[img]96|left|||no_popup[/img] Dateline Jerusalem — The year is 5771 according to the Jewish calendar, not 2011 (counted from the beginning of mankind…”Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden”). This week Jews celebrated Passover (Pesach), commemorating the exodus of Moses and the Jews from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the land of Israel approximately 3,323 years ago. In this time of the “Season of our Freedom,” we remember the exodus from Egypt at Seder tables throughout the world. As my friend Davida from Nevada says, “May we have an exodus from the current horrors of the world.”
Jews a Permanent Historic Presence
Although there have been exiles, massacres, the destruction of the Holy Temple and attempts at extermination of Jews, there has been a continuous Jewish presence in Israel for over 3,000 years. Contrary to popular myth, the Jews did not arrive in Israel after the Holocaust in Europe to oust the “Palestinians” from their land. Jews continuously have lived here in the land given to them by G-d. They have tried living peacefully with their Arab neighbors, but unfortunately, the hospitality has been onesided. Between the exile of Jews from Spain and Portugal in the 15th century to the exile of over 600,000 Jews from Arab countries in the 20th century, many made it to the land of Israel and settled in with the existing Jews of the land. Prior to the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel, many from Europe settled here as well. The city in which I live is 120 years old founded by Polish Jews in 1890, long before the establishment of the State of Israel not quite 63 years ago. That in itself debunks the propaganda about Jews usurping the land from Arabs in 1948.
Because so many Jews from Spain, Portugal, Mediterranean and Arab countries, and Jews whose families have lived in Israel since the time of Moses make up well over half of the Israeli population, their “minhag” (or legally binding custom) following Sephardi rabbinic law allows them to eat “kitniyot” (rice, corn, peas, legumes, peanuts) during Passover. That means that most food in Israel can be considered “kosher for Passover” but still be forbidden for Ashkenazi Jews from Germany, Poland, Russia, and the rest of Western, Central, and Eastern Europe.
Careful What You Eat
The Torah only forbids eating “chametz” (leavened foods made from wheat, rye, spelt, barley, oats), except in the form of flat unleavened bread called “matzo.” Therefore, markets throughout Israel cater to the majority of the population and kitniyot, forbidden by Ashkenazi rabbinic law, can be found in most foods. For an Ashkenazi like me, would you believe that the U.S. has more “kosher for Passover” food than Israel? I cannot even find mayonnaise for tuna or margarine to slab on my matzo that does not have kitniyot, even though I have been told that it does exist here. Because Ashkenazi Jews are a minority in Israel, often they cannot go to Sephardi friends and relatives for Passover Seders for fear of eating forbidden foods.
Yet, being in Israel is definitely the fulfillment of freedom. Women and children can walk all over and not fear rape or molestation. Jews, Muslims, Arabs, Christians, Baha'i, Buddhists, Druze have the freedom to worship the religion of their choice, attend college, serve in the Knesset, and even on the Supreme Court. Although I have been privileged to enjoy the freedoms given to me as an American, they are nothing compared to the freedom given to me by G-d.
L'hitraot. Shachar