The hosts at the hotel frantically scoured the building for us, texting our phones, worried we left him behind as we packed up the car and headed home.

The “him” in question was Kermit the Frog. We weren’t quite in “Home Alone” territory, but the staff of the Passover program in Niagara-on-the-Lake, at which my wife and I were scholars-in-residence for the week, knew we couldn’t leave Kermit behind.