One of the central aspects of Passover is the Seder (singular: Seder, lit. Order, refers to the meals of the first two nights of Passover). These meals differ from those of other holidays due to the addition of several elements that allow us to properly fulfill the commandments of those nights, such as eating matzah and maror, drinking four cups of wine, and recounting the story of the Exodus.

In many communities around the world, these Seders are organized so that anyone who wishes to participate can do so, as the Haggadah (book of Passover stories) itself says: "Let everyone who is hungry come and eat; let everyone who is in need come and share in the Passover celebration." People generally translate "hunger" and "need" as an expression of material poverty, but in reality, it refers to spiritual poverty. That is, the text invites those who don't know how to prepare a Seder for themselves, for whatever reason, to participate in the Seder where that text is being read at that moment. In other words, if I am reading the text, it means that I am inviting someone who doesn't have their own Seder to participate in mine. But what about someone who already has their own Seder? Should I take it upon myself to pull them out of their Seder and bring them into mine?

Here we enter into the discussion about what a community is. Although there are many ways to define it, I am not here to exclude other definitions, but simply to express an idea about Passover and about Judaism in general, in addition to everything that already exists.

A community is a group of people who behave similarly in some or all aspects of their lives. This means that we could each be in our own homes, separate from one another, and yet actively be part of a community. Conversely, we could all be together in the same place and not be part of a community.

Judaism is lived in community and, indeed, it has some aspects that must be shared in time and space, such as prayer, or a wedding, where a certain group of people are expected at a special time in a special place, but the rest of the aspects do not necessarily consist of gathering a lot of people in one place for something, but can be lived in community while being physically separated from each other, as in the case of Passover (and, in reality, most aspects of Judaism are lived in this way, since a person cannot be gathered with his coreligionists all the time, but he must be aware of God all the time...).

So, going back to the question about Seder, the Haggadah leads us to invite to our table those who don't have their own Seder, but not necessarily to ask other people to leave their homes simply for the sake of community. What makes us a community is that we do the same things at the same time, not that we're all in the same place at the same time.

May you have a kosher and joyful Passover,

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