After a steamy morning at the Szechenyi hot mineral baths, we had a free afternoon to get to know Budapest. With a few friends, I visited the Central Market, a vast warehouse filled with stands of produce, leather goods, and tourist tschochkes. But, the real shopping of the day had to be done elsewhere – we had a seder to prepare for thirty hungry students and just a few hours until go-time.
Some Hillel Shabbat veteran seniors knew just how to handle this situation. A convenience store, a grocery store, and thousands of forints later, we had cheeses and sauces and toppings for a matzah pizza feast, along with the basics for five seder plates, improvised but completely delicious charoset, and endless matzah ball soup, too.
Over the course of the afternoon prep work for the feast, we heard five different languages spoken in the hostel’s open kitchen. By seder time, the soup was at a high boil and the countertops were covered in more than fifty slices of matzah pizza. Chocolate fruit was cooling in the fridge and the first cups of wine were poured.
Our crew commandeered the back parlor of the hostel. The boys in button downs and khakis, the girls in nice blouses – we really clean up nicely. Just as everyone was seated, Alyssa led us in an opening activity, challenging us to free ourselves from our seats and go sit with someone we hadn’t yet gotten to know well. After musical chairs was complete, the seder began. Jon and Tracy guided us through, and over the course of the night, two guests, other wandering Jews staying at our hostel even joined in to hear Maggid, the story of how we left Egypt, theories of the Four Songs, and a rousing rendition of Had Gadya and Who Knows One?. Full participation came from all corners of the table: Lita led us in the first cup of wine; Hayley hid the matzah (Gabi found it); Freshmen Ariella and Natalie kicked off the four questions but everyone joined in; Daniel, Danielle and Ali announced and modern danced the plagues; Ben opened the door for Elijah; Serena played us the Redemption Song as the closure, Nirtzah. The boys washed the dishes quickly and we were off to conclude our night in royal style.
On the bus up to Buda Hills, the high spirit of our group’s camaraderie was palpable. Stuffed from our five-star feast (every bite was demolished), all of us still had the energy to emblazon fresh footprints through the snowy plazas of Budapest’s grand Palace. As we took in the views of incredible columns and huge lion statues, we jumped around as the snowflakes fell, making for quite the photoshoot opportunity. Kodak moments abounded - we won’t forget this night, different from all others.
We’ve learned on our trip that for centuries, Jewish identity has been in flux in Hungary. Nazism, Communism, and Anti-Zionism have all tried to squash the community. As we stood in front of the palace, gazing down across the whole of the city, our group felt on top of the world. We had experienced two landmark seders, an unexpected snowstorm, and then stumbled upon an empty palace complex as night and taken it over, running through it with full freedom. We’ve been able to explore Judaism here in ways so outside the box – we are unlimited.
Soggy boots can’t hold us back. We’re learning about an incredible history, and we’re making history at the same time.
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