I have written many blog posts in my mind since I’ve been home in Vermont. I think I’ve had a hard time starting to write again, knowing that I won’t be writing any more of this blog in Israel this time around. When I was in Israel I often felt that I had left half my heart in Vermont, and now that I am in Vermont I feel as though I’ve left half my heart in Israel!
I’ll be lighting my candles in about an hour for the first night of Pesach. I told so many people last year that for me it would be truly, as we say at the end of the seder, “This year in Jerusalem” — or at least, in Tzfat with my family. Best not to count on our plans too much — you’d think I would already have learned that lesson in these past few years with their many surprises. I’ll be having my seder tonight alone the Divine. Hagai is in Jerusalem, where he proposed to sneak past the police who are enforcing the curfew and go to a friend’s house — I don’t know if he made it. Yochi and Yoni and Golan are with Yochi’s mom, Laurie, in Tzfat. Avishai and Libat and the kids are with Libat’s family, also in Tzfat. Ariel and Chris and little Liv, who had planned also to be in Israel, are in Florida, where Chris works as an ER doctor — please include him in your prayers! Gal also got stuck in Florida, so I imagine she’s with Ariel. Yoni and Shoshana presumably had a quiet seder in Mitzpeh Ramon, down in the desert.
Tomorrow night I’ll join some Pardes friends (who are in this country right now like me) for a Zoom seder — but tonight I”ll be engaging with the full text of the Haggadah for the first time, and signing all the songs, which I never get to do! I thought I’d share a few photos — and I promise that I will resume my Israel blog, sharing all the Israel photos I’ve not yet shared and reflecting on my time there, after these first nights of the holiday.
I wish everyone a sweet Pesach, or a Happy Easter if that’s what you’re celebrating — or just plain happy spring! May we all see liberation soon — and in the meantime, thank God we are safe, healthy, and blessed with friends and family.
Nine months in Israel 