Praha 40, or Happiness, Part II

So, the updates have been a bit lax lately. This, I understand. However, I think you'll all forgive me when I tell you this: the happier I am, the less I write. It makes for less entertainment for you all, but bear with me, okay? I promise, I'll be miserable at some point soon, and will have lots of morose entries to make up for this.

To tell you about my Seders, here's an excerpt from a letter I wrote recently:

Abby and I went to a horrible seder for the first night - the rabbi made me long for Smith Hillel's rabbi, which is saying something. Also, the vegetarians (including Abby) never got fed, and we escaped before the second half of the service started. However, here's the one cool piece:

The rabbi noted that all the original "4s" of the seder (4 cups, 4 kids, 4 questions) were actually "3s." Then, when the Christians started appropriating 3 as a trinity thing, the rabbis of the time actually called a council to decide how to respond. Rather than try to fight the popularity of the trinity, they instead stuck something extra in each set. So he had us guessing what the "extra" thing was in each set of four, and debating it amongst ourselves. It was actually kind of fascinating. The most interesting one was which of the four sons was added later - take a guess as to which and why, and I'll tell you what he said.

Abby and I went home and moped intensely that night. We even missed the stress of Smith's usual seder. But on Tuesday night, we did our own seder, with some of my housemates. We used my haggadah, ate potato kugel, cucumber salad, green beans and the most awesome matzah ball soup...with special chocolate-dipped fruit for dessert!

And then there was singing. You know how important it is to look interested and to look like you're listening, even if you don't know the song? That's how it was - Abby and I and maybe one or two other people singing, and everyone else listening appreciatively. Or at least looking like it. A few of us even got up and did the Jewish Youth Group Dance to Miriam's Song and cracked up. There was so much laughing last night. More than there's been in a long, long time, maybe ever.

The afikoman part was a riot, because people got into it and ripped the house apart, and since I was the leader, I got sucked into cleaning the toilets next time it's Marjorie's turn - our only major bargaining chip.

Anyway, it was beautiful. It was actually one of the best seders I've ever had, one of the best nights I've had in Prague, and having Abby there was like a halo over all of it.

Love,
~D