Secrets Behind The New Passover Haggadah; A Love Story; Part Three

Every Jew Deserves This Jewish Feeling
by Jerry Waxman

All through growing up in America, and living and working in different places in the U.S., being Jewish meant being different from everyone else, and not in a good way. We were victims in the Holocaust. Our holidays reminded us of tragedies and hardships. The stereotypical Jew is an anxious and disturbed weakling with guilt complexes. In America, I had no Jewish heroes. I didn't even fathom such a thing until I came to Israel.

In America, our seders were wonderful family get-togethers. We read a Haggadah that had English translations of a generic Hebrew Haggadah. The obvious intention of the Haggadah writers was to make sure that the people ate certain things at certain times, and said certain things along the way.

Rote recitation and no feeling; that's how our seders were. Why would we want to remind ourselves that we were Jews? What good does it do for us to remember that we were slaves in Egypt? Depressing stuff, especially when we read this liturgy written in King James English. Especially for anxious, guilt-ridden men and superficial princesses.

Enough, already! Through living in Israel, and through visiting the truly Jewish side of things, I learned that Jews really are heroes. I learned that feelings of guilt and weakness and having nervous breakdowns over petty issues ARE NOT the Jewish way. To be different from the masses of non-Jews who surround us is a good thing - a very exciting uniqueness that we own and can be proud of, not ashamed of.

I gained from the Yemenite seder, and from subsequent seders of various traditions in Israel, a true sense of the freedom that Pesach celebrates. I mean freedom from the feelings of guilt, and shame, and weakness. And freedom from this feeling that we earned our victimhood because we are different.

The Jewish feeling of freedom has no place for boring and meaningless rote recitation. If anything it is a passion for who we are and what we stand for. It is a true love affair with our heritage, and pride for what we have accomplished in every generation since Moses.

While delusions of "spreading the word" escaped me, thankfully, I have wanted very badly to share my experiences with other Jews. Not to tell my story, but to tell our story in a way that other Jews might discover what I discovered; that being Jewish is a heritage to be proud of. That celebrating Pesach can be exciting and deeply meaningful to all of us.

Over the years since that first Yemenite seder, a lot has happened, and I have lived and worked in several places outside Israel. My connection to Israel never stopped, though. With everywhere I went, and everything I did, I knew I would one day return to Israel. Just like when we were slaves in Egypt, we knew that a day would come when we'd finally leave and go to Israel.

There really is a secret love story that goes with the Haggadah I wrote. There is also a not-so-secret love story, which I will reveal here. Hard as it was, I loved my life in Israel. I was living as a Jew in the Jewish homeland. Even though I had no other success, no money, no property, no family around, and nothing to be proud of and nothing to look forward to, I think I had something most people lack. I had an understanding of who I am, and how my life relates to the lives of the people in the Torah. And I had a passion for being a part of Israel - its past, its present and its future.

When I came to live in Sderot two years ago, it was for purely Jewish reasons. I still have no family in Israel. No job, and no income. But i do have a sense of belonging. I came to Sderot at a time when many were leaving because of the rockets. This same sense, I think, drove people to leave Egypt.

The same sense of belonging led Jews to leave Egypt and forge a nation in the wilderness. We, all of us Jews, are connected to that story. We need to reconnect as best we can. I wrote a Haggadah in English with hopes that more and more Americans, Australians, and other English speaking people will have a joyful, meaningful Pesach seder, as I have had in Israel.

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The Andaman Haggadah in English delivers the passion and meaning of being Jewish. Customers who have read the Andaman Haggadah have commented on how the plain English and simple explanations, along with the exciting images make this their Haggadah of choice for their Passover Seders. Inspired by the story you are reading now, there really is a love story behind the Andaman Haggadah. Get this beautiful English Passover Haggadah now! . Download it today. Print as many as you need. No extra charge, ever. Unannounced bonuses apply.

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Secrets Behind The New Passover Haggadah; A Love Story Continues

• Part One - Lone Soldier Meets Yemenite Clan
• Part Two; Ancient Customs, New Awakenings
• Part Three; Every Jew Deserves This Jewish Feeling
• Part Four; Love and the Andaman Connection (Only available to owners of the Andaman Haggadah)

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BS”D    michtavei jerry #2
Sderot Israel.    May, 2009

Attention:
The Honorable Binyamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister of the State of Israel

Open Letter to Binyamin Netanyahu
from Sderot Israel

by Jerry Waxman

Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu;

The first time I traveled to Israel was July 6, 1976, two days after celebrating America’s Bicentennial.  The plane my brother and I were on was delayed at the airport in Paris due to a bomb threat.  When the plane finally landed in Lod without exploding, the passengers clapped loudly.  A bomb threat followed by such appreciation for arriving safely – that was my introduction to the “Israel experience.”

At the time, for me, touring in Israel was the same as touring any other country. I’ll admit that for much of my life I didn’t want people to know I was Jewish.  I didn’t even think of myself as a Jew.  I was ashamed of the fact.  All that I knew of Jews then was that they were meak, and they were victims.

The first days in Israel put an end to that belief.  People were still jubilant over the Entebbe Rescue mission. That mission told me a lot about Israel. It told me that the country stood for all Jews everywhere; not just the citizens of Israel.  It told me that Israel would not rely on the rest of the world to do anything when Jews were the ones in trouble. 

And for the first time in my life, I saw Jews as heroes, not victims.  Heroes!

Five years later I was privileged to wear the uniform of Jewish heroes; I served in the IDF only months after making aliya.  I was greatly inspired by a book, “Michtavei Yoni,” letters of Yonatan Netanyahu, the commander of the Entebbe Rescue operation. 

Sadly, Yonatan was killed in that mission. But his letters, his thoughts about doing well at everything, and his commitment to preserving a homeland for Jews – they were inspiration not only for me, but for many men and women like me who would look to Yoni as a role model. 

Well, that was some years ago. But I have to tell you, I still get inspiration from Yoni’s thoughts, and his actions.

I was outside of Israel for a long time.  But I’m back now.  I came to live in Sderot.  I chose Sderot because I read that people were leaving.  For me, the right thing to do is to do the opposite of what the terrorists want you to do.  They want us to leave Sderot – so I came to live in Sderot. 

Mr. Prime Minister, in a few days you will meet with the president of the United States, Barack Obama.   The rhetoric that we hear from Washington is that the U.S. is pushing for a plan for Israel to relinquish land for the Palestinians to form a state.  As you well know, implementing this plan at this time would subject all of Israel to the type of rocket attacks Sderot has endured for the past 8 years.

Obviously you are under a lot of pressure. Not only do the U.S. officials seem to be barricading you into a corner, but also the Israeli press and the president of Israel are urging you to “cave in.” Many American Jews believe you should go along with U.S. policy. 

Please don’t cave in, Mr.Prime Minister.  Any weakness that you display will be an invitation for more terrorist activity.  You know that.  Furthermore, if you give in to the U.S. demands at this time, you will be letting down more Jews than you satisfy.  You would let down not only all those who voted for you or for the parties that are in your coalition, you would also let down millions of Jews who are not in Israel. 

In an ironic way, you would even let down all those Jews who are calling for you to cave in. 

And you would let down yourself, and your family, and all those Jews, including Yoni, who have given their lives so that there could be this homeland for Jews. 

Please remember these things, Mr. Prime Minister.  When you choose to be a hero there will be many more Jews with you than against you.   

Respectfully,

Jerry Waxman
Sderot Israel

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