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April 6, 2001/Nisan 13, 5761, Vol. 53, No.27
To Jerusalem, bitter and sweet
VICKI CABOT
Contributing Editor
Next year in Jerusalem.
After refilling our cups, retelling the story, satiating our guests and ourselves with succulent brisket and delectable kugel, we close our seders with the lightness of sponge cake and the levity of hope.
Only this year, the traditional affirmation will be as bittersweet as a Hillel sandwich, the sweet charoset and bitter maror sandwiched between two pieces of matzo that symbolizes the Temple sacrifices.
The holiday's prelude of violence dims the joyous celebration of our passage to freedom and blunts our hopes for the promise of peace. Within the past two weeks, 10-month-old Shalhevet Pass lost her life to a sniper's bullet in Hebron; her father and 15-year-old brother were injured in the attack. Two Israeli teenagers were felled by suicide bombers at a bus stop in the Jerusalem suburb of French Hill; more than 30 others were injured in the incident.
The toll rises. Anxiety mounts. Recent visitors to the Jewish state report increasing unease and uncertainty. They say Israelis are demoralized and disappointed, fearful and angry. In Hebron, ardent settlers wear T-shirts declaring "Restraint is killing us," while Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, whose reputation as a hardliner helped propel him to office just weeks ago, struggles with determining appropriate military response and minimizing harm. He's also doing battle with the purveyors of public opinion; biased press coverage spews out a barrage of slanted stories and sensational photo images, hyping "persecuted Palestinians" and condemning their "Israeli oppressors."
Absurd finger-pointing by worldwide leadership; insulting overtures by Arab leaders for American intervention; ludicrous posturing by Palestinians, including the brazen bravado of their murdering martyrs - none of this bodes well for ending the cycle of violence that has gripped Israel for the past six months. The one reasoned plea in the past week has come from Washington: "Stop the violence."
Yet, this is the season of hope, the holiday of renewal. And where better than at our seder tables, when we recount the story of the Israelites' journey from slavery to freedom, than to reaffirm our own hopes and dreams for the promise of the Promised Land?
Is it not Jerusalem that epitomizes Jewish longing? Is it not the Holy City that warrants mention more than 600 times in the Hebrew Bible? Is it not the City of Gold that inextricably binds one Jew to another, reminding us of the suffering of the past and the inspiring vision of the future? Is it not Jerusalem that is the quintessential Jewish memory bank, capturing within its burnished stone walls the essence of the continuing Jewish story?
And so, as we retell the tale of the bitterness of slavery, the intransigence of Pharaoh, the suffering of the 10 plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the passage into the land of Canaan, let's assert yet again our commitment to the miracle of Jewish survival, to the memory of what Jerusalem has been - and will be.
Let's drink a fifth cup of wine and raise our voices: Next year in Jerusalem!
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