APRIL 1 • 2021 | 27

F

or my family, 2020’s 
guest-less seders are 
thankfully a blur. But 
memories of one feathered, 
clucking visitor from 2019’s 
seder kept us uplifted through 
that lonely Passover of 2020.
The last time we celebrated 
the holiday in “regular” mode, 
an unexpected, not officially 
invited and, for some, unwanted 
caller joined the group.
My mom and dad, Ceil and 
Jerry Liebman, are welcoming 
of everyone — yearly hosting 
a crowd of nearly 50 for both 
seders — with half the guests 
staying on each night for an 
extended family slumber party. 
But we discovered that their 
acceptance is apparently for 
humans only when my then 
17-year-old niece, Emma 
Zdrojewski, showed up at the 

first seder with a chick-
en! And not the kind to 
serve at the table. 
On the way to my 
parents’ Southfield 
home that night, Emma 
saw the lone white bird 
running from yard to 
yard through the neigh-
borhood. 
With considerable 
knowledge of all-things ani-
mal, reptile and beyond, and 
caregiver at that time to two 
cats, two hedgehogs, a dog and 
a gecko, Emma said, “I knew 
she was lost, so I called to her.
” 
Then, right out of the classic, 
old joke, she said, “
At that point, 
the chicken actually crossed the 
road and came to me!” 
Emma said she needed to 
keep it with her so it would 
be safe from cars and animals, 

and since her next stop was 
Grandma and Grandpa’s house, 
Marshmallow, as she quickly 
named her, came along.
Because she knew the chicken 
would not be happily greeted 
by my parents, Emma discreetly 
relegated her to the garage that 
led into the kitchen, where she 
was to stay during our hap-
pily long, entertaining, very 
late-ending seder. 
Quickly the rumor of the 
chicken circulated and the 
dozen or so kids and many of 
the adults took turns leaving the 
seder table to visit Marshmallow 
and feed her water and bites of 
matzah. Even after those in the 
know heeded the strict warning, 
“Don’t tell Grandma!” the secret 
leaked out and Marshmallow 
was banished to the front porch, 
guarded by Emma until it was 
time to go home.
In the meantime, to no 
avail, Emma’s dad knocked on 

neighbors’ doors in search of 
the chicken’s owners. When he 
and Emma asked a group of 
neighbors taking a walk if they 
knew of anyone who owned a 
chicken, they surprisingly said 
they did and directed them to a 
nearby house.

A MORNING EGG
But when they arrived, no 
one was there so they took 
Marshmallow to Emma’s dad’s 

West Bloomfield home, where 
she slept in her own private 
suite in a giant dog crate, with 
supervised walking-around-the-
room privileges. 
The next morning, 
Marshmallow was fed a break-
fast of cornmeal mixed with 
water and worms Emma dug up 
outside for her — at the sugges-
tion of Emma’s dad, who raised 
chickens as a kid. “But then, 
she kept backing herself into 
corners and kicking her feet 
out and clucking almost as if 
she were annoyed,
” Emma said. 
“I left her alone for a bit, and 
when I came back: there was an 
egg in the cage!”
That afternoon, our large 
family-group reassembled 
around the giant cluster of 
tables in my parents’ family 
room. Just before lunch was 
served, Emma presented her 
grandma with a small, decora-
tive box, which, when opened, 
revealed the egg, a thank you 
present from Marshmallow for 
the hospitality she was shown. 
Even with the new-found con-
nection between my mom and 
the chicken, Marshmallow was 
not invited back that evening. 
But the gifted egg was later 
hard-boiled and given a coveted 
spot on that night’s seder plate. 
On the third day of Passover, 
Marshmallow’s owners were 
reached, and Emma and her 
dad took her to her “family.
” 
They had been out of town and 
Marshmallow and her flock 
were being cared for by chick-
en-sitters when she got loose. 
But before returning home, 
Marshmallow produced a gift 
for Emma and her dad, too. 
A second egg. “It was like we 
were running a bed and break-
fast,
” Emma said. “We gave 
Marshmallow a place to sleep, 
and she left us something to 
scramble in butter. Our break-
fast that day was delicious.
” 

PASSOVER

A chicken’s unexpected answer 
to an age-old question.

The Seder on 
the Other Side 
of the Road

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Ceil Liebman displays 
the egg from her 
unexpected seder guest.

Emma has fun 
bonding with 
Marshmallow. 

