Have you ever made a snow angel or gone sledding down a hill? When the Chicago Board of Rabbis met recently for a study session prior to Passover, those were my definitions of freedom. Being totally in the moment. Laughing.

I didn’t think that we would experience freedom that way for Passover. This is a spring holiday. Then I heard the forecast. I bought the pansies anyway. This is a spring holiday. We had corrected the calendar by adding Adar II. We added the month of Adar. Then the flakes fell. I bought white tulips. Then the flakes really fell. We set the table. We got an inch and a half. It snowed through the entire evening.

Every time we read about spring in the Haggadah, we laughed, we joked. Dip the parsley in salt water to represent spring? Really? For lo the winter is past? Not so much. We drink four cups of wine to represent the four seasons? Maybe. Did we make snow angels? No. But we did take pictures on the deck. And we did make a snow woman wearing a talit and a kippah (an upside down pansy flower!) Maybe she was Miriam.

With freedom comes responsibility. Perhaps this snowfall is a reminder of climate change and our responsibility to be caretakers of the earth. We are partners with God in creation. If the goal is to create Jewish memories, this is one Passover we will never forget!