“My grown children went to the other side of their families for the Passover seders one year and, despite many invitations from family and friends, I chose to make the seder at my second home, Hadassah Hospital-Mount Scopus,” says Hadassah midwife Dafna Tayer.
“Although there is a large seder in the hospital,” she relates, “we make our own in the delivery room complex, where we need to be on hand. Ours is an unusual group of nurses and doctors, Jews and Arabs, from Israel and abroad. Each of us brings a first course, main course, and a dessert—all kosher for Passover. Of course, we recite all the blessings and conduct all the ceremonies if we have time. We substitute grape juice for the four cups of wine. We have a wonderful family feeling at Hadassah Mount Scopus, and the joy of making a seder in the delivery room unit stays with us for the whole year. The first time I agreed to be on duty, I knew I had made the right decision to be in the right place at the right time.”