Nostalgia Sunday – Pre-state Passover
Filed under: A New Reality, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Nostalgia Sunday, Travel
Rishon Le-Zion is a fast-growing metropolis and Israel’s fourth-largest city. As home to a newly-opened IKEA — the largest in the Middle East – as well as a dizzying array of malls, mega-markets and movie multiplexes, we sometimes forget the important role Rishon Le-Zion plays in our country’s history as the second Jewish farming settlement.
Fortunately, the municipality of Rishon Le-Zion does remember. It has restored and preserved some of the scenery of its past in a unique open-air museum. Located in some of the oldest buildings of the settlement (the moshava), the exhibits retell the story of the city’s pioneer past and the beginnings of modern Zionism
One permanent exhibit, “Jewish Holidays in the Moshava” is a lovely presentation of domestic life in pre-State Eretz Israel. Many of the first families came from Eastern Europe with fine porcelain place-ware and tea sets. These were not used every day, but were reserved for special occasions and holidays, and handed down from generation to generation.
“Despite difficult living and economic conditions, most [settlers] did not abandon the household customs considered acceptable in their countries of origin,” writes curator Yona Shapira.
Afternoon tea was one such custom. Michael Pohachevsky, who arrived to Rishon in 1886, described being hosted at the home of Berta and Yosef Feinberg (the family is pictured left): “The tea was set in European style, in every detail and feature, and for a moment, it was possible to forget that you were in a young colony just being established in an ancient land.”
In 1890, Haim Hissin described a holiday meal at the Drubin household: “[the table] was set not at all in country style and was set with separate plates, forks and spoons, napkins, wine-glasses, pitchers of water and wine. The courses were, naturally, simple and few but prepared well and served in good taste.”
The exhibit also includes three monogrammed pieces from a set belonging to the Baron Edmond de Rothschild, patron of Rishon Le-Zion and other early settlements.
By the way, the connection between the Passover holiday and Rishon Le-Zion is long-standing as it was for over a century the home of Matzot Rishon Le-Zion. In 2008, in a grand upset for the bread-of-our-affliction sector, the veteran company was purchased by Matzot Yerushalayim.
Although one major industry might have been lost, the city can take heart in the fact that it still headquarters Carmel Wineries, long-time producer of crap sweet wine (what we in Israel call yayin patishim or “hammer wine” because of its effect both on the palate and the brain). And Carmel can take heart in the fact that in the past few years it has shaped up and begun producing some very decent fine wines.
Rishon Le-Zion itself continues to be forward thinking. Take, for example, this video clip produced by the College of Management R&D Institute for Intelligent Robotic Systems, where even the machinery celebrate in style. Here’s wishing a chag sameach to them — and have a happy and kosher one yourselves!
The week that was
Sometimes you can be lucky enough to have a week consisting of individual events that add up to something monumental – and if you’re even luckier, you may just realize it.
When you’re in the midst of it though, it can seem like running from from one event or task to another. But when you lay it out in print and read it through, you can then be struck by the thought that, yeah, this week was a keeper.
Sde Boker IDF ceremony.
And if you’re fortunate enough to be able to sit back a few decades from now with enough faculties to recall what you did with your life, this is the kind of week that you can look back and smile at, and realize just how fortunate you were.
Let’s start on Saturday night, when my buddy Alan organized a ‘Songs of Freedom and Liberation’ night at our Conservative shul, in the spirit of the hootenanies of the ’60s. Among the highlights for me were getting to sing Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom” backed by Harvey Brooks on electric bass guitar. Harvey’s a rock & roll hall of famer who recently made aliya from the US, and as I told the crowd, he may have played with Hendrix, Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills, but he had never played with anyone of the caliber of the folks gathered on our stage.
The other highlight was getting to play with my son Koby, who lit up the finale of the evening – Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” with an explosive guitar solo. I was proud beyond words.
That pride carried over into Monday night, when Koby’s own band performed at a battle of the bands in Jerusalem to raise money for the Make a Wish Foundation which helps cancer-stricken children realize their dreams. With American Idol-style judges including gifted rock pianist Shlomi Shaban, Koby’s band was awarded 3rd place, and the parental pride rose even higher.
On Wednesday, it was a three hours to and from Sde Boker in the Negev for the swearing in ceremony of my daughter’s army unit upon completion of their basic training. Against a stunning desert backdrop, she and her comrades were awarded their rifles and their own Tanach in a moving ceremony that was followed by a rendition of ‘Hatikva.’
Third graders do Pessah.
There was another version of ‘Hatikva’ sung on Friday morning, at the pre-Pessah show put on by my son’s third grade class. Chronicling the Exodus from Egypt in a modern TV news approach, the show was dedicated to captive soldier Gilad Schalit, who’s about to spend his third Seder in Hamas captivity.
Singing ‘Hatikva’ the second time was just as emotional as at the army ceremony. Even though I’ve lived here for a quarter century, it’s only recently that the anthem has struck resonance with me, and during both renditions this week, I silently said thanks that I was raising my children in Israel.
