Last year was our first PassoverPassover is a major Jewish holiday that commemorates the Jewish people's liberation from slavery and Exodus from Egypt. Its Hebrew name is Pesakh. Its name derives from the tenth plague, in which God "passed over" the homes of the Jewish firstborn, slaying only the Egyptian firstborn. Passover is celebrated for a week, and many diaspora Jews celebrate for eight days. The holiday begins at home at a seder meal and ritual the first (and sometimes second) night. Jews tell the story of the Exodus using a text called the haggadah, and eat specific food (matzah, maror, haroset, etc). in our new house. Nearing the holiday, the dining room was still piled high with moving boxes. Since the seders fell on the weekend, all of my husband’s family flocked to Toronto. With my parents coming from Montreal, we would number nearly 30 with nine children between the ages of two and 14, including my two step-kids. My in-laws had begun researching rental halls for our large group but I wanted a more heimish yontif (homey holiday). I scratched my head staring at our table for eight and stacks of boxes. Then, the solution came to me: “We’ll have a symposium!”
