for openers
Together — at Last!
I

was like a kid in a candy
story these past few weeks
in anticipation of hosting
my first in-person seder in
three years. Pesach is my
favorite holiday
because the
focus is on pass-
ing the story of
our heritage on
to our children,
who will then
pass it on to
their children, as
has been done for many cen-
turies now.
Something else particular-
ly meaningful for me is the
confluence of Judaism and
Christianity this time of year:
three of the Gospels share that
Jesus’ Last Supper was the first
night of Passover, so that meal
very likely included lamb,
wine and unleavened bread,
and perhaps even bitter herbs

and a version of charoset. Of
course, the seder (service) did
not exist then, but non-Jews at
my seders over the years have
found it very special to expe-
rience the foods and tradition
that Jesus partook in at the
Last Supper.
The pandemic provided
quite a juxtaposition with
stories of those who tried to
observe Passover during the
Holocaust, and those today in
Ukraine.
Passover is a story about
freedom and, ultimately, this
holiday tells a story about our
people’s liberation from Egypt,
while we pray for those today
not free to worship as they
wish.

Paul Gross is a meteorologist at
WDIV-TV Channel 4 and is a board
member at Temple Kol Ami in West
Bloomfield.

Paul Gross

PURELY COMMENTARY

Every year, Paul includes on his seder plate a 2000-year-old pottery
shard he brought back from an archeological dig on a trip to Israel 10
years ago. “This ancient artifact honors our ancestors who laid the
foundation for Judaism today and, more recently, family members no
longer with us,” he said.

The Gross
family seder

I

t’s strange to me that I
have memories that are
40 years old, much less of
events that shaped my life.
This month is one 40th
anniversary that
was pivotal in
my life personal-
ly and connect-
ed me deeply to
the history and
welfare of the
Jewish people.
Forty years
is a significant period for the
Jewish people, especially at

this season related to the orig-
inal Exodus.
My mother was not a par-
ticularly religious woman
but being Jewish was very
important to her. Israel was
important to her. Raising her
children in a Jewish environ-
ment and passing along tradi-
tions were important to her.
There were many ways that
this played out, most of them
non-remarkable, not partic-
ularly noteworthy, and not
things about which I have any
particular memories, much

less ones that impacted me.
One night in April 1982
over dinner, something that
was no less unremarkable
became a catalyst for some-
thing in my life that she surely
was not planning, about which
she was certainly not advocat-
ing per se, and as a result of
which she had good reason to
think I was a bit crazy. I was
17, so the crazy part she could
have written off as immature
adolescence.
We sat at the gray Formica
table, each in our own spot

with me to her left at the
“head” of the round table.
Often my mother would share
news and other events.
That evening, she took out
the latest edition of Hadassah
Magazine, the organization of
which she was a Life Member,
and read an article about the
phenomena of Jews in the
west “twinning” their bar and
bat mitzvahs with Jewish peers
in the Soviet Union who were
unable to celebrate the mile-
stone because of wide perse-
cution of Jews and attempts to
erase Jewish tradition.
My mother was informing,
but also advocating as my
brother was to become a bar

Jonathan
Feldstein

essay
Forty Years Since Hadassah
Magazine Changed My Life

continued on page 12

4 | APRIL 28 • 2022