Got Israel at Your Seder?
The Passover Seder is a special experience, a unique observance quite fitting for the Jewish People who pride ourselves on the preservation of our history, both our success and our suffering, through our collective memory.
Children in Israel have been singing about the arrival of spring and Pesach for weeks, helping to clean their gan and taking part in a traditional seder. Every restaurant, car, and home goes through a spring cleaning - regardless of how observant one might be. It is tradition. It is our history. And even the most secular Israelis will find themselves at a Passover Seder of some type.
Children's seder, Israel
Here in the homeland we only have 1 Seder night, while around the world it is celebrated with 2 recountings of the Exodus story. Could it be that, in addition to the halachic reasons, this is so that every Jewish home around the world should have that extra reminder of their home so far away?
As we turn another page of the Haggadah, how can we remind ourselves that this is the story of our return to Israel? Must it wait until the very, very end for the declaration of NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM??
And since we all know how tough it is to find the time and money to get to Israel, can we somehow fulfill this declaration of commitment from wherever we may be in the world?
Not only should we ask "How are we to remember the plagues and our escape from bondage?", but we should remember as well the land of freedom to which our destiny is bound.
"Just as in my youth we had a “matzah of hope” to carve out time from the historic ritual to remember the contemporary challenges of Soviet Jewry, we need to use this most popular Jewish ritual to delight in the miracle of Israel’s surviving – and thriving." - Virtual Citizen of Israel Gil Troy
As you prepare for your Seder night(s), let The Israel Forever Foundation bring the Israel Connection to your ceremony!
Click here to download Israel at Your Seder: Celebrating Our Journey to Freedom!
Just as we are to learn of the Passover story and the Exodus from Egypt AS IF WE WERE THERE, so, too, shall we share in the connection to Israel from our corner of the world as if we are there.
What are some cultural customs of our Jewish people on Passover?
Act like the Iraqi!
At an Iraqi seder, children hoist bags over their backs, and reenact the journey through the desert.
One child asks, "Where are you coming from?"
"From Egypt," replies another child.
"Where are you going?" the third child asks.
"To Jerusalem" the fourth child smiles.
Honor a Moroccan tradition!
While at the seder, Morrocan Jews pass a seder plate over the head of each person as they recite a Hebrew phrase about fleeing Egypt as a slave. Incorporate this into a nightly ritual for any dinner during the week of Passover!
You can feel personally lifted out of slavery and on your way to NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM!
Many if not most Israelis have a passion for ecology, thus was born the Ecological Seder. A combination of a celebration of nature, of earth, and our obligation to it, the story of Passover can indeed be intertwined in a most interesting way with the geographical, geological and ecological significance of the Land of Israel.
Israel has opened her doors to refugees from a number of countries seeking asylum from their native country, or having returned to land from which they believe they as descendants of the Tribes of Israel are linked. Take a moment with your family to reflect on both the meaning and challenge of Israel's role as a haven for refugees considering our long history as refugees ourselves.
However you choose to celebrate this important historical event in our nation's history, let it always serve as a reminder of the freedom we have achieved by having returned home to the land the Nation of Israel dreamt of on their journey home and our connection to our ancestral land from near and far.
Happy Passover from the Israeli Navy, credit: IDF tumblr
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