Brokenhearted, we find our way from narrowness to freedom.
Springtime. Snow melting, flowers coming back to life.
Do you remember how we set the PassoverPassover is a major Jewish holiday that commemorates the Jewish people's liberation from slavery and Exodus from Egypt. Its Hebrew name is Pesakh. Its name derives from the tenth plague, in which God "passed over" the homes of the Jewish firstborn, slaying only the Egyptian firstborn. Passover is celebrated for a week, and many diaspora Jews celebrate for eight days. The holiday begins at home at a seder meal and ritual the first (and sometimes second) night. Jews tell the story of the Exodus using a text called the haggadah, and eat specific food (matzah, maror, haroset, etc). table,
covered in her lace tablecloth, setting it up just as she would have?
But the matzo balls were wrong.
They sunk, her’s would float.
And the salt water of Passover tears
stung all night in our mouths
that were to be filled with freedom’s joy.
Do you remember when we opened the door for ElijahElijah is a biblical prophet who is said never to have died. There are therefore many legends associated with Elijah. In the Talmud, unresolved arguments will be resolved when Elijah comes. He will herald the coming of the messiah. In Jewish ritual, Elijah is a liminal figure, arriving at moments of danger and transition – at a brit milah, a chair is put out for him, a cup is poured for Elijah at the Passover seder, and he is invoked at havdalah. His Hebrew name is Eliyahu.
and the dog ran away?
And she laughed so.
How we left Elijah a goblet full of wine?
And how was it that the wine always disappeared right before our very eyes?
How was it that the harosetThe fruit and nut paste included in the Passover seder to represent the mortar the Israelite slaves used in Egypt. In Ashkenazic tradition, nuts are ground with apples and wine to make haroset for the Passover seder plate. Sephardic and other Middle-Eastern haroset typically uses dates as the base, often seasoned with ground ginger or cinnamon. was always just so?
And how was it that everyone really listened to one another’s questions?
And every grandchild found the afikomenThe broken half of the middle matzah, hidden by the leader of the seder and ransomed back by the children. The seder meal cannot be completed without the return and eating of the afikomen as the desert.?
And remember when everyone
shared with her a few minutes that felt like forever
to unburden the narrowness in their lives, feeling freed by her love?
And how was it that she was not at the head of the table?
She was nowhere to be found!
Why didn’t she enter through Elijah’s open door?
They call Passover z’man heiruteinu, the season of our freedom.
But you did not feel free, even as renewal sprouted forth freely from the earth.
The grandkids were growing up.
The last hug you shared seemed further and further away.
She was gone now and your memories blurred.
Worn down by your grief, in the silence of Yizkor,
Yizkor Elohim, God remembered
and you remembered:
Her love—sweet like tzimmis,
Her strength—birthing you from the narrows and freed!
Her voice—strong like Miriam’s song at the shores of the sea.
Passover Yizkor, z’man heiruteinu,
in remembering her,
you felt grief and joy bound up together.
