Almost Passover

Almost Passover.  We have received many emails with versions of this title:

WHAT SHOULD WE DO AT PASSOVER THIS YEAR?  Given what is happening in

Israel and Gaza. And Columbia University. And everywhere else.  Given the divisions

amongst us all, and the reality of this crazy world?

We all know that how a story is told determines what we understand.

When we were all children, the Passover story didn’t vary all that much.  Now

there are so many Haggadahs with unending perspectives.

Meanwhile much of the world seems to be imploding. Not only Israel and the

Palestinians. Many parts of this universe are in crises big and small.

Haggadot are one response. Suddenly there are many free downloadable Haggadot

with Big Themes like Racial Justice, and the entirely true and important statement

that none of us are free unless all of us are free. 

Celebrating liberation is always a good idea. The Passover blueprint to

tell a good story is there for us all.  But how you tell it, and what you tell is always the

big question.

Meanwhile, students are being arrested at Columbia University for what they’re

saying at demonstrations.

We are handling the problem by going away. To Paris and to Marseille.  It’s been many

years since we’ve been to Paris, an impossibly beautiful city.  Though Marseille is our

actual goal.  Bill Kornblum, wonderful sociologist wrote a book about Marseille a few

years ago.  His book solidified our many year desire to go.  We have both been drawn

to North Africa for many years, and friends told us that Marseille is sometimes called

Little Algeria.  Some people travel to hear and see history.  Others travel on learning

tours.  Some travel to eat, or to visit family, or to hike or walk or bike.  Peter and I

prefer aimless wandering, random unexpected encounters,  long afternoons with good

coffee, and then, wine.  We asked an Algerian friend with a big Marseille family what

he liked most.  He said to go to a perfume store.  When I was in

Cairo many years ago, I spent days sitting in a perfume store – a kind of unusual

psychoanalytic olfactory experience.  The store owner served his customers many cups

of coffee and infinite sweets while asking proclivity questions as a way of

understanding what kind of custom perfume he should make.  All depending on your

personality.  (Mine, after extensive investigation, detailed descriptions of as much as I

could remember was an intense Jasmine scent that I’ve never been able to find again. 

Maybe Marseille.)

Meanwhile, we will have a small Oh Boy Liberation dinner with a few friends at

Gazala’s restaurant.  At the dinner, we may or may not discuss liberation and what it

means.  Because now, so many of us have different ideas and because of the adamance

and certainty of so many people about what is right and what is wrong, conversation

has often become difficult.

(My lox cutter at Zabar’s asked me a few days ago what I thought about the Gaza war. 

I told him that I thought it probably wasn’t a good idea for us to discuss it although I

was willing to try.  He said he probably didn’t have enough time to tell me his

thoughts.  I counted our exchange as a good enough conversation.)

Meanwhile. all of us are somehow coping.

Writer Letty Cotton Pogrebin, author of an invaluable Substack newsletter explains

her philosophy well.   She says:  LEAD WITH THE LIGHT.

Though often overwhelmed by world pain and personal sorrow, I see glimmers of

light in stories that are comical, joy-inducing, or deeply moving.

Good advice for us all.

The coping mechanism I learned as a child was laughter.  Whatever happened in the

universe. we were able to laugh.  Now too, I have been drawn back into my childhood

pattern of finding things to make us laugh. We listen to Jon Stewart, to Tig Notaro, to

one of my new gavorites, Alex Edelman.  Edelman, a self-defined spectrum disorder

Orthodox non-binary performer, is brave and wonderful and unexpected.  His show

about Everything, including Jews and Nazis, is on HBO called Just for Us.

No matter what happens in this crazy world, we at Alte wish every single one of you

no matter what a Zisen Pesach. 

Love,

Esther

Here’s Alex Edelman