My AirBNB Seder

By Robbin Steif May 10, 2017, 6:33 pm 0 Edit

It started, like so many things in life, with my sister.

You see, my extended family meets in the metro DC area for Passover. It’s a very convenient location for many – even I can drive there from Pittsburgh. But suddenly, the venue for our first seder fell through.

So my sister “suggested” that I rent a house for my my daughter, future son-in-law and myself. And that would be so convenient, she pointed out, because then I could host the seder.

I am nothing if not the dutiful younger sister, so I spent a couple of weeks looking at AirBNBs in that geographical area. It was much harder than I expected, because I had multiple needs — would I be able to seat thirteen adults and a few little kids? Was it nice enough to live there for a long weekend? And most important of all, were there prohibitions against events? Eventually, I found a little jewel of a townhouse in Silver Spring, MD.that fit the bill.

Next I turned to the problem of food. Even the best of kitchens would have posed a problem for me, someone who doesn’t cook. And especially, doesn’t cook when she can be hanging out with family.

Fortunately, the local kosher supermarket offered ready-made seder take-out. I was even able to order a plastic seder plate with everything from scorched egg to horseradish. I loved that I could get an bowl of extra charoset (It was as good as the charoset my mom used to make!)

The seder was a big success, despite the fact that we didn’t have garbage bags, we ran out of dishwashing liquid, and the seder leader had to leave when his 2-year-old got sick. Being together made it all worthwhile.

Next year, it’s my sister’s turn.

Robbin Steif is the owner and CEO of LunaMetrics, the company she started 12 years ago.