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Space-Time Continuum
The Passover tradition carries from generation to
generation, both enslaving and liberating us.
freshly picked daffodils placed in
a vase atop that table, along with
a plate of spring greens, a
shankbone, a roasted egg, a bit-
ter herb and a melange of fruits,
nuts and wine.
As candles are lit in Jewish
homes all over the world, they are
as a beacon to us in space, and
we softly float down through the
layers of atmosphere, plunging
through the clouds, down to the
surface.
We can land almost anywhere
to find Passover has begun. Fam-
ilies read from the Haggadah, fol-
lowing the precise order of rituals
and blessings their neighbors do.
There will be four cups of wine
consumed this night at the Nach-
mans in West Bloomfield, and
four cups at the Cohens in Oak
Park.
Doors will open to welcome Eli-
jah in Farmington Hills, on Long
Island, in Paris, in Tel Aviv. Un-
der every roof, Jews will dip a
green vegetable in salt water, and
a child will ask why.
A child will ask the same Four
Questions his parents asked
when they were childrqn. And
.
MICHAEL DAVIS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
I
magine, if you will, a view of
By evening's end, we will be
Earth from space.
free.
The sun has illuminated the
Next year, at this exact con-
great expanse of North Amer- fluence, we will be slaves once
ica as we look down upon the con- more.
tinent on this 14th day of Nisan,
Jewish time is both linear and
5757. It is whisper quiet in the circular. Up here in space, where
blackness of beyond, just as it has yesterday looks exactly like to-
been for the expanse of history. morrow, it is easier to compre-
Up here, hundreds of miles above hend.
the blue planet, Earth appears
It is spring on part of the plan-
as it always has: a perfect, bril- et's surface, and what was once
liant circle.
snow-covered and ice-encrusted
Down below, on the land mass- is now lushly green and dotted
es of the globe, a perfect circle of with the yellows and purples of
another kind is in the making. It April blooms.
is the first night of Passover, and
When day becomes night, our
the cycle of events dictated by the home will be just a cluster of
stars brings us to that moment blinking dots. Adding to that il-
in time when we are but slaves lumination will be a set of can-
again.
dles on a table. There will be
the questions will be repeated
throughout the land, throughout
the world, generation to gener-
ation, brother to brother, sister
to sister.
The story of our departure
from Egypt is told in word and
song. We ask questions, and the
the story never changes. Only the
storytellers do.
Jewish-life thrives in the cities
and suburbs of America, in pros-
perous and leafy neighborhoods,
as well as more rural routes and
urban centers.
So float back up with me, as
neighborhoods be-
come towns, and
towns become states,
and states become a
continent, and conti-
nents become a
whirling star in space.
Take with you
these thoughts: As
long as there are chil-
dren to ask questions,
and parents to lead
them, Jews will gath-
er for Passover.
The Passover table and Passover theme is universal.
Every seder will be
different, but every
group probes for answers. Ah, seder will be the same.
yes. The salt water recalls the
We'll light candles.
sweat and tears of slavery. The
We'll dip greens into salty wa-
bone recalls the paschal offering. ter.
The horseradish reminds of the
We'll drink four cups of wine.
bitter epoch when we were but
We'll complete a perfect circle,
slaves under the Pharaoh's whip. and then start a new one.
Thousands of years pass, but
Amen. ill
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