Episode 25: Passover

So there goes a story about man who died and went to heaven, where he met G-d. 'We are going to take a walk down the story of your life' said G-d, and thus they started down the path. First, they saw the happiest moments of his life - his graduation, his first job, his marriage, his kids, his trophies and awards. The man was glowing with pride, and he noticed on the path there were two sets of footprints. Next, they continued onto the worst, lowest moments of his life. His divorce, his first redundancy, loss of loved ones. In this version of events, he noticed only one set of footprints on the floor.

The man was angry. 'So you never helped me, you didn't accompany me, you left me alone in my hard times! ' He exclaimed. 'No'. Said G-d. 'It is through those times I was carrying you'.


The good thing about stories such as those is that you can adapt them for different types of conclusions. This one i told to one of the families who invited my cousin and I for Passover Seder here in BA, in that just like G-d was with the Israelites in their escape from slavery in Eygpt thousands of years ago, he is still here today and we shouldn't forget that ( and that this type of conclusion could and should, then, be applied similarly to other religions for the same conclusion).


The main thing my cousin and I picked up from being here over nights such as those is the joy and fun people have. Seder (perhaps even the one in Obama's White House) can be a laboured event back in the UK, slow and at times not so easy to follow. Here, however, despite the fact that not so many people are especially religious jews, it was a bubbly chain of events with lots little kids creating trouble, lots of chatting and story telling. Even more special, then, that whilst these families knew me, they most certainly didnt know my cousin - yet still welcomed her with open arms and made an extra effort to speak to her even though most people don't speak english and she doesnt speak spanish! For all my negative/incredulous-at-times thoughts about the government - it seems that no matter how much more prosperous things could be, the people here will always be the most kind I have ever happened to chance upon.