This weekend was rather uneventful. We had Shabbat lunch on Saturday and relaxed all afternoon. We even got into a discussion about the Messiah and we decided that science overpowers God as it seemed like humans have been able to make achievements to improve the world on their own since the beginning of Judaism. Zev even told a story of a Jewish man stranded out in the ocean who insisted that God would help him every time someone came along to offer a hand.
I had planned to go to Tel Aviv with Melissa and Laura for the beaches but the weather seemed iffy and was pretty windy so we cancelled that. It might as well for them, as Christians, that they should attend the church services for Palm Sunday. So I took my sweet time to meet up with Grandma and Zev for the afternoon. We went to Yo-Jan, a fusion Asian restaurant, in German Colony on Emek Rafrim. It was absolutely delicious and I don't always love Chinese food! Even the portions were reasonable and the food didn't seem overly disgusting and mysterious as they are in America.
Monday was the big preparation day for Pesach! I had missed the big bonfire in Mea Shar'eam, unfortunately. People burn chametz in these gigantic fires all over Jerusalem and I had some pita bread from Friday to throw in. Zev took me to one across from his building in a courtyard where there were two young boys tending the fire with brushbrooms with their fathers supervising. I threw in the pita breads and Zev read the prayer for burning chametz. Now our apartment was officially ready for Passover. Because of that, we had our first Passover meal for lunch with matzah and all. While Zev and Grandma took their afternoon naps (believe me, they were beyond exhausted and Zev had to attend shul in the morning [First borns are obligated to fast for Passover or they can attend shul and read the prayers]). So I took an afternoon walk around the Valley of the Cross down to Givat Ram and around the White Rose Garden.
We made Seder reservations with friends from San Francisco- Elaine, Elliot, Joe-Joe, and Sylvie at Dan Panorama. Meeting Sylvie was a treat- she's basically a parent's nightmare in this sense. She attended a public city school and then went to a yishiva for a year in Israel because it was typical at her school. The parents made a deal with her that she would get her education at an American university and then she could do whatever she wanted to do. So she went to Columbia University as a freshman with a major in economics. Since she knew about her trust fund being available to her at the age of 19 and just absolutely wanted to go back, she began applying for aliyah in November. By April, she had the paperwork together and signed up for the Army. Finally, she announced to her family in the middle of the Hizbollah-Israel war that she would be moving to Israel and going into the Army. To me, it's quite... patriotic but a little extreme for my taste. Nevertheless, she was wonderful.
I joked with Grandma that I ought to make Brandeis my first choice for a PhD program when I saw how cute Joe-Joe was and I loved his chill personality.
Things began to go wrong once we entered in the room. Since we reserved a table, we thought we'd get to do our own seder at our pace. Then we saw a table on a platform and suddenly had a feeling that it would be a community seder. It took quite a while for everyone to come in and sit down.... not only we wouldn't get to do our own seder, we didn't even get the table to ourselves. Sylvie had tried to get one just for ourselves. Didn't happen- we ended up sharing with a French family with three grown-up children living in Israel (2 in Tel Aviv and 1 in Jerusalem) with parents trying to make aliyah to Israel from France. Then the leader began the services. The children sang their four questions...then the leader repeated the four questions! Grandma, Joe-Joe, and I looked at each other with exsparated glances-goodness, how much more can we handle?? Especially that there were pleads among some of the people to read the passages of the story in English instead of Hebrew. No question about it that Elliot and Zev read their passages as quickly as possible- they could've had us finished in half hour instead of an hour and half. Sylvie was so unhappy that she took her own pace with her own Haggadah.
We each got our own little seder plate- it was a mix of Ashkenazi and Sephardi traditions with Sephardi chormest and Ashkenzai potato for dipping. The menu was quite elaborate especially that we were paying good money for the dinner:
-gefilte fish or poached salmon or chicken livers
-matzah ball soup or cream of carrot
-salad with grapefruit dressing
-chicken, veal shoulder, veggies, and potatoes
-two pieces of dessert cakes, a plate of cookies
Grandma was not thrilled that we were eating so late (like 10 PM by the time we got to the heart of dinner) and therefore, didn't eat much. I thought the food was delicious! I was glad for the services since they would control the food portions so I had little room for dessert. Since it was getting late and the end didn't seem to be in sight, Grandma, Zev, and I excused ourselves and it took us 15 minutes to grab a cab that would be willing to take us down to our apartment.
Since Passover seders tend to be comparable to American Thanksgiving, it's a good thing that we do Thanksgiving in the afternoon (around 3-4) rather than 8-9 at night so we wouldn't go to bed too full!
So much for "L'Shana ha'ba'ah b'Yerushalayim".... As much I loved being in Israel and was happy to be here for Passover, I wished that I could've been in Rochester, having a homemade seder at the Brandts' with my family.
L'shana ha'ba'ah b'Rochester.
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