Passover in the Promised Land

Today is Passover Eve. Passover has always been my favorite holiday. I enjoy the seder, a chance to get to get with family and friends who might as well be family. Believe it or not, I also enjoy the food. Especially on the night of the seder, before you're already sick of it, and just want normal food. So I was interested to see what it would be like in Israel.

I've already learned through Purim that a Jewish holiday in a Jewish country is waaaaaay different than what I'm used to. And I've already noticed Passover differences. For starters, I didn't have to buy my Passover food months in advance for fear that they'd run out of food.

I went to the market this afternoon, anxious to get there before stores close, because, of course, stores close early on seder night. As on most holidays, I was not the only one doing last minute shopping, however, there weren't nearly as many people at the market as I would have thought. Shopping was an experience. Me, the American, went in looking for the Passover section of the market. As I'm wondering through aisles, I see shelf after shelf covered with what looks like paper, and signs announcing that what is hidden is not kosher for passover. Makes it so easy to but food.

I got back to the apartment, and my roommate, who had gone to get food from a nearby restaurant was also back. While this restaurant wasn't kosher for Passover, their menu had changed. The bread was made of matzo meal.

On the way to be picked up for my seder, I walked along King George, past Dizengoff Center. This is usually one of the busiest area. There are always people, and cars.
Well, almost always. It felt almost like a ghost town.

I arrived at my family's for seder, and was interested to see if the songs would be different, or different tunes. I imagined that the seder would be much different than the one I'm used to. Somewhat surprisingly, everything was the way I'm used to it. Although, considering they're family, and I do seder with Israelis, I guess it wasn't all that strange for it to be the same.

The biggest difference, though, was not having my family. As much fun as you may be having wherever you go, holidays are a good reminder of how much you miss your family.

Purim Actually is as Awesome as Halloween

In the US, Halloween is usually fun night out. A chance to get dressed up in a way you don't normally have the nerve to, party, drink. But what about Purim. Jews sometimes describe Purim to those that don't know as the Jewish Halloween, but that isn't really the case in the US. Purim in Israel, however, is an entirely different affair.

What I should mention first, and it's something that I just learned, after 25 years of being a Jew, is that there is a fast before Purim. And that Purim is considered one of the holiest days of the year. That said, there are certain things that we are told to do on Purim. One of those is, "to drink until you can't tell Haman from Mordechai" (or Mordechai from Esther).

This year, Purim fell on Sunday. The weekend here in Israel is Friday and Saturday, meaning that the Purim parties started on Thursday night. And since we didn't have class on Sunday, went through Sunday. Thursday afternoon, walking down the street, people were already in costume. Kids, of course, adults, teens...

I went on Saturday night (Purim Eve) to a neighborhood called Florentine. There is usually a street party. We had heard it was canceled, but decided to try a bar there anyways. When we arrived, there were people filling the street (which is what the picture tries to show). Hundreds of people in costume on the streets. Music coming from balconies and bars in the area. Awesome vibe because, Purim is about celebrating and rejoicing, and people take that seriously.

For someone who's not the biggest fan of Halloween, Purim was a nice surprise.