Dear Friends,

Hag Sameach! A Good Yom Tev!

On the seder evening we say "ma nishtana halayla haze micol haleilot" ("Why is this night different from all other nights?"). This year our seder was different from the ones we had in past years because a family of refugees from Sudan joined us.

25 people gathered for the seder. People who are alone are welcome to join me and my family at Or Hadash. Two years ago several homeless people came to our seder, last year Ethiopian new immigrants joined us and this year it was a another special experience.

When we arrived to the part of the Hagada in which we recite: "each person must see himself as though he left Egypt", I asked each one of our guests where they were last year and if this was their first seder in Israel. It was interesting because people from five continents were present at our seder: from South and North America, Europe, Asia and Africa.

Afterwards I asked what the best thing that happened since last Pesach. When it came time for the family from Darfur to answer, the mother, Freweyeni, was very shy and did not speak, the daughter, Dagmawit, was mostly occupied with finding the aficoman, but the father, Binaim, had two things to be especially grateful for this year: The first was that he arrived with his family in Israel and the second was that while still in Africa, he managed to see his mother after ten years, most of these years not even knowing if the rest of his family was dead or alive.

I told everyone that our ancestors came out of Egypt 3,300 years ago and our guests, the refugees from Darfur, came to Israel this year the same way the children of Israel did then. They arrived only a few months ago traveling through Africa by car, but crossing the border into Israel by foot.

Three days before Passover began, on Wednesday, April 16th, Holocaust survivors came to Or Hadash with their families for the annual Amcha model seder (Amcha is an association that provides support for Holocaust survivors and their families). On Thursday, April 17, we held a model seder for children of our Moadonit (after school program) and on April 18, another model seder for our preschool children took place. We also held model seders for conversion students, new immigrants and bar/bat mitzvah families during the week.

On Friday night, April 25, we will celebrate our 7th day of Passover congregational seder in our sanctuary with Prof. Paula Rayman from Boston as our special guest.

On behalf of Or Hadash, I want to wish you a meaningful Pesach. I hope you enjoy spending time with your families. We should always cherish the fact that we are free people and not slaves.

Ciao,
Edgar