Biden wishes 'hope' for the year ahead for Passover

Emhoff hosted the virtual event that was live-streamed days before the actual holiday.

In a pre-recorded address, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden stressed the need to get through the coronavirus crisis so that families could celebrate the holiday in person next year.

With more than 42 percent of all American seniors already fully inoculated against COVID-19, some vaccinated Jewish grandparents, forced to hold seders on Zoom last Passover, are emerging to embrace loved ones around the seder table during the weeklong celebration that begins on Saturday (March 27).

Grandparents scrambled to arrange Passover get-togethers once the CDC issued its guarded blessing for limited in-person holiday gatherings this month.

Passover is the first major holiday for Americans to come together since the CDC this month advised that vaccinated people can hold small, unmasked gatherings with unvaccinated people from a single household.

With Easter a week away and the summer holidays on the horizon, it will also be a test of whether people can act responsibly since gatherings still pose some risks.

Passover is a Jewish spring holiday to commemorate the biblical story of the exodus of Hebrews from Egyptian slavery, in which God instructed Jews to mark their doors so the Angel of Death would "pass over" them.

It is celebrated by at least one seder that is typically led by a family matriarch or patriarch, who gathers family and friends around the seder table to enjoy a feast.