A federal contractor in communications strategy who lives in northern Virginia, Fienberg couldn’t go back to work after the shiva, or seven days of Jewish mourning, were up.
For a dozen years before the shooting, Fienberg and her mother-in-law, Joyce, had prepared the meal at the heart of the holiday together. Joyce Fienberg was used to cooking the seder meal — a ritual reenactment of the story of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt — for as many as 25 guests. She always made matzo ball soup, sometimes three kinds — her regular recipe, a heartier whole-wheat version, and a gluten-free version.