Temple Beth Israel sees blended experiences for Passover 2021

The second pandemic Passover has come, and members of Temple Beth Israel are preparing for a blended holiday. It was the first holiday on the calendar whose celebrations were canceled due to the pandemic, but as vaccinations increase, the options for celebrating do, too. 

The temple won’t be open for any services yet, but Rabbi Stephen Sniderman recorded a virtual service and members can come pick up a Passover meal to hold onto traditions. Usually the temple is crowded this time of year with snowbird celebrators. 

“Passover is usually a very, very festive event and we have a huge turnout,” executive director Isaac Azerad said. “We usually have to stop it at a certain amount of people signing up.”

However, one sign of a slow return to a new normal is that the BIW Judaica gift shop has reopened, at least in some capacity. Members could come up to the temple doors to shop for Seder plates, copies of the Haggadah and other Passover items. 

Store runners Tena Tessler and Maxine Tauber haven't opened the gift shop at any point during the pandemic, and it's been over a year since they ordered new items for the space. The only time gift shop items have been bought was when Tauber brought out designer Hanukkah candles in December.

“One of the reasons we have so many things is because we closed right before Passover, and Hanukkah and Passover are the biggest holidays where people buy things,” Tessler said. 

For Tauber, this Passover was a rare chance for a meal with friends, the opportunity for which is cause for celebration in itself. Azerad was able to see some of his local family for the first time in months.

“Some of us who have been double vaccinated now for over a week to 10 days will continue to meet with their kids and grandkids, because, you know, the confinement is too restrictive now that we can see a little light at the end of the tunnel,” Azerad said. “I'm going to have a Seder with my sister, and my son and his wife. It's gonna be outdoors with all the precautions.”

For Passover, one of the most important items is the Seder plate where symbolic foods are displayed during the meal. Because many plans changed, some members don’t have their family’s plates or any Passover items at all. The gift shop reopened to help members who may have a holiday that falls somewhere between pandemic-era “normal” and a post-pandemic world. 

“Whatever you’d need we have,” Tauber said. “Maybe you thought you’d have the Temple this year and don't.”