163 Ahuza Street, Raanana, ISRAEL -- Telephone/Fax: (972)-9-7717080
PASSOVER
(Continued)
WHAT PASSOVER MEANS TO US IN ISRAEL:
Passover means many things to me. It is the excitement in the air in the days before the holiday. It means working late at night in the refrigerated packing building, sometimes until after midnight, to prepare flower bouquets for the next morning's orders. The days before Passover for us means working long hours until you literally drop from exhaustion. In Israel, it sometimes seems to us that everyone sends flowers to everyone just before the holiday.
Of course, this is only from our particular perspective in the flower business. Not everyone buys flowers for Passover. If you are invited over to relatives or friends for the Seder, it is customer to bring something: bottles of wine, food, gifts and yes, even flowers.
For me, the highlight of Passover is the family Seder in the evening at Moshav Azriel. The air is cool and clear in the evening and the lights of the surrounding Arab villages can be seen for miles around. The Seder is a family get-together where we put the day's toils behind us and immerse ourselves in reciting the Haggadah, each person taking turns.
We sing until late at night, in a loud voice in the hope that our songs will carry over the large field that separates the Madmoni house from the nearest of the Arab villages. Others in our moshav are doing likewise. Living on the Green Line is a lot like living on the edge. You never know what dangers lurk on the other side. In a way, I suppose that this is how things were when the Children of Israel left Egypt so very long ago on their way to the other side, to the promised land.
We try not to eat too many matzas during the 7 days of Passover. One of the unavoidable aspects of the holiday is that people tend to gain weight almost before they realize it. Nibbling on matzas becomes a pastime difficult to stop. Try nibbling on an entire loaf of bread, and you'll realize that matzas have the same caloric equivalent. -- Not to mention matza crumbs getting caught in your teeth.
In Israel it is against the law for Jewish bakeries to bake bread during the week of Passover, so that even most non-religious Jews eat only matza. (To be entirely accurate, there are Israeli Jews who go out of their way to buy pitas from Arab bakeries in Jaffa, for example. There are also people who keep frozen bread in their freezers on Passover. The practice exists, but most people in Israel get by on matzas and matza products).
Our florist shop is open during Hol Ha'Moed, and surprisingly, people do come in to buy flowers. You would expect that once the first day of Passover had arrived, whoever who had intended to buy flowers for the holiday has already done so. This is not entirely true, however.
I especially like the Passover songs on the radio. People in Israel seem friendlier during the week of Passover. It's simply a very special time of year.
DO YOU HAVE AN INTERESTING PASSOVER STORY?
If you have an interesting Passover story which happened to you, and which you would like to share with us, send it to us and we will put it on our Passover page. Please indicate whether you would like us to use your full name, or only your initials.
AND FINALLY:
Passover, the commemorative feast in memory of the passing over of the angel of death for those homes "under the blood of the Lamb," is the oldest continually observed feast in the history of mankind.
When you think about it, this is a rather sobering thought.
Table of Contents
