Letters: Plagues, Then and Now, 10 Best Things About a Zoom Seder

Plagues, Then and Now
It is interesting that this so-called 11th plague affects everyone. At the seders we participated in recently, we recounted the Ten Plagues meant only for our oppressors, that forced the Hebrews into slavery.

This message today may be for us to treat everyone with dignity and chesed regardless of religion, race, etc.

Remember Abraham, back in the day, greeting everyone with respect regardless of culture, etc.

Maybe it’s not a coincidence that COVID-19 arrived at this time.
Martin Hauptschein, via email 

Journal Woven Into Her Life
I was thrilled to see the wonderful photo of Tom Tugend and the story “A Long Way to Find Your Bashert” (April 10). I have followed his writing along with that of the late Marlene Adler Marks, Gene Lichtenstein, Michael Berenbaum and others.

As an intermarried woman raised in a German kosher household, I was ill at ease joining a temple in the early days. When our son was born in 1972, I, a former “Hidden Child” in France, knew that I had to raise him as a Jew. My dear husband was entirely agreeable.

First, I joined the Workman’s Circle with other rather secular members — some were former Red Diaper Babies (children whose parents were communists or sympathized with communists). It was “cool” but not enough. In 1978, we joined the fabled Temple Israel of Hollywood with the brilliant Rabbi Daniel Polish and Cantor Aviva Rosenbloom, the Jewish Joan Baez of her time. The services were warm and meaningful. Polish was the first to insist that I someday tell my story.

“But, but … Anne Frank has already done it,” I protested. He wisely said that sometimes it takes 50 years before these world-shaking events are recorded by the participants. And he added, “All great history is personal history.” I didn’t write.

Temple Israel of Hollywood was a good fit for me, but there weren’t many intermarrieds back then. I still felt like the outlier.

It was when the Journal was launched in 1986 that I could begin to sense that there was a larger “tribe” out there. That there were other intermarrieds seeking to find a connection. The Journal was the perfect fit.

I’m embarrassed to admit that after our Shabbat meals, I often read the Journal rather than go to Friday night services. When John Rosove became the head rabbi, it was another bonus because his writing began to appear in the Journal, as well.

But it was only Tugend’s fine writing that has lasted through these many years. He interviewed me in 1993 after I went to Berlin with a group of L.A. child Holocaust  survivors to meet German upstanders who wanted to learn more about the Jews who had fled Hitler’s maw.

What a pleasure it was to read Tugend’s story about finding your bashert, and to learn that he had left Berlin as well after his bar mitzvah.

One last thing: I did write my Hidden Child story, titled “Never Tell Your Name,” almost 50 years after it happened, just as Polish predicted. It was a bestseller in France.
Josie Levy Martin, Montecito

Food for Thought
The April 17 edition of the  Journal included two excellent letters under the headlines “Global Warming’s Role” and “Cruelty-Free Passover.” Our species has a millennials-long history of cruelty to animals dating back to the days of ancient Egypt and Rome.

We can all help to change this pattern by switching from a meat-based to a plant-based diet — which I did years ago. After a while, one simply loses one’s taste for meat. Please consider trying this.

Regarding global warming, the COVID-19 pandemic has had some positive consequences, including L.A.’s best clean air in many years. But if we simply go back to business as usual, then we will have squandered our chance to learn how to do things better. The only new car that anyone should buy should be electric (an EV). If you cannot afford a new EV, wait until you can or buy a used plug-in hybrid or EV. For the sake of slowing global warming, everyone, but we Jews in particular, should get off of oil because purchase of gasoline increases demand and, therefore the price of oil, thereby supporting Iran and other countries that are enemies of Israel.
Ben Zuckerman, Los Angeles

Timing Seders
My family, like many Jewish families around the world, celebrated Passover via Zoom. Usually during the holidays, most families turn away from digital screens to connect with loved ones in real life.

This posed an even more difficult challenge for my family because we are all over the world — Brazil, Israel, Australia and California — so finding an “appropriate” time that worked for everyone was pretty much impossible. My poor sister in Australia had to get her seder plate prepared at 6 a.m., whereas my aunt in Israel waited all day. We were all coming together for the first time since the coronavirus became serious and it was exciting to see everyone and have some kind of communal reunion.

The access to digital communication is a life-saver in these moments. But also not knowing when we would all be able to physically gather again made it all somewhat sad. We prayed and blessed each other and sang the Shehecheyanu.

We all made a great attempt at a very unusual seder, and that is something that I find to be so beautiful about Jewish tradition and culture — the continued trial of placing ritual and communion at the center of life in a world that is constantly changing — even when it is scary and confusing and you’re up at 6 a.m. eating bitter herbs!

I think about my ancestors who had to practice their rituals in hiding, my ancestors that had to run for freedom, all while maintaining their rituals and traditions. Judaism is a practice of adaptation and resilience — and what a time to be meditating on those two words.
Seder 2020 schedule: 5 p.m. — São Paulo; 6 a.m. — Melbourne; 11 p.m. — Tel Aviv; 1 p.m. — Los Angeles
Camila Sobral, via email 

10 Best Things About a Zoom Seder
1. Out-of-town family and friends can participate.
2. No need to polish silver.
3. No need to borrow dishes, silverware or extra chairs.
4. You have to get dressed only from the waist up.
5. You have to cook for less people.
6. No stressing over seating arrangements.
7. You don’t have to remember all the relatives’ names.
8. You can mute yourself (and make whatever comments you want.)
9. When the evening is done, you’re already home.
10. There is room at the seder table for everybody.
Jan Berlfein Burns, Los Angeles

Matzo Expiration Date
We contacted all the stores and they were all out of matzo. But my wife found some that had been on the back of a shelf for years. It was marked, “Sell by June 21, 3014.”
David Mamet, via email

CORRECTION

An incorrect photo of Dr. Lakshmy Menon ran on page 32 of the April 3 edition of the Journal.