Happy Easter

16 Comments

1. 

   donnah on April 5, 2015 at 1:09 pm

   Having young kids makes the holidays so much fun! I’m glad Finn enjoyed it. my three adult sons are home for the weekend and we’ll be heading to my mom’s place for dinner, after which we’ll play cards and eat pie. A nice way to spend the day.

   I hope everyone has a lovely Holiday!

2. 

   Marie2 on April 5, 2015 at 1:36 pm

   It’s raining!  Not a big storm, but we parched Californians will take whatever we can get.

   The hot cross buns, walnut-sour cream coffee cake, and cheese blintzes are ready for the Easter brunch.  

3. 

   Oui on April 5, 2015 at 1:55 pm

   Garden of Getsemane, Pesach and Bibi of course .. sour as ever!

   After Iran Deal, Time for Bibi To ‘Reassess’ Quixotic Fight | The Forward |

   After the Purim/Haman analogies, many Israelis and Jews around the world will find it easy to couch what seems to be an Iranian-American rapprochement in apocalyptic redemption terms of the Passover Hagaddah: “In every generation they stand up against us to destroy us, but the Holy One, Blessed Be He, redeems us from their hands.” But it’s Netanyahu’s response that will mostly determine whether Israel reacts with cool rationality to the new challenges it faces, or descends into the hair-tearing gevalt-screaming hysterics which have characterized its response until now.

   In any case, Netanyahu, who coined the term “Tehran-Lausanne-Yemen Axis” this week, could end it with the title of a 1939 column written by Israel’s venerated columnist-poet Natan Alterman. It was published in Haaretz on July 18, 1939 under the title “the London-Moscow-Paris Talks,” which was later changed to “Diplomatic Talks.”

   And, she’s back … Judith Miller.

   From my earlier breaking news diary – Framework Nuclear Deal With Iran Reached.

4. 

   boran2 on April 5, 2015 at 3:34 pm

   Getting the 16 year old boran2 boy to the Passover table is proving to be an exercise in obnoxiousness.  Oh to have that 5 year old again.

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     seabe on April 5, 2015 at 6:56 pm

     Lol how traditional do you do it? I love the Seders I’ve been to. But they’re very “modern” and not much Hebrew or even very reverent.

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       boran2 on April 5, 2015 at 7:25 pm

       We do an overview of the main points and some Hebrew but it’s a fraction of what a Seder was growing up.  Nobody has the patience anymore.  

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         Parallax on April 6, 2015 at 12:10 am

         Anyone else see the irony in going on and on about our escape from bondage while Israel sits on and subjugates the Palestinians?

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           Quentin on April 6, 2015 at 3:24 am

           Oh! Maybe you better not go there! And this while the whole story is specious to say the least.

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           seabe on April 6, 2015 at 6:07 am

           I like this idea:

           There’s one more point I want to make really briefly here, as I am over my word limit at at the end of my lunch break. I once watched a documentary about the Exodus story. Archaeological exploration has shown that there is absolutely no evidence to support the biblical account. There is, however, evidence to support a different (and much more interesting account). It could be that the original Caananite exodus was not Jews fleeing Egypt, but an enslaved group of Caananites overthrowing a brutal ruling class (of other Caananites) and leaving for a fertile area some distance from their former home. After being settled there, they met with a group of migrants who had crossed the desert from Egypt, bringing with them a war god they called Yahweh. The two groups settled together, and their stories mingled to form a new oral history, built on a combination of the two stories. This account was, the documentary said, far better evidenced than the whole “parting of the seas/plague of frogs” account from the Bible.

           My reaction was this: that is a much better story than the one I was taught in Sunday school. It’s a story of an oppressed people rising up and taking control of their own destiny. It’s a story of two cultures coming together and forging their differences into a shared identity. It’s a profoundly pro-human story. We should be teaching that instead of marvelling at the “mercy” of a god who slaughters thousands of babies because of the decision of a political leader whose heart was hardened… by that same god (look it up!).

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           Quentin on April 6, 2015 at 8:09 am

           The concept of mass migration goes beyond my comprehension. Mind you, not that this alternative story isn’t more pleasant than the one in the Jewish bible.

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       priscianus jr on April 6, 2015 at 12:50 pm

       The first night we did the whole shebang, nearly all in Hebrew/Aramaic and all four cups. But two of the three little ones (10, 10, 7) passed out before we’d barely started (thanks to the latest incarnation of Daylight Savings, it starts very late), and the other one bravely made it through the meal, but then disappeared. I don’t know where I got the adrenalin for the rest, but I did, all the way to Chad Gadyo.

       The second night the same thing happened, except my wife and I didn’t have the koyekh (strength) for the second half either.

       The third seder — well normally there is no third seder. But to my amazement, one of my boys, realizing he had missed the whole thing, asked us to do another one. Well, the Hagodah does say that we have an obligation to repeat the story to the young ones as often as possible … so we made a third seder, also in Hebrew/Aramaic with some English translation. The kids really enjoyed it. But for my wife and me, getting through the meal was enough of an accomplishment. Amazingly, this time it was hard to get the kids to bed. But their parents could hardly keep their eyes open.

       We have eggs in Passover too, but no bunnies. We also have a hunt, not for eggs, but for a piece of matzo.

5. 

   on April 5, 2015 at 7:45 pm

   My children are 25, 25, and 29. We don’t do egg hunts anymore, and I do remember going out early to place the eggs in the backyard and have the kids find them. It is a simple and fun thing. Enjoy it now, because they really are with you for just a short time.

6. 

   tb92 on April 5, 2015 at 9:55 pm

   I hid eggs for 15 and 11 year olds. The 23-year-old was willing to join, but gave away the candy. Some years, we hide eggs for the adults. It’s fun. Why stop?

7. 

   Quentin on April 6, 2015 at 8:07 am

   The concept of mass migration is beyond my comprehension.

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     priscianus jr on April 6, 2015 at 12:53 pm

     “between 1880 and 1924, when the U.S. Congress cut immigration back severely, it is estimated that as many as 3 million Eastern European Jews came to the U.S.”
     http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/
     polish5.html

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     on April 6, 2015 at 7:20 pm

     You should read about the Donau-Schwaben migration from S Germany/Austria to Serbia/Hungary in 1740-1790, in several waves. This is part of my own heritage so I have studied it somewhat over the last 10 years.

     In 1683, the Turks laid seige to Vienna, which was defeated at the end by a rescue force from Poland and other places. The Turks were driven back and over the next 50 years, were pushed back to Belgrade, which they occupied for another number of years.

     In 1720, 50,000 German settlers came to the Southern Hungary area to occupy the depopulated lands. These were in turn destroyed in the Austria-Turkey war of 1730s. Another wave in 1760 and also 1780 brought another 100,000 to the area. They occupied the area, drained the swamps, and made the area a vital agricultural zone that it is today.

     My ancestors arrive in the US in the 1920s. They spoke with heavy German-Hungarian accents for all their lives. Following WWII, all remaining Germans, millions in total, were ethnically purged from Hungary, Yugoslavia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. 12,000,000 “germans” (5 generations out of Germany) were sent back to Germany. The Germans had the last laugh, however. The repopulation restored population to Germany, and removed population from lands already depopulated.