I finally had my first Seder yesterday. It was also the first time that I had matzah, matzo ball soup, wine, and gefilte fish, all of which I enjoyed having. I tried to imagine myself being an ancient Hebrew who hastily escaped chattel slavery, but it was difficult when there was so much commotion in the room.

Above all, the Seder was about mourning the situation in Gaza, how they have little to eat and only salt water to drink. We took turns reading from a pamphlet about the situation there and why we could not in good conscience have a celebratory Seder like most other Jews would normally have. We weren’t miserable during the event, but being conscious of Palestinian suffering made the Seder very different: we all knew that Gazans were still going to be in agony after the Seder was over.

Despite the noise in the room (in between and after reading from the pamphlet), I managed to have a couple of conversations with the other guests. The one to my right was taciturn, but we talked a little about the Spanish State and the Jewish history there and in Morocco.

The one to my left was more energetic, and we talked about modern history, like the status of gay Jews in the Third Reich. I told him that I may well have written the first article specifically on the subject, and I wrote on a napkin where he could find the topic—https:lemmy.ml (I wish that I had been more specific)—and my telephone number. Later he agreed to take me home and we talked about historical conspiracies and other events in modern history, like the Fascist invasion of Ethiopia and how Imperial America forgave most of Fascist Italy’s WWI debt, which amazed him. He hasn’t tried to contact me yet, but I wish that we could speak again.