Burn, Baby, Burn!

It is now Erev Pesach, 5770. It is our very first Pesach in Israel, as Israeli citizens and a moment that I have personally dreamt about for years. Last year, when we sang L'Shana Ha'Ba'a BiRooshalayim, it had a very different meaning back then. Now, as we prepare to welcome Pesach 5770, I walk around Mitzpe Nevo and I look toward Yerushalayim! (By the way, I look at a GROWING Jerusalem, no matter WHAT the president of the USA says!)

After Bedikat Hametz last night, I put the hamtez in a bag to burn this morning. I was told that there usually is a public burning in the area. Well, surprise...no special area (seemingly) was set aside for this as in years past. One of the reasons I am told is that many of those old locations are now either filled with grass, houses or other things that prevent making a fire in those locations.

So, I joined a neighbor, hametz in hand, and drove around to find some other wayward souls looking to burn their treasure. We came across a couple of young guys attempting to build a small fire in a VERY windy area. We got out of the car and joined them to build the fire down a small hill surrounded by a rock wall. We gathered some small sticks, placed the hametz in the pile and threw in some matches. The wind kicked up and before long the hametz was burning strongly! I kept thinking that instead of smelling the fire from THIS, I looked forward to NEXT year when we would smell the Korban Pesach burning on the 14th of Nissan, B'ezrat Hashem!

Having now made the Haroset and helped out in the house, we are all getting closer and closer to the Seder. We will be sharing the Seder with our upstairs neighbors, the Zion family, who also made Aliya (a couple of years ago). Truth is that we ALWAYS had Seder (sedarim!) at my parents' home, so while we are ALL looking forward to this Seder, it will definitely be strange to not be with our family in Chicago.

As this will be the last post before Pesach, I will wish EVERYONE a Chag Pesach Kasher V'Sameach!!! May this be the last one without the Korban Pesach and may we all share in each other's Korban NEXT year!!!!!

Pesach is Upon Us...Almost!

(Kashering Utensils for Pesach--Mitzpe Nevo 5770)

Pesach indeed is CLOSE! it is evidenced by all 5 senses:

I walk down the streets in Mitzpe Nevo and hear vacuum cleaners going all over the place. I see items being thrown out for cleaning purposes; cars being dismantled for cleaning; people shlepping dozens of bags of groceries; kashering of utensils (see pictures) for Pesach use. I smell so much of the Pesach cooking going on in the neighborhood. I feel the feeling of dust on my hands as we continue our (brief) Pesach cleaning. I taste Pesach, as I have had the opportunity to taste some Pesach items already and await more!

"Hashata Hacha..."

"Hashata Hacha...," now, we are here, in Chicago..."L'Shana Ha'Ba B'ar'a D'Yisrael...," but next year, in the land of Israel. Jews around the world said these words on the night of Pesach at the Seder. THIS year, these words took on an entirely new meaning. As I sat there at the Seder (and again at the second Seder), I thought about these words at the beginning of the Haggada and the "L'shana Ha'ba'a Birooshalayim," at the end of the Haggada, and I smiled to myself. Finally, after all of these years of yearning and waiting, B'ezrat Hashem these words that I was saying were coming to fruition. But at the same time, it was a moment that was bittersweet as well. I looked around the Seder table at my parents' home and looked at my parents, at all my siblings, nephews, nieces, brother-in-law and sister-in-law and realized that this would be the very last time we would (in all likelihood) be sitting together at a Seder. That surely is a sad thought. Yes, as I said before there will be things that I will miss, and the Seder night with my Chicago family will be one of those things. But...I WILL NOT MISS A SECOND SEDER!!!!!!!!!! To me, for the last many years, the Second Seder presented a major challenge for me. It was the most "Galut" feeling I could experience the entire year, yet I needed to be involved in the Seder no different than the night before.

As soon as Shabbat was over, I also realized that this was the VERY LAST 3-day Yom Tov that I would have for the rest of my life IY"H (Of course, when Rosh Hashana falls on Thursday, even in Israel it will be a three-day event. This will occur in 5771 and, yes, I have already checked!)


[One last thing...the other day, I posted about Birkat HaChama and said that the next one will occur on the day after Pesach in 2037. Someone pointed out to me (and correctly!) that this happens the day after Pesach outside of Israel, but IN Israel it will be two days after Pesach. I wouldn't want you writing down the wrong date!]