Connecting Ilan Ramon with Yom Hashoa

I'm beginning to wonder -- is the social media age distancing kids from the past? It seems that today's life is only about the here and now. During my recent trip to Houston I found out that my 22 year-old Texas cousin had no idea who were Wyatt Earp or Wild Bill Hickok. I was astounded, but he had a good answer: "Our generation is part of the space frontier." 

I shrugged my shoulders, thinking it's all part of a changing America. However, at a family seder in Long Island I met a young married woman -- a college graduate -- who never heard of Ilan Ramon and gave me a quizzical look when I mentioned the Columbia space shuttle.

She may be an isolated case; nonetheless....We are a people that believes in collective memory. It's part of our Jewish identity and should remain firmly in place. Purim teaches us to remember Amalek. Unfortunately, we've had numerous variations on that theme. Yom Hashoah is part of the pantheon. 

How does this tie in with Ilan Ramon? This year marked the 10th anniversary of the space shuttle Columbia's crash. PBS recently aired a documentary entitled "Mission of Hope". Lo and behold they brought up the remarkable story of the tiny Torah scroll which Ilan Ramon brought with him into outer space. The story of the Bar Mitzvah in the Bergen Belsen concentration camp using this Torah scroll is the tale that I researched and retold in my award-winning book "Keeping the Promise. It is the right story for this year's Yom Hashoa commemoration. It is a homage to the Jewish spirit and pays tribute to Ilan Ramon -- a hero in Israel long before his space adventure, the son of Holocaust survivors and a proud Jew who took additional Jewish and Holocaust memorabilia on board the shuttle. "Keeping the Promise" has also been translated into Hebrew and both are available through Kar-Ben. Reading the two side-by-side will enhance your Hebrew lessons, and your students' reading and speaking skills.

Wishing you a meaningful Yom Hashoah.

Tunisian Jews Remember Moses through an Unusual Seder Plate Custom

How many times have we heard that Moses -- the hero of our Passover story -- is never mentioned in the Hagaddah? Apparently Tunisian Jews try to rectify this situation through an unusual Seder plate custom. Instead of adorning their table with a variation of the Seder plate familiar to all of us, they use a reed basket (since I'm not sure of the size, I'll let you pick). They put all the Seder plate symbols inside the basket. Before reciting Ha Lachma Anya -- "this is the bread of affliction" --  the woman of the house takes the basket, and circles it over the head of each Seder participant while saying "we quickly left Egypt." The participants answer by reciting these words: "Yesterday we were slaves. Today we are free. This year we are here. Next year we will be free people in the land of Israel."

I think this subtle remembrance of Moses as a baby in a reed basket is brilliant. Similarly, so is the subtle reference to his mother Yocheved and sister Miriam by having the woman of the house take on this role. Finally, doesn't this custom complement the Bukharan Seder overture that I discussed two weeks ago? Start putting all the customs together that I have brought up and you have the makings of a Passover play.

Enjoy your Seder and Bravo to all the actors!

חג שמח

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Southern Italy's Anousim Personalize the Seder Plate & Add A Symbol That Can't Be "Beet"!

This past October I introduced you to the Italian Anusim (Italians whose ancestors were forced to convert to Christianity) through a Shabbat custom related to me by Rabbi Barbara Aiello. We became e-quainted after I read an article about the Rabbi, so I recently turned to her once again about unusual Passover customs. Sure enough she had one, and it can't be "beet."

In addition to the traditional Seder Plate placed at the head of the table for the Seder leader, Italian Anusim make sure that each participant has his/her own personal Seder plate. It's plain glass and all of the symbols are placed on it, plus an additional symbol that they have developed. Italian Anusim also include a bietola -- a blood red beet -- to symbolize the lamb's blood put on their doorposts by the Israelites in order to save the firstborn in each family.

This definitely is a creative twist and should get all of us thinking about something unusual to enhance this year's Seder, be it at school or at home.




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