For those of you who've never been to a Passover Seder, go, try one. I guarantee you will appreciate and never take for granted the concept of Freedom again. The Seder commemorates by recreating the enslavement of the Hebrews by the Egyptians many moons ago. You are enslaved in this ceremony that goes on and on and on. Your stomach growls as you smell the food cooking and tempting you. Sure, you get a little taste of matzoh, charoset (chopped apples, cinnamon, and nuts), and maror (fresh grated horseradish). Sure, you get four cups of wine, more if you screw up the blessings. But the fact is, the seder is a test of endurance. The original Survivor. You start out reclining and as the hours drone on, the eyes get heavy. Last person awake gets to eat. More than once I've lifted a Grandma out of an empty soup bowl.

If you have kids it becomes a special challenge. They get antsy and irritable after 10 minutes trying to stay seated. After 3 hours better check your insurance policy because something is gonna burn. They are hungry!! I've seen my kids gnawing on the furniture. The Four Questions get reduced to One: "When the ^*%* do we eat?" Usually we give up trying to keep them seated after an hour and so we undo the seatbelts, handcuffs, leg irons and let them play. We adults will suffer for them.

Finally after 5-10 hours and many longing stares at the family dog it's time to eat. Consumption records get set at this point. I've witnessed entire Seder meals - from soup to dessert - get wolfed in under 20 minutes. It's a primal feeding and afterwards you better count the number of children and check the dog for teethmarks. Afterwards there's a quiet clean-up as we look within ourselves and grimace at our just-displayed lack of humanity. But we are Free, we are Liberated, until the next night when it starts all over.