Editorial: Traditions Are Important

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Traditions are important. We are talking about family and community traditions specifically. Like how in our house on Christmas morning, gifts are opened one at a time, starting with the youngest member of the family so that everyone can see.

This week, we celebrate Passover and Easter, two holidays filled with traditions. Yes, both are filled with religious traditions going back thousands of years, but they are also important family holidays. A time to come together and celebrate as we have since we were children, now with children of our own. COVID may have prevented us gathering the past two years which makes this weekend even more impactful.

In our house we celebrate Easter. Growing up Easter was all about egg hunts and baskets filled with candy and large gatherings with family and friends and church in the morning. The liturgical aspects were meaningful and comforting, but for every young child in our church it was being given a marigold plant as a symbol of the day that was special.

The family gathering afterward was filled with laughter and food. An uncle would inevitably show up wearing an easter bunny costume. One of the traditions that no longer occurs, thankfully. Our mother would make a lamb shaped cake with coconut frosting. This life-like cake would sit as the centerpiece of the table for all to see. My siblings and I would argue to see who got the head, with jellybean eyes.

The day was not really about the food or even the cake, but community. Our church as community and even our family as community, including the Easter Bunny. The best part of the day happened away from the dining room table. When we gathered with family, friends, and lots of dogs for yet another walk down the dirt road to the lake. It was community in motion.

Several years ago, we attended an Interfaith Seder at Temple Sholom. It was a wonderful gathering of people from many different faith traditions. The music was lively, and children were very much a part of the festivities. That evening got us talking and thinking about community and how we interact together.

At the Seder, we witnessed our faith community come together and celebrate Passover. It set the tone for the week; that we should come together as a community as often as we can.

We all lead busy, hectic lives and as we have said before. We are a community that excels in all that we do; whether it is in our professional lives as leaders in business, our students breaking new boundaries in their academics, or the many successful athletes we have throughout town. We like to be successful and that requires hard work, time and commitment.

Making time in our lives for the kind of traditions that create and bind a community of strangers into a community of supportive friends and neighbors – one that lifts each other up – is vital. Then we can hear and share with not just family and friends, but with neighbors we do not know yet or the person we have just met from across town.

Traditions help us do just that. They connect people and generations.

This Friday is Passover and Sunday is Easter. Our houses of worship will be filled with neighbors and friends. There will be a feeling of community as songs and hymns are sung. Families will gather and celebrate being together. There will be laughter and respect and time to really talk. There will be outdoor activities as the weather looks pleasant. There will be the opportunity to enjoy our community and each other. We hope you take that opportunity and make the most of it.

From our family to yours, we wish you all a joyous Passover and wonderful Easter.

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