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Seder survives Md. legislature’s Sine Die
Seder survives Md. legislature’s Sine Die
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ANNAPOLIS – Thousands of years in the making, the Sine Die Seder went off without a hitch Monday night as legislators took a break at 6 p.m. from their mad dash to midnight to celebrate the Israelites’ escape from Egyptian bondage 3,400 years ago.
The traditional Passover meal, which often lasts for more than two hours, was completed in an hour because senators in attendance – including Cheryl Kagan, Bobby Zirkin and Paul Pinsky — were due back at floor session at 7 p.m. Most attendees stuck to the Haggadah – the storybook of Passover and the Seder – as they read from it.
But Kagan did some ad-libbing in honor of the final day of the 2017 General Assembly session.
“We come together to celebrate the hope we share for a world of peace and freedom,” Kagan read before adding, “and balanced budgets and getting our bills passed before sine die.”
That the first night of Passover occurred on the last night of the General Assembly session resulted from a confluence of the Jewish calendar and the Maryland Constitution, which calls for an annual 90-day legislative session that begins on the second Wednesday in January.
