First Passover
In just a couple of days we will be celebrating our first Pesach (Passover) in Israel. For 50-some years I have heard, and read, and thought about the phrase near the end of the Pesach service which says “Next Year In Jerusalem!” I am told that here in Israel they say “rebuilt Jerusalem.” But for all of those years I wondered about who was supposed to go to Jerusalem, and why. My father certainly didn’t want to go, he was an “American First.” Me, as far as I can remember back I always thought I was a Jew first. I believed the Bible when it said that G-d gave Israel to the Jewish people as an inheritance, to possess and populate. My mother was a Zionist, and she almost took a trip to Israel once, but I never could figure out who were the people who were going to go to Jerusalem for Pesach, and when.
Last Pesach we were with the family. The part that has returned to true Judaism, anyway. It was a yearly occasion, and starting in January plans were already starting to be made about where it will be held, who would cook what, etc. It was a wonderful yearly family experience. And last Pesach at the end of the Seder we were so excited to say “Next year in Jerusalem.” We were making aliyah! We were fulfilling the dream of Jews all over the world for thousands of years to move to our Land. We were happy. We were celebrating. We gladly and happily cleaned and removed the chametz from the house. Then Pesach was over, and we went on with our aliyah plans.
We made aliyah in July 2005, so this will be our very first Pesach in Israel. How exciting! It’s now “This year in Jerusalem.”
But there’s no family to celebrate it here with. We’ll be going to the home of another Anglo couple for the Seder, but it won’t be the same. There won’t be the same songs from my grandchildren, the games and the multiple repetitions of the “Four Questions.” There won’t be their laughing faces, one year older, but still my little ones.
I guess I thought I could write more about this, but I can’t. Before I find that I can’t see the computer screen any more, I just want to say that my daily prayer truly is that soon they will realize that all Jews belong here, no matter how good life is where they are. And even this year at the end of the Seder I will say “Next Year In Jerusalem.” But it won’t be for me. It will be a prayer that my children and grandchildren will follow, will move to the Holy Land, the Promised Land, The Jewish Homeland. It will be a prayer so deep down in my soul that I don’t know how I’ll reach there and return, except for the hope that G-d will answer “yes” to my prayer and bring them all home.
