Passover during the COVID pandemic was no easy feat. Once the obvious plague jokes were behind us, we were left with the task of reaching as many Jewish Cornell students as possible, with strict limitations (no indoor gatherings, max 10 people at a time).

We dreamed up “Matzoh Ball Mini Seder,” a rapid and abridged seder that featured all of the seder’s greatest hits. Four hour-long shifts of ten people each filled up our backyard tent.

The challenge: getting college students excited about celebrating a Jewish holiday outdoors during a pandemic.

The plan: make really silly, but trendy, Passover themed graphics and swag to sell them on the magic of Passover.

The Cast of Characters

The Instagram Ad for “Matzoh Ball Mini Seder”

The Custom Haggadah

As anyone who gets bored easily can tell you, Passover seders can last north of 6 hours (and can sometimes feel like 12). While I do love a long seder, with the university’s COVID requirements, we had to keep it quick. The only way to fit the whole seder into one hour was to create our own haggadah, the guidebook for the Passover seder.

The Merch

We don’t use our phones on Passover so we don’t have any pictures of the event. But trust me when I say it was intense (and not just because it was in a tent).