Plans cancelled, flights grounded, businesses closed, stock portfolios plummeting, people suffering. We all have reason to feel a little bitter these days. During Passover, we eat bitter herbs like horseradish to remind ourselves of the hardships of slavery. But we do not allow the bitterness to consume us entirely. After that sting, we mix a little sweetness from the charoset into the maror. We pause and bless the moment of confronting our difficulties, grateful that they too shall pass. 

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melekh ha’olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al achilat maror.