In between all those activities, I actually found time to work a little – including sitting down for an hour interview with Natan Sharansky, the chairman of the Jewish Agency and the celebrated former Prisoner of Zion. And I even got some quality New York Times crossword puzzle time in with my beloved wife, and even, even to to do a little Pessah cleaning.
Just another week in Israel? Or my ‘best’ week? Either way, I’m lucky I can step back for a second and appreciate it.
On the road again in Israel
Filed under: General, Holidays, Israeliness, Life
Here we are in ‘hol hamoed’ – the intermediate days of Pessah – when most of the country is on vacation and competiting for the plethora of recreational activities and events available for such a small country.
We weren’t sure what to do this year – with a number of options open to us. Last year, we had a great time going to the Hermon Field School near Kiryat Shmona in the North with a big group of families. They’re going back for a few days beginning on Sunday. And even though the price is reasonable for the accomodations and food, an Israelity salary just doesn’t go that far anymore so we regretfully had to decline a return trip.
Another group of families is going camping at Dugit Beach along the eastern shore of the Kinneret. We joined them a couple years ago and had a great time, despite the trance party that took place one night beginning at midnight on the adjacent beach which gathered steam until about 6 am.
We considered that, but something that we hope will be even more fun came along. Friends of ours from Jerusalem are doing a house swap with a family from Zichron Yaakov, the delightful coastal town a bit south of Haifa. The house is evidently huge, large enough for two families, so they invited us to join them.
Zichron is a perfect location – close to the beach, a multitude of great hikes, the artist colony of Ein Harod, and Haifa itself, which is a great city to explore. But in reality, you never even have to leave Zichron – full of quaint shops, cafes and wineries, it’s one of Israel’s jewels.
Nothing like leaning back in a lounge chair in the patio of our palatial mansion with a good book, and cracking open a beer… oops, scratch that, forgot that it’s Pessah.
See you on the road with the rest of Am Yisrael.
Burn baby burn – getting ready for Pessah
Filed under: History and Culture, Holidays, Israeliness, Life, Religion
The aftermath of the purging of the hametz (Photo: Matan Brinn)
Beginning before 8 am and continuing through to mid-morning, people start bringing their left-over hametz – bread, cookies and anything made with leavening that are deemed to be off limits for Pessah – and start building bonfires.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re religiously observant or not – seems like the whole neighborhood comes out for the prayer for the burning of the hametz. It basically says that if we didn’t find every last drop of hametz in our homes in the cleaning leading up to Pessah, we won’t be struck by divine lightning.
But the main thing for the neighborhood kids is the fire – there’s another one every few feet in the undeveloped path behind our home. And those that are unsupervised by parents attempt to throw every possible item onto the blaze, including plastic bags, bottles and items that have been discarded during the pre-Pessas cleaning blitz, like Persian carpets and other environmentally unsound items that weren’t meant for burning.
Once the purge is over, Pessah afternoon takes on a tranquil quality, as families around the country get ready for their Seder. It’s the Thanksgiving of Israel, a staunch family time with extended families travelling for reunions at their parents’ homes. According to surveys, an overwhelming majority of Jewish Israelis attend a Seder – way more than the percentage of Israelis that consider themselves observant.
Most Seders last well into the night, often into the next day, with the melodies of “Echad Mi Yodaya” and “Had Gadya” wafting out of the windows. It’s times like that when the feeling exists that Israelis are really ‘am echad’ – one people.
Israeli wine buying season – even on a budget
The weeks leading up to Passover represent the lion’s share of the kosher wine industry’s annual sales. Just like December is the peak season for general retail revenues every year, post-Purim early spring is where it’s at for kosher wine transaction volume. Young wines from the fall harvest are starting to be bottled and marketed at this time, and those handling the wine buying for a Seder must procure enough for the proverbial four cups consumed by each participant as part of the Haggadah’s rituals, meaning around one full bottle per person – plus whatever’s consumed separately during the meal.
And just as consumer retail columnists formulated analyses and advice columns this past December, focusing on how to make solstice holiday purchases where one garners maximum bang for one’s buck in today’s tough economic climate, Ha’aretz‘s renowned wine critic Daniel Rogov recently released a highly practical guide to affordable spring 2009 kosher Israeli wines:
For several years, knowledgeable wine drinkers have known that the best buys in the country were the Tabor, Galil Mountain and Dalton wineries as well as in the Gamla series of the Golan Heights Winery. Those wines are now being joined by wines from the Zion winery and, while those may not make for the most sophisticated drinking, they do offer excellent value.
He goes on to rate nine kosher Zion winery (their Hebrew-only official site) products, all of which falling well within his “good to very good” stratum of scoring.
Rogov is getting out there more and more nowadays, serving as a formidable advocate of Israeli oenophilia. I’ve written about Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV before, and the enthusiastic eccentric personality also seemingly has Passover fever nowadays, having welcomed Rogov himself recently on the program (check out the fascinating 38-minute episode here). The banter-laden rapport between the two alone makes the video worth watching.
To Israeli wine lovers like you and me, this is not all big news (the fact that kosher wine no longer exclusively resembles cough syrup, and the fact that great Israeli wine is not exclusively kosher – we’ve known these things for years), but it’s great to see more and more mainstream wine-oriented media channels recognizing the quality coming out of this part of the world.
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