16 | MARCH 18 • 2021 

A

ll-in participation is the key to a 
successful Zoom seder, accord-
ing to four local event planners 
whose clients have asked for help with 
Zoom weddings, Zoom bar and bat mitz-
vahs, Zoom baby naming ceremonies and 
Zoom holiday parties during this past year 
of pandemic isolation.
The idea is to have everyone sense 
togetherness at a singular event while 
keeping active, so they don’t feel that they 
are just looking at another screen. 
While the four — Gail Ball, Janice 
Cherkasky, Susan Siegal and Andrea 
Solomon — are looking forward to when 
they again can plan in-person 
activities, this past year of 
online events provided several 
lessons for planning this year’s 
Passover seders.
“One person has to be in 
charge,
” said Cherkasky of 
Franklin, whose business is 
Gourmet Parties. “That doesn’t 
mean the person in charge 
does everything. It means that 
the person in charge involves 
everybody so that the seder is 
well organized.
”
Involving everybody means 
having someone specifically coordinating 
food choices and sources, someone else 
making assignments for the service and yet 
another handling the technology.
Cherkasky explains that, as a group, 
people first need to decide how they want 
to arrange for the food with three con-
siderations in mind — the level of kosher 
observance, the distances between homes 
and the total number of guests entering 
into the celebration. 
 Whether people live close together or far 

apart, they can decide to have every house-
hold individually cooking the same menu 
with recipes provided in advance by email. 
If they live close together and the num-
ber of households seem manageable, each 
dish can be assigned to one person with 
one household assuming distribution tasks 
— receiving the foods, dividing up the por-
tions and setting up packages as specialties 
are delivered and picked up. Recipes can be 
emailed at a later date so that others can try 
out the ethnic delicacies on their own.
“
An easy choice for the food could be 

ordering from a specific caterer so that 
the same meals could be picked up indi-
vidually by a member of each household,
” 
Cherkasky said.
While one person is in charge of the 
service, everyone should have a part in 
recitation, they agree. The first decision has 
to do with choosing the Haggadah, which 
could be mailed or emailed in advance or 
projected on the Zoom screen so everyone 
can follow along.
“I have a friend who writes a Haggadah, 
and it’s not long so it will work for our 
Zoom service, but, of course, that option 
must be agreed upon in advance,
” said 
Solomon of West Bloomfield. 
If the Haggadah is projected on the screen, 
one with colorful pictures would be more 
interesting, especially for the youngsters. 

APPEALING TO KIDS
Gail Ball of Gail Ball Events in West 
Bloomfield advises that special consider-
ation should be given so that very young 
children feel connected to the service 
and, therefore, the holiday and Judaism.
 “Children could be asked to draw pic-
tures of what is being observed or even 
given Passover coloring books,
” Ball said. 
“The seder should be interactive for them 
as well as the adults as they show what has 
been drawn.
”
Susan Siegal, a planner in partnership 
with Terri Trepeck for the 
Event Bliss & Gifts party store 
in Franklin, likes to enhance 
the seder by assigning parts of 
the Haggadah to guests and 
asking them to sing their parts 
to a Broadway melody indi-
vidually chosen.
“It really gets everyone 
involved,
” Siegal said. “Others have to try to 
name the seder tune. It’s different, and it’s 
fun.
” 
Solomon believes the service is made 

more interesting with young children in 
costumes if they are so inclined. This makes 
them feel they have stepped into the times 
being marked by the service. 
Setting the table in similar ways also adds 
to the feeling of oneness, Solomon advises. 
While participants can agree on the kinds 
of centerpieces, Solomon is glad when a rel-
ative likes to provide small crafted objects to 
enhance the mood. One year, she brought 
plastic frogs to increase connections to the 
holiday story. 
Depending on the distance of the fami-
lies and friends interacting this year, inter-
ested participants can decide on symbolic 
objects to be sent by mail or delivered.
With the search for the afikoman, 
adults can agree to hide it in a compara-
ble place in each household. 

Gail Ball

“AN EASY CHOICE FOR FOOD IS ORDERING 
FROM ONE CATERER SO THE SAME MEALS

ARE PICKED UP BY EACH HOUSEHOLD.”

— PARTY PLANNER JANICE CHERKASKY

PASSOVER
Rules of
Engagement

Party planners provide tips to keep 
your Zoom seder guests participating.

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Janice 
Cherasky

Susan 
Siegal

