For the first night of Passover, I attended my friends seder at her home in Colombus, Ohio. It was great, one of the best I have ever had. I enjoyed the Jewish environment I was in and felt almost at home with my own family (a goal of the Passover seder).
One of the most famous lines from the seder is, "Ha'Shana Ha'baah Beh Yerushalim", or in English, "Next year in Jerusalem". A pang of sadness fell over me, because two years ago this was true. Last year, I did celebrate Passover in Israel with my family that lives there. It was a great seder, one very similar to the one I have at home, yet there was something different. I felt as though the seder in Israel actually allowed me to be a Jew who was taken out of the land of Egypt by G-D. I know this may sound silly, but there was a certain holiness to my experience which I just did not feel in America.
Like most seniors, we are nervous about what the future holds in terms of jobs, living, money, and all the other factors associated with being a recent college graduate. I do not know what I am doing but one of my options is to travel to Israel for a year on a program. During the seder I thought, am I going to be in Israel next year like the Haggadah tells me to do? Will I never feel this holiness again unless I celebrate the holiday in the holy land?
Although I would like to go back to Israel for every Passover, it is not reality. I feel as though if I am able to make the connection I felt in Israel to my future Passover experiences, I will be ok. I hope that I am able to travel back to Israel as many times as possible for this holiday, but being with those who matter seems to be most important at this stage of my life.
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3 comments:
You are very lucky. I wish that I could celebrate a seder in Israel and I am sorry that you were unable to do that this year. Although I do still find you very lucky to have been able to be part of a family seder this year. For my past two years at school I have been unable to celebrate Passover with my family and because of this I have not felt as though my Passovers at school were real. I just do not get the same feeling that I believe you mentioned being with your family. I also think that you are doing a great job in the eyes of your family and your religion so you have nothing to worry about in the future and what it holds for you.
I wish I could too. It would just be so awesome to see how the Israeli's celebrate it. What they eat? how long their sedars are? I once went to an orthodox family for Passover and the sedar was no joke 3 hours long. I am used to normally about an our long not 3. This was the hardest sedar to sit through. By the end of the sedar I think everyone was junk off of wine. It was really funny.
I hope you get the opportunity to return to Israel for Seder. The most interesting seder I have ever attended was in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The seder took place in 3 languages, lasted for 3 hours, and was one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced in my life. I think it is interesting how different cultures celebrate the Jewish holidays. I hope one day I get to actually spend "Next Year in Jerusalem" and experiene what it is like at an Israeli seder.
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