The Charlotte Jewish News - May 2021 - Page 20
How a Drive-Thru Seder Helped Me Understand Gratitude As a Communal Act By Amy Lefkof To make it in time to Temple Beth El’s Drive-Thru Seder, my 88-year-old mother and I had to zip across town from visiting my father at his skilled nursing facility where indoor visitation had just resumed for the first time since the pandemic began. Rabbi Dusty Klass had reminded me of the Drive-Thru Seder when she called earlier that afternoon to see how my dad was doing. She had cheered him up during an earlier visit when only clergy were allowed; he, in turn, had tried to teach her some Yiddish. Her impression: “His humor is still intact.” Our navigation of the 15 stations at Temple Beth El’s parking lot Passover began with picking up four grape-scented smiley face stickers from Rabbi Beth Nichols (dressed as a bunch of grapes), which represented the first cup of wine, and then symbolically washing our hands with a custom-labeled TBE mini hand sanitizer. At the karpas station, a person dressed as parsley (think
Jolly Green Giant) took a dip in a child’s inflatable swimming pool while the nearby Elvis Parsley did a good impersonation of the King. Then there was Rabbi Dusty dressed as a fairy dispensing what appeared to be Jewish pixie dust (better known as farfel). She and Rabbi Asher Knight ushered our car through a giant breaking of the matzah (very reminiscent of the
Concluding Songs station (Nirtzah) featuring TBE Youth Adviser Caleb Seidler dressed up as Pharaoh.
parting of the Red Sea). At the Maggid station, two children hopped around like frogs holding up what appeared to be giant inflatable matzah balls — closer inspection revealed the imprinted word “hail.” This is what a temple community does during a pandemic — it brings people together outdoors in fun, outlandish ways to celebrate a holiday like Pesach when we would normally invite friends and strangers into our homes to sit at our seder table and praise G-d with the singing of Dayenu — listing each act of G-d’s kindness during our Exodus from Egypt and praising G-d by saying that each act in and of itself would have been enough. But right before my mother and I got to the concluding songs station (Nirtzah) featuring TBE youth advisor Caleb Seidler dressed up as Pharaoh, wearing a striped nemes (yes, that’s what that headdress is called), we visited the penultimate station titled Hallel: Psalms of Praise, which was [wo]manned by Lisa
Matzah Fairy Rabbi Dusty Klass wishing everyone a Chag Pesach Sameach
Shpritz, who aptly heads TBE’s Tzedek Council. Through my car window, Lisa handed me a 3x5 brown envelope, and then, when she saw my mom masked in the front passenger seat beside me, asked if I wanted two. Despite not knowing what was in the brown envelopes, I nodded that I would like two. Lisa then explained that they were pre-addressed thankyou cards: “All you have to do
is write something in the inside and mail them.” I didn’t think about the blank thank-you cards in their pre-addressed envelopes until sometime the next day, when I had time to sit down with them at my kitchen table. One envelope was addressed to the fire station on Sharon Amity, and the other was addressed to Sunrise on Providence, a senior assisted living facility. I mulled over the Drive-Thru Seder experience. All the other drive-through Passover stations were meant to bring our congregation together by telling the Passover story through costumes and games. But Station No. 14 was different. It had a serious tone. My temple was prompting me to express gratitude. My first thought was “Why hadn’t I on my own thought to send out thank-you notes?” I didn’t realize at that moment that expressing gratitude can be a communal act. (Continued on page 21)
Act Together. Care for Each Other. SUNDAY, MAY 23
9:30am Opening Ceremony 10:30am Projects Begin
