- Passover Chofesh in Amsterdam...
I was at the jewish heritage museum in Amsterdam and I heard this quote and I wanted to share it...
""There is no Orthodox, there is one Judiasm that we all experience in different ways..."
I've come to the conclusion that there might not be a day where the whole world agrees on the same thing. When an entire group of people can't even agree on the same topic then at what point do we all meet in the middle? I think that while disagreement can at times make one grow, it can cause distruction because everyone wants to think they are right. But, if everyone is right then who is wrong?
I'm on my Passover Vacation right now in Israel. Wait what? Passover Vacation... Thats a new one. Usually i'd be on my "Easter Vacation" but i'm in the Jewish State and here, theres no easter vacation. I actually forgot about easter until I was in Amsterdam and started seeing chocolate eggs everywhere.
Why is Passover different here then in every other part of the world? Why is it special to be here in israel on passover now, rather then any other time of the year? Why today do we eat matzah and not bread? Why do sephardic jews eat beans but ashkenazic jews not? Why do we have one sedar in Israel and not two? Why do I question everything this week and not last week?...
Passover in Israel... Special Round matzah that costs a fortune. Stores that cover up their shelves with white paper that says חמץ... Long vacation for all students... 48 hours of no public transportation... Where kosher could refer to more then one type. Are you sephardic kosher or are you ashkenazic kosher? Is your kosher kosher enough? What label kosher do you buy?
It was sad to not be with my family on Passover but i was with my brother, sister in law and nieces. To answer why its special to be in israel for passover instead of other parts of the world... Because there is a point you say "Next time in Jerusalem." and where was I ...Jerusalem! We jews walked 40 years through the desert to get here, along the way we received the torah...and here I am... years later spending passover in Israel. Now... i'm only 23 years old, so unlike those who left egypt, i didn't spend 40 years wandering the desert to get here...but I did spend 23 years of my life searching for the right path to get here. As much as I missed my family, sometimes it takes different experiences to realize what you beleive in and what kind of experiences you want to have in the future.
For everything else...
The weather in Israel is great... I feel like its Summer in Michigan. Question is..What will the weather be like in the next month in Tel Aviv? Summer in Israel is not really my cup of tea. I spent the first week of my break in Amsterdam and when I came back I realized I need to relax, so i've been hanging out in Afula. Sometimes its nice to not run around trying to catch buses, but rather lay out on a patch of grassy knoll with erica and catch some sun. Who needs the beach, i probably wouldn't have gone in the water anyways.
On Thursday I am moving to Tel Aviv and living with Dana and i'm really excited!
