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.
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