Next Year in ........?

The Jewish holiday of Passover began last night. For those who do not know what this festival is all about, I will explain in brief. Their are three major events in the Jewish Calendar, besides major Fast Days and New Year. These occasions fall in the spring, at the start of summer and in the autumn. Each one commemorates a different historical time.

The festival of Passover, that usually coincides with Easter, but not this year as there was a leap year in the Jewish Calendar, reminds all of the most important event in Jewish History, the coming out of Egypt, under the guiding hand of Moses, who had been instructed by God to make sure that Pharaoh, the king of the land at that time, 'Let His People Go'. A story book written in
Hebrew, tells the tale of the event and some of the following scenes that took place during the time of the destruction of the Temple.

Through song, verse, prayer and ritual, it is an important event that is spent together with loved ones and friends, a coming together of rejoicing, story telling and good eating. In our house, my children and I, would enjoy this time of year particularly and would at times invite others to share with us this occasion. We would sit long into the night telling and reading the story, as well as myself adding tales of explanation and facts that were passed down to me during my childhood. We would laugh and sing and make sure that we read the book from cover to cover, the telling being more important to us than the eating of the meal.

Rituals were strictly observed and traditions carried out, those of the past and those of our making. So, it was hard to be apart on this night. The youngest making his own meal in England, the third with his girlfriend's family in northern Israel, the second joining his sister, husband and baby at his parents house in the centre of the country. As for myself, I could have joined a Habad evening Seder at the Renaissance Hotel, but decided at the last minute that I did not want to spend money to attend their meal, however nice, but to do it on my own with the 'do it yourself kit' that my daughter had sent me from Israel and spent a pleasant, if not emotional evening reading and singing all the words and songs from the 'Hagaddah' the book that is used for that night.

One of the songs sung is 'Next Year In Jerusalem', so I say, next year together with all my family! It was different and that in itself is a good thing, but the best was when the children told me that they had thought of me, missed me and our time of being all together, that was the greatest moment, to know that I am appreciated, not for just being mummy, but for what I bring to the family. Thank you kids, I love you.