover seders are a huge part of the soul of our family.

The seder that we participate in is pretty much the same as the one my parents hosted and my grandparents before that. I can't speak to the generations before that, however,our family traditions have not changed in over a century, and I would probably feel safe in saying much longer than that.

This year,that was all cancelled.

Instead of our annual gala gathering filled with the joy (and the sorrows) that come with the holiday, we sat alone, secluded, quarantined from our loved ones.

There is no other way to spin what I felt.

It was depressing!

It was isolating.

I will go so far as to say,it felt devastating to me.

Last night was the first night of Sukkot.

The 7 months of change has made it obvious to me that we would not be able to have our annual Kumsitz, a kind of open house that we hold yearly.In the past, this tradition has seen over 100 people drop in on the final Sunday of the holiday in our Sukkah. We sit, talk, eat, laugh and catch up with old friends as well as greet and welcome new ones.

Not being able to hold this gathering kind of sucks, but it is one of those new behaviors that I (read we) will now have to live with.

The one behavior that didn't change was being with my family.

On Passover, I sat huddled in my recliner as Susan and Max , tried to be part of a Zoom seder, a ridiculous substitution for a family gathering. My brother and his family sat by their computer screen. My daughter Sara and her husband sat by their computer screen,along with some other friends and family members who signed in from other locales.Like I said, for me it sucked! This was not a seder,at least not a Spiegel seder.

Last night,eleven of us gathered in celebration. Yes,in part to celebrate the holiday,but more importantly to celebrate what matters the most to us, our traditions. Our family.It really is all that matters.

Quarantined is no way to live.

20/20 hindsight,I say never again!

Being cut off from loved ones was certainly not the solution.

There is no empirical evidence that it saved even one life.

I know for a fact, that for myself, it was a heartbreaking experience.

By comparison, nothing could have been a better remedy than what I experienced last night.

Passover and Sukkot.

They were the worst of times and the best of times!

Shabbat Shalom!