Due to the recent events, Longwood University has shut down all in-person classes and activities, but that still has not stopped our brave Longwood Lancers from forming bonds over online sources. We have used text, Zoom, Panopto Recordings, Slack, group calls, and even live videos to stay in touch with all of our friends at a distance. One group recently went above and beyond and performed an event one hundred percent virtual. The Jewish Culture Club, otherwise known as JCC, performed its first-ever virtual Chocolate Seder.
For those who may not be aware, a Seder is a Jewish ritual service and ceremonial meal for the first night of Passover. A Seder would normally consist of a shank bone, an egg, bitter herbs, vegetables, and haroset, but this Seder took a different route. President and Founder of the Jewish Culture Club, Jesse C Plichta Kellar talked a bit about the Chocolate Seder, “The Chocolate Seder is a cute and easy way for kids to understand the Seder process.” They went live on April 5th at six in the evening, providing a PDF file for all viewers to follow along with the live video on Facebook. Both Jesse C Plichta Kellar and Jordan Berkompas, events coordinator of JCC, hosted this live video from their living quarters. As told, not only was this their first online Seder, but this was their first event that was completely virtual. They have held hybrid events before, but nothing like this.
The first official JCC Seder was held back in April of 2018 and they did not want to give up this tradition. As described, once they realized that they could not hold a Seder in person, they had to decide what to do next. After some time, they decided to hold the Seder over a Facebook live video because it was not good for organizations to just drop off the face of the Earth. With this being the first live online event, the JCC considered this highly successful with a total of forty people showing up, fifteen at most during different periods. They even had people joining in from out of state.
The JCC showed a bold message that just because we are under quarantine and we cannot see the people we were with all the time, does not mean we should give up hope. JCC showed that we are still here, even if we are not together. We are still Lancers no matter what comes our way, we are still a family.
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
