Passover Seder-to-Go Kits Being Rushed to the Housebound

With people staying in place to celebrate Passover with immediate family only, in accordance with government guidelines for the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the number of Seders taking place around the world will be greater this year than ever before. Hundreds and thousands of people cannot travel to gather together as guests with extended family and friends, or with their broader communities, and instead need to stay put and prepare and hold Seders in their kitchens and dining rooms.

As a result, many will be trying their hands at putting together a Passover Seder and sharing the Exodus story for the first time. With Passover beginning Wednesday, April 8, Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries worldwide are racing to get fleets of “Seder-to-Go” kits assembled and on people’s doorsteps ahead of the holiday.

The kits, which come from Chabad on Call, a project of Merkos Suite 302, have until now largely been used by emissaries to bring Passover to those who are either hospitalized or homebound.

But as the coronavirus sweeps the globe, Chabad on Call rapidly expanded, translated and developed the kit in almost no time so that it can support thousands of families in quarantine or practicing social distancing, enabling emissaries to efficiently provide families with a full Seder. Between Chabad on Call's ready-to-order kits and those being prepared by local Chabad emissaries, an estimated 250,000 Seder-to-Go kits will be delivered throughout North America. International versions are being translated and locally printed in Taiwan, Japan, Romania, Malta, Switzerland, Sweden, Portugal, England, Scotland, Turkey, Australia, Spain, Ukraine, Montenegro, Cyprus, Serbia, Poland and Denmark.

Wherever these Seders take place, substituting community or large family ones for smaller seatings means newly anointed hosts will need to quickly get their Seder basics up and running.

To assist them and answer some of the questions most frequently asked by first-time hosts, Chabad.org’s Ask the Rabbi Team has compiled a list of FAQs, detailing how to shop, plan and prepare for the Seder, with emphasis on those with limited time or access to groceries.

That’s also where the kits come in. They come with a Seder guide and Hebrew-English Haggadah, matzah bag and containers that can be filled with the various elements of the Seder plate. “This year, there’s a much bigger need,” said Rabbi Yosef Landa, regional director of Chabad of Greater St. Louis, which oversees five regional Chabad centers.

Communal Passover Seders such as the one at Chabad on Campus at Washington University, above, have been canceled, Chabad is therefore stepping up to provide essential resources to those on and off campus so that at least they can celebrate the holiday in a meaningful way.

Essential Resources for Creating a Seder

Communal Passover Seders that have been in the works for months, such as Chabad on Campus at Washington University—previously among the largest in the state—have been canceled, and people’s travel plans are on hold. That means that the holiday, which is a celebration of freedom and togetherness, is leaving many feeling somewhat “exiled,” stressed, alone and isolated, said Landa. Chabad is therefore stepping up to provide essential resources to people already burdened with worries about jobs, health, bills and schools, so that at least they can celebrate the holiday in a meaningful way. “The biggest message here is that you’re not alone. We’re in this together, and we’re with you every step of the way,” Landa told Chabad.org.

He is making Seder-to-Go kits available to anyone hosting a Passover Seder for the first time, whether because they’re in quarantine due to the coronavirus or just not able to be with family. Chabad of Greater St. Louis will also be running a public-service marketing campaign to let people know about other resources available for those unexpectedly running their own Seders, including DIY videos and other how-to, step-by-step information.

These efforts are part of a global Passover campaign that began in 1954, when the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—launched the Shmurah Matzah initiative to create awareness and promote observance of the holiday. More than a million pounds of hand-baked shmurah matzahs will also be distributed by the Chabad-Lubavitch movement this year.

The program has expanded dramatically in only a few weeks. It had largely been used to bring Passover to those who are either hospitalized or homebound.

‘To Be of Service to Every Jew’

Meanwhile, Rabbi Avi Zwiebel, co-director of the Chabad Jewish Center of Southern Oregon, is getting ready to deliver Seder kits to his community, which spans a 100-mile radius. Similar to other places around the country and the world, area public schools are closed, and people are staying hunkered down, so he’ll be bringing Passover—carefully and with appropriate social-distancing measure in place—to their doorsteps.

“Pesach is still happening this year, regardless of the coronavirus,” said Zwiebel, who together with his wife, Faigy, has been in the area 17 years and usually hosts a Seder of more than 100 at the Chabad. He’s used the kits on a smaller scale before, but where he tends to order about 20 of them, this year they will order enough materials to assemble at least 500 to spread the holiday observance across the community, which includes retirees, a university and young families, he said.

“Our job is to be of service to every Jew in whatever capacity is needed,” he stated. “And today, this is the need.”

So far, he said, they’ve been getting a solid response. “People need more faith in this difficult time,” he said. “They have been moved by the service we’re offering them.”

Rabbi Leibel Korf, co-director of Chabad of Greater Los Feliz in Los Angeles, had 40 kits ordered and is aiming to at least double that given the current circumstances. It’s their third year using the service, which has in prior years helped them get Passover supplies to the major hospitals nearby, he said.

“It’s a very nicely packaged kit,” said his wife, co-director Dvonye Korf. “It comes with individual cups for the maror, the charoset, the egg and salt, it has containers with labels in it and also a guide so people know exactly what to do. And everything comes in a very pretty ‘to-go’ box, where everything fits in very nicely.”

The community will be together, even with the physical separation, he said. “We’re going to be given a challenge this year: of knowing that we’re all in our own homes, and yet we’re all connected with the same theme and the same idea, and with the same experience.”

It’s an unusual moment where people will be asked to take leadership roles, even if they haven’t in the past, he said of the annual festive meal. “We’re given the mantle, we’re put in the driver’s seat, and we’re told to drive, so we will hopefully reveal great strengths within ourselves we didn’t know we had and realize that we have the strength to do it ourselves.”

While Chabad on Call continues packing thousands of kits and can ship around the world, it is also making materials available so that emissaries can put their own kits together as well.

Rabbi Chanoch Kaplan, co-director of Chabad of NW Bergen County in Franklin Lakes, N.J., ordered a few hundred Seder-to-Go kits for the first time this year. He said that he wanted to be able to have something to give people, so they’ll be able to have a traditional Seder and participate in as many mitzvot as possible.

People will be out of their comfort zones, but that could present an opportunity, he said. “Hopefully, this can be a rewarding experience,” said Kaplan of the Seder. “Its usefulness is not diminished; it is an incredible event, an incredible tradition on whose backs the Jewish people have surfed the waves of history, managing to survive and thrive in all types of environments, and given all different types of challenges, including this one.”