A Seder in Bali

Lynn is the keeper of Jewish tradition in our family.  Well before I had given the first thought to Passover, she was already planning a small family Seder.  She didn't want us to forgo the Jewish holidays just because we are far from home and family.

It isn't easy to have a Seder in Bali.  Surprisingly, the local grocery store in Ubud doesn't have a Jewish foods section.   Lynn made a plan to look for matzah in Australia, but we had no luck until the last leg of our trip.

In tiny Byron Bay, as I was buying a bottle of water from a small pizza-by-the-slice stand, the woman behind the counter asked if I was Jewish.  When I said I was, she said she could tell.   Must have been my nose that gave it away.

She was Israeli.  We learned that there is a large contingent of Israelis working in Byron Bay, including our blue-eyed, blonde waiter at the Byron at Byron Resort.  The manager of the pizza stand told us that the local supermarket in Byron Bay carried matzah, so we went and eventually located the very tiny Jewish foods section with a box of matzah tucked away on the top shelf.

Back in Ubud, Lynn assembled the remaining items.  She made charoset from apples, dates, walnuts, honey and cinnamon.  She bought a shank bone, eggs, and parsley.  Horseradish proved more difficult.  She looked up the Indonesian word for horseradish, and armed with that managed to locate it in the local grocery store.  But on returning home, it turned out to be a daikon radish instead.

She had ordered a family-friendly Haggadah from Amazon, and had it shipped, along with other Amazon purchases to the FedEx in Ubud.  It was our first test of having goods shipped from the States, and it worked.  She had several copies made, which the copy center helpfully took the initiative to rearrange so the pages would read from front to back. 

She bought candles and candlesticks.  She bought wine glasses and nice wine.  It was quite the organizational feat.

This would be our first attempt at hosting a Seder.  I would be responsible for leading the Seder.  I was never that attentive to the service, or felt that inspired by it, so felt glad that it would be just our family to experiment upon.

Then Lynn invited a Jewish mom from Green School and her daughter.  (She leads a women's discussion group in which Lynn participates.)  I had never met her.  Then she invited another mom with a girl in Charlotte's class whose husband was in the U.S. on business.   None were practicing Jews or had celebrated Passover in years, so still not that much pressure.

Then the mom with the kid in Charlotte's class asked if she could bring her friend who happened to be visiting her that week -- an Israeli.  Pressure!

Charlotte then invited a family of four who had two girls at Green School.  The mom also was non-practicing from a Jewish background.  I'd barely met the dad, but at least it would mean that I wouldn't be the only guy sitting at a table with eleven women and girls.

We'd moved into our new house just four days before, and had barely unpacked.  Made was helping her prepare the food, but Lynn had barely worked with her and they were still getting comfortable with each other.  We weren't even sure we had enough plates. 

Fortunately everyone was laid back about the evening, and none were sticklers for formality.  Even the Israeli was non-practicing, lived in the English countryside in the hometown of her husband and spoke with an English accent.

The woman who ran discussion groups had some thoughtful ideas about how to make the Seder more meaningful, among them having us talk about the central concept of "freedom," and in particular the ways that we were trying to free ourselves from old habits that entrapped us.  The Seder was short and pretty chaotic.  The girls, who were between the ages of 5 and 9, soon lost interest and ran around.  But we made it through the key parts,  the kids participated for a while, for many of the parents it was their first Seder in a long time, and for the other dad, his first-ever Seder.  I think everyone appreciated the effort and the experience.  And Lynn made a delicious meal.

Lynn had even bought small gifts for all the kids to pay in ransom for the afikomen.

For several days, Alexa and Charlotte had been very industriously preparing a puppet show based on the story Miriam's Cup, about the older sister of Moses who watched over and protected him.  They made dozens of characters and scenes out of cardboard and rehearsed the show.

After dinner, Alexa gathered the other kids and put on the puppet show.  It was another chaotic scene as the puppets were not always prompt about arriving on cue, but Alexa recounted the tale clearly.  We were proud of her and Charlotte for putting on the production.  I was very appreciative of Lynn for hosting such an elaborate Seder for our friends and family.

Photos mostly by Wendy