By Aliza Kline

I know I am not alone in thinking about how this pandemic is affecting our personal, spiritual, and communal lives. This year there is a real risk of people in our community feeling like strangers. As the CEO of OneTable I am constantly focused on our core value of hospitality. Our team designs and redesigns technology and resources to make it easier to find or host a dinner that brings people together. The commandment to “welcome the stranger” is even more vivid when it comes to Seder.

This year we have real opportunities to do so in new, inviting, dynamic ways.

I am excited to introduce Seder2020 Powered by OneTable, a platform for organizing and sharing your online Seder with family, friends, and the community at large. Like AirBnB’s website but for Seder – you can host a private digital Seder with friends and family, or you can open up your Seder to those who might otherwise be alone.

Seder2020.org aims to ease the pressure on hosting (or attending) an online Seder, leveraging all of the expertise OneTable has accrued over the last five years supporting 30,000 Shabbat dinners. In addition to the technology, you will find downloadable haggadot and recipes so that everyone can be reading from the same page and eating from the same menu.

Seder2020.org is built on OneTable’s social dining platform – and the really great thing about a platform is that anyone can build on top of it. This is truly the intention of Seder2020.org and of our core funding partners on this effort, the Joyce and Irving Goldman Family Foundation.

Just some of the ways it can be utilized include:

• Synagogues, JCCs and other organizations can post their community Seders here – people looking for local Seders may find new opportunities and spiritual homes here.
• People with special interests or themes can “find their people” who share interests (think the Harry Potter Seder, the Phish themed Seder, the climate justice Seder, etc.).
• Families or groups of friends who want to coordinate a Seder can use the platform to share information, readings, a haggadah, and a link for video conferencing.
• Pre-Seder activities like morning matzo baking workshops, cocktail hours, Rabbi Q&A sessions, giving circles

SEDER2020 is for everyone. We can’t wait to see what kind of creative ideas appear.

Aliza Kline is CEO and Co-Founder of OneTable.