Due to current circumstances, many people who usually go out to friends or family for the Seder will be making a seder at home. But unfortunately, lots of us don’t know how to make a Seder. We prepare, and follow the instructions in the Haggadah, but will still make mistakes.
But we must remember, and remind each other, that God doesn’t mind the mistakes that we will make. God wants to be at your Seder. If we don’t know how to do it, we still must try. Getting all the rituals exactly right is not what ultimately matters to God. The fact that we’re making a seder and inviting him by doing the Mitzvah is what he enjoys. That’s what he loves.
When we make a Seder, no matter how well or technically correct we do it, it means everything to God.
When we ask the Four Questions, we preface by saying in Yiddish “Tatteh, Ich vil by dir fregen fir kashes” which means “father, I’d like to ask you four questions.” When we say this, even if our fathers have passed away, our fathers listen. No matter how well we do the Seder, the souls of our fathers come down from heaven to hear us ask them the Four Question.
What’s happens on Pesach is an infinite event that takes place in both heaven and earth. Pesach is everywhere. That is why, no matter what, God will be at your Seder. Elijah The Prophet will come to your Seder. Your parents and grandparents who have passed will descend from their heavenly paradise to come to the Seder and be there with you so that you are not alone, and they will get immense pleasure hearing us ask the Four Questions.
God doesn’t expect perfection. Trying to make a seder alone is perfect to him. To God, if you follow the instructions to the best of your ability because you want to do his Mitzvah, that is perfect. That is so infinite that if you forget a word, or if you mix up the order of things, it doesn’t detract from the pleasure that it gives him.
Even one person sitting in a little apartment trying to make a seder, and all they know is that there’s Matzah and there’s wine, it is perfect to God.
The past year has been very difficult. We have struggled with loneliness, sickness, and the loss of loved ones, and due to safety restrictions, most of us couldn’t even say Kaddish for those who have passed before a Minyan. But from the teachings of the Torah we know that if we cannot do a Mitzvah, then God is telling us that it is not necessary. Usually, a soul that passes needs it’s children on earth to say Kaddish to bring it to heaven. But the people who have passed during this pandemic were special souls. These souls went straight to heaven. The Kaddish was not necessary.
If this year we can’t have a seder like we used to, and can’t follow all the customs and traditions perfectly, then God is telling us that it is not necessary this year. All God wants is our presence at the seder. That’s what he asked for and that’s what we will do to the best of our abilities.