APR 5, pandemic poetry: Eliyahu at the virtual Seder

1) Keep more to yourself for a while, wash your hands frequently, remember to laugh on occasion (especially at the Seder), and stay well!

2) Chag sameach (Gud Yontov)!

 Eliyahu HaNavi -- ay-lee-YA-hoo ha-na-VEE-- (Elijah the Prophet) plays an important role in the traditional Passover Seder service. At the end of the multi-course dinner for family and friends, the fifth glass of wine is poured, but reserved for the prophet. The door of the home is then opened briefly, recitations from the Old Testament chanted, and the Prophet (who, some day, will announce the arrival of the Jewish Messiah) enters and may sip from the wineglass; children watch to see if the level in the glass really does go down. The distinguished visitor is not offered a dessert or any other food, and the door is not opened to let him out again, as I recall, but attention turns from the arrival of Eliyahu to the completion of the service, and finally the group singing of traditional songs.

  Note that Eliyahu may come by his reticence to use modern technology for good reason. Last week, Israel's chief rabbis decided that even in this plague-ridden year, video-conferencing is subject to the usual ban on the holiday use of electronics. 

 The author has a limited hands-on experience with video-conferencing. As recently as yesterday, I was trying to participate in a virtual music jam, with a group of old f..ts that formerly met at the local Seniors' Center. Zoom works well on my miniscreen cellphone, but on my relatively new computer, with much larger screen, the audiofeed is resistant to turning on. Perhaps Eliyahu HaNavi has similar technical challenges!  

You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Pandemic Poetry' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense".