We don’t even remember. . .

West Bank Mama wrote about her favorite parts of Pesach. I think mine might be the end of the first day, after Yom Tov is over and I realize I don’t have to make another seder.

After I wrote my last post it occurred to me that we must have had two sedarim the year my son was born in New York, so I asked my husband if he remembered the second one. He also drew a total blank. That was the last time we had two, because we made aliyah the following fall. Conclusion: The second seder is completely forgettable.

Actually, I do remember the second seder from when I was a child. My parents always invited an unmarried, elderly Reform professor, for whom the second seder may have been a bit of a novelty. Or perhaps they just figured he was lonely. My parents didn’t like the fact that he came late every year so they finally decided to start without him. That solved the problem.

Once, when we came to the discussion of “Arami oved avi” (a wandering Aramean was my father) in the haggadah, he made a comment. “You know, X has made great strides in ascribing this passage to E instead of to P” (a reference to scholarship regarding the alleged different authors of the Torah). This topic did not interest my father; he acknowledged the comment and continued the seder.

Comments

  1. I myself am looking forward to my first time only having one seder. I always hated the redundancy of the second one. My husband, however, is feeling a bit nostalgic. Our first seder was always just us, and the second one we usually invited friends over…
    I also had to buy less “stuff” because its just one seder, and because since my in-laws live here they are just coming for chag and not staying the whole week. đŸ™‚ (Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled they are coming, it’s just nice that the stay is shorter).
    And I can’t believe you remember the actual comment that guy made and how your father responded. I can’t remember where I put my….oh there it is!
    We’re almost there!

  2. mominisrael says

    Baila, just make sure to keep an eye on your computer so you don’t lose it.

  3. When does your seder start? Our sederim are very late (and they start even later in Columbus, OH, where my brother lives and my father is headed). I find by the second seder my body has finally switched to being awake at night.