26 | APRIL 2 • 2020 

Next Year in Person;
 This Year on Zoom

COVID-19 changes Passover plans for many families.

JENNIFER LOVY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Passover

F

or sisters Elayne Moss and Terry 
Schwartz, Passover is a marathon event 
of cooking and entertaining. Together, 
they host an average of 35-40 people for 
each seder. Throughout the week, they pretty 
much have an open-door meal policy for 
family and friends. It’
s a tradition that started 
during their childhoods. 
Lunch guests average around 12 per day, 
and dinners are about the same, if not more. 
Do the math and, on the conservative side, 
they serve between 230 and 260 Passover 
meals. 
Earlier this month, before the virus tra-
versed the country, Moss made part of her 
Southfield kitchen kosher and completed 
most of her Passover baking. She also 
cooked dozens of meatballs and prepared 
four batches of chicken soup, each with 10 
pounds of chicken boiled in a 16-quart pot. 
At the time, she had no idea her guest list 
was about to be reduced to three or four 
immediate family members. 
Moss now plans on giving the soup and 
extra food to extended family and friends, 
whom she invited to drive by for carry-out. 
Schwartz, who grew up in Metro Detroit 
and now lives in New York, said this is the 
first Passover the family will not be together. 
She and her husband will join Moss and the 
rest of their family for seder on Zoom, a vid-
eoconference service. 

Recently, a group of Orthodox rabbis in 
Israel said they would permit the use of 
technology like Zoom to allow families to 
conduct a seder if it is turned on before the 
start of Passover. 
Farmington Hills resident Lila Zorn was 
supposed to host her immediate and extend-
ed family — nearly 50 — for the first-night 
seder. Now they will gather via Zoom from 
their respective homes. 
“
At least we will be able to connect and 
not feel as isolated,
” Zorn said. “The purpose 
of the seder is to teach your children. This 
year they’
ll learn that you follow the rules (of 
social distancing), you respect everyone else 

and try to keep them safe, and you remem-
ber what’
s important.
”
Jacqueline Rose, a West Bloomfield native 
now living in Vermont, is among those who 
will have a laptop or cell phone at the seder 
table. This year marks the first time she, her 
husband and their two children (ages 10 and 
12) will not be in West Bloomfield celebrat-
ing with her parents. 
Rose said she will use Zoom the first 
night; the second night will most likely be 
limited to her immediate family. “I plan to 
crack out the seder plate I got for my wed-
ding but never used,
” she said. 
Suellen Trionfi, on the other hand, is 
opting for a quiet seder with her partner, 
Kenneth Sidlow. “We’
ll enjoy the holiday the 
best we can,
” she said. 
They spend half the year in Commerce 
Township and the other half in Sarasota. 
Currently, they are in Florida, where they 
typically stay until after Passover. It’
s a holi-
day they traditionally celebrate with Sidlow’
s 
brother and a group of friends. 
“It’
s a nice mix of Jews and non-Jews all 
learning and enjoying the holiday together,
” 
she said. 
Trionfi has five pounds of matzah and 
four gallons of frozen chicken soup. Like 
Moss, she will make care packages for the 
guests who should have been at her Passover 
table. 

Hardworking hostesses: 
Sisters Terry Schwartz 
and Elayne Moss just 
before one of their 
usually massive seders.

Elayne Moss and her sister, 
Terry Schwartz, usually host 
about 35-40 people per seder, 
but not this year because of 
the coronavirus. 

COURTESY OF ELAYNE MOSS AND TERRY SCHWARTZ

026_DJN040220_PO online seders caterers.indd 26
026_DJN040220_PO online seders caterers.indd 26
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3/30/20 3:07 PM

