Prague Journal

Saturday, April 9, 2005

It’s been rainy and dreary for the last two days – a good time to stay indoors. Rick and I are finishing up last-minute tasks (reviews, revisions, etc) and getting ready for our trip to Israel. Travel is easier these days – thanks to the internet and ATM machines – so there is less fuss unless one is going to a country that requires a visa. We have plane tickets in hand (Czech Airlines still requires paper tickets) and mobile phones in case of emergency. We live in a rented flat on the top floor so we have nothing to worry about—including plants to water—in our absence.
This evening I went to a lecture about the Passover Haggadah by Rabbi Daniel Goldfarb, the director of the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. Of all the Jewish holidays, Passover is the one most commonly observed, even by otherwise non-observant Jews. According to the 1990
National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS), more than 80% of Jews have attended a Passover seder. http://www.jewfaq.org/holidaya.htm The primary observances of Passover are related to the Exodus from Egypt after generations of slavery, as told in Exodus, Ch. 1-15. The holiday is also referred to as the Spring Festival, the Festival of Matzas, and the Time of Our Freedom. Probably the most significant observance related to Passover involves the removal of chametz, or leavening from our homes. This commemorates the fact that the Jews leaving Egypt were in a hurry, and did not have time to let their bread rise. It is also a symbolic way of removing the "puffiness" (arrogance, pride) from our souls. Without meaning to ascribe an exalted purpose to such a humble action, perhaps the fact that we are at last eating up all the old bread in the house before we leave for Israel qualifies as a distant echo of this mitzvah.
The Passover seder (the order of the dinner) parallels the emergence from slavery and oppression to freedom. The meal starts in a lowly situation, eating bitter herbs and unleavened bread (matzoh), and ends in a praiseworthy situation, reclining over an elegant meal, similar to that of a Greek or Roman symposium. We’ll have Passover this year in Israel with Rick’s cousins. We will only celebrate Passover with one seder (two are the tradition everywhere outside Jerusalem) and we will miss our dear Denver friends, with whom the second seder has been an ongoing tradition. I know Vivien is reading this, and she knows that we miss her and her family very much. The hardest thing about living far from home is being away from close friends and family. We will celebrate being with Rick’s family in Israel this year.

posted by JWinn @ 10:26 PM