The last two night we've had Seders with teenagers as the main attraction. The first night of Pesach we had our family Seder and it was, beyond a doubt, the most hilarious Seder I've ever attended. Both of my kids had a touch of gippy tummy and there were so many bathroom breaks that it took forever to get through the haggaddah. Additionally, there were so many jokes, readings in hilarious voices, lusty singing, and just an all around fun time that we all ended up a bit drunk and very very happy. Especially since we didn't even eat dinner until 10 pm.
Next night was at Ora's house, where we celebrated her (mumbletymumble) birthday as well as Pesach. As per usual, I cooked the entire meal which we brought to her house. The division of labor might not be fair, but she pays for the food, and we like to cook, which she does not, so it works out fine. It was a very big dinner, which started out with me almost dying of laughter when I realized that the brisket she bought was bigger than my biggest roasting pan. By a lot. That thing was huge. I firmly believe that we were eating elephant brisket. I've never seen a cow that big. I sent Ora off on a mission to find the biggest foil pan she could find, and she was successful. After spending an hour or so trimming fat and gristle off the damn slab 'o' beef, I cooked it and cooked it and cooked it. And then had to wake up my son at 1 am to get the brisket out of the oven because it was too heavy for my very sore back. I had to babysit that thing until 3 am when I could get it into the fridge. I'm telling you, that brisket was out to get me.
When we arrived last night at Ora's house for the festive meal, we sat down with two different haggadot. We used one set that I have at home called the Concise Seder for a reason. It doesn't skip anything necessary for a Kosher Seder, but if you read fast and keep right on it, you can do the first half of the Seder in about a half hour. We also used the Family Participation haggaddah, which is long and cumbersome but has great readings in it. If we saw something we liked, we could just read it as part of the Seder (order) to amplify the readings and make them relevant. With 4 teens, this worked really well. Abe wanted to read a lot of stuff and if he had his way we'd still be sitting there reading, but he got that we were trying to make it interesting but not hours long.
Without their father in attendance, this was the most fun Seder we've ever had as families that share this holiday. I've never seen Ora look more relaxed, more at peace, and happier. The kids ALL had a great time, telling stories and sharing anecdotes from school that Ora's father was appalled by. When you're not around teens all the time, the stories sound shocking, but they're just typical school stories of kids doing stupid things. You know!
I made Ora a birthday cake, which can be a big feat considering it had to be kosher for pesach. But the cake was fabulous. I mean it, it was moist and tasty and could easily be made all year long.
After years of tense and sometimes disastrous Seders, this one was fun from start to finish. I'm so glad that Ora's kids got to experience a fun Seder for the first time in years. It was a real pleasure cooking for them, and I'm already thinking about next year!
And speaking of Seders, did you all catch the photo of the Obamas celebrating Pesach with their staff and friends at the very first ever White House Seder?
Isn't that just the most amazing thing? I'm so thrilled that the Obama's sought to bring a real Jewish custom to the White House. And for the Jewish readers, the best thing, the thing that made me laugh my ass off is......
They used the Maxwell House Haggadot. For reals! You can look on the whitehouse.gov blog and get the high-res. image.
(For those not in the know, the Maxwell House Haggadot is the free haggadah that you get in the supermarket when they put out the matzoh this time of year. It's really archaic language and, although the price is right, about the last choice of anyone with small kids because it's so hard to read.)
Everytime I look at that photo, I get tears in my eyes. A Seder! In the White House. Just WOW.
This really was extraordinary. At my second seder last night we sang a 5th Questions: Why is this Night Different from All Other Nights? Because our first African-American president is leading a seder in the White House. I was also moved to learn that both Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod went home to Chicago to be with their families for Passover, and resisted the "star" power of being a seder guests at with the Obamas.
Posted by: Nina Rubin | April 11, 2009 at 09:40 AM
LOL, we use a supermarket Haggadah, one that was published in the 60's and has matza crumbs and wine stains almost as old as I am, but it's cool because the English version of the service takes about half an hour to read. my teens "forgot" how to read the 4 questions in Hebrew, but you should have seen them do Dayenu.
all the drama came from the Haggadah this year, and not from family dynamics, so it was a good year.
Posted by: songbird | April 11, 2009 at 12:00 PM