From Dragonfly: A Wonderful Seder

After nothing seeming to go right for the past 24 hours for our Passover observance here, tonight went wonderful! My friend Red (who claims I'm her girlfriend- although she is straight - ha), spent the entire day in the kitchen making very edible and delicious passover foods. Everything was fresh, tasty, and even the salad had vegetables in it besides iceberg lettuce!!! I spent today reading the entire Haggaddah and selecting the readings and songs for tonight, so that we could efficiently eat, tell the most important parts of the Passover Story, and be finished in 1 1/2 hours total time. We finished 10 minutes early - success! Everyone was so happy the entire evening. There was no in-fighting, no drama. We laughed. We sang. It was really, really nice. We even had the Chaplain sit with us through the meal and he seemed to enjoy himself as well. I was so happy to be able to do something, here, for the small Jewish community. It just felt good!

I did do a tradition that I only started doing about a decade ago. I was at a friend's Seder and she had an orange on her Seder plate. She then told the story... one day a young woman asked the Rabbi to allow her to go to Yeshiva and let her become a Rabbi. The Rabbi turned to her and said, "a woman belongs a Rabbi, like an orange belongs on a Seder plate..." So, now, many of us put an orange on the Seder plate - a little feminist act - which seemed ever so appropriate at an all women's prison.

I have to say that we really owe all our gratitude to Red, who literally worked a job in the kitchen that is not hers to do, to ensure we had a good Passover. She did it because she wanted us all to be happy. She worked a 12 hour day. She made her first matzah balls ever - and they were good!!! There is so much to be grateful for when we are able to really enjoy a good meal here, and Red made that happen! I feel my holiday will continue to go well, as we are all feeling good about our experience now.

So to all out there who are Jewish - Happy Passover. To those Christian - Happy Holy Week. To those Athiest/Agnositc - Happy Day. To everyone, regardless of religion - prison is hard, but you CAN do this, even if a couple tears have to fall every now and then (as they did this afternoon for me).