A sweet tale about bitter herbs

A few years back, on one of my pre-Pesach shopping expeditions to ShopRite, I searched for — but could not find — a small piece of horseradish for our seder plate. In fact, I discovered that there were no small horseradish roots to be found, but there was a pile of gesunte-sized roots. So, for lack of anything more compact, I invested in a gnarled, dirt-infused 18-inch-long piece of horseradish, and I checked it off my list.

When my husband, Rich, saw the monstrous root, he suggested that I might have gone a bit overboard on bitter herbs. But I assured him that we could find someone to share it with — shtetl-style.

And so I announced the free maror giveaway to our proverbial shtetl marketplace — known as Facebook SOMA Kibbutz (now called Shevet SOMA). And it wasn’t long before I got a few responses — all from strangers — and I invited them to come to my home and pick up a slice.

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So on the day before the seder, as I was scurrying around to get ready — feeling overwhelmed and stressed — the doorbell rang and I welcomed the first taker. I discovered that she was a young mother, a rabbinical student, and a member of my synagogue. As we were talking, the bell rang again, and it was another young mother, carrying a toddler. As I went to retrieve the horseradish root, the two women began to talk and discovered that their children were the same age. They had each had moved to SOMA recently, and they had friends in common.

As I was cutting a segment for them, the doorbell rang again. This time, a mom with school-aged kids joined the group. And she was able to offer recommendations for preschools, pediatricians, and playgrounds.

And finally the therapist from across the street popped in and asked if she could have a piece. Before long everyone was talking, laughing, playing Jewish geography, commiserating about the bitter tasks of the day ahead, and exchanging contact information

And so what started out as a simple transaction — sharing an oversized piece of horseradish — turned strangers into friends.

We didn’t know each other before, but now we were bonded as maror buddies. And fortified by the sweet echoes of new connections, everyone parted, bustling on to finish the more formidable tasks of preparing for the holiday.

And the coda is that I would have ended up with just the right-sized piece of horseradish had not a procrastinating Facebook friend appeared at my door right before the seder and asked for a piece of my root.

So I ended up with a very small piece of maror for my seder plate, but a wonderful story of how to turn the bitter into the sweet through the blessing of community.

Treasure Cohen of Maplewood is a lifelong Jewish educator who has worked with synagogues and schools across MetroWest to create meaningful family education programs, including Jewish Discovery Zone, Shana Tova Choo Choo, and Jewish Home Sweet Home and is a pioneer in developing Shabbat and holiday services for young children and their families. She and her husband, Rich, have four children and 11 grandchildren.