This week marked the Jewish Holiday Passover, which is the commemoration of the Israelites liberation from slavery in Egypt. This year the first day of Passover happened on a Monday, and I honestly had no idea that it would be happening on a day where I was unable to make it home for dinner with my family. I was so used to going to my family’s famous Passover dinner with all of my closest family friends, but with an early class on Tuesday and a full schedule for the day, I knew it would not be a good night to go home.
Right before the first night, I was hanging out with some friends and I mentioned the fact that my family’s Passover dinner was not happening this year. Two of them, who also celebrate Passover with their families, knew how I was feeling and one of them joked about the idea of us hosting our own Passover Seder. The joke soon became a reality and we decided we were going to plan a Seder together. In just a few minutes we were planning out the meal for the next night and devising a shopping list. We had so many different ideas for food and we even discussed how each of our families made the recipes so differently. After some time, we decided it would be necessary to have Matzoh Ball Soup, Latkes, Noodle Kugle, and of course coconut macaroons. Later on in the afternoon, we walked through all the Kosher aisles in Shoprite and found all the ingredients we would need for our dinner.
The next day my friend got a head start on the cooking while the rest of us were in class. She made the Noodle Kugle, soup, and started up the latkes. When the rest of my friends and myself arrived, we finished cooking, set the table, and ran towards the delicious food in front of us. Throughout the night we kept mentioning how this Seder was such great idea and that we could not believe how well we pulled it off. The food came out perfectly (shout out to Britt for making the best noodle kugle and matzoh ball soup ever!!) and it was so rewarding to see that we could put this all together in such a short amount of time.
I was so incredibly happy that I was able to have this Seder with my friends, especially because I knew I was missing the one with my family back home. My friends and I spent the rest of the night hanging out and talking, which was mainly to avoid all the dishes that had piled up in the sink. It was overall such a great night and I am so thankful for my TCNJ family that celebrated alongside me.