Passover in Jerusalem

Happy Passover to everyone, I hope this posting finds you well. Passover in Jerusalem is an interesting time – quite different from the Passover holidays I have spent at home. I knew this would be different when, on Wednesday morning, as I was biking through Mea Shearim (the ultra-orthodox Haredi neighbourhood of Jerusalem) I saw large groups of families engaging in the traditional burning of the bread before Passover. Even growing up in a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood in Montreal, I never saw this happen.

I had dinner last night at my family’s apartment here. Interestingly, at the Seder, along with the traditional extra cup of wine for Eliyahu the prophet, the family had set an extra place that they said was for Jonathan Pollard. Jonathan Pollard is a Jewish American (he was granted Israeli citizenship in 1998) who was convicted of spying on the United States and providing classified information to an ally (Israel). He was sentenced with life in prison, and has been in a US jail since 1985. Israelis want the US to pardon Pollard, or at least extradite him to Israel. The Pollard issue continues to be a point of contention in Israeli-US relations. Pro-Pollard activists claim that Pollard’s life sentence was far more severe than the crime merited.

After stuffing myself with matzah, and singing Passover songs, I started the walk back to my apartment at 1:30am. As I was walking through Giv’at Sha’ul I could hear through open windows other Passover Seders finishing up, with whole families joining together in singing the traditional songs. As I walked down the street, the different families’ tunes and songs greeted me in the orange lamplight and I thought to myself, “This is the vision of the Jewish state.” I can understand the allure of being surrounded by a majority of Jews. As a Canadian, much of my Jewish experience involves being “different” from those around me. It’s strange, but the simple freedom of not having to explain yourself to someone when you are practicing your religion (even in an open and tolerant society like Canada) is liberating.

As during most holiday periods in Israel, the IDF has been very busy. According to IDF reports, they have prevented over 70 attacks from Palestinian militants in the last month. The last two weeks have also brought 18 Palestinian casualties (it may be more now, but this was the last number I saw). Most of these have been armed militants, but at least 2 children have been killed. Much of the Israeli fire has been in response to the latest salvo of Qassam rocket attacks that have been originating in the Gaza strip. The IDF has a policy of shelling the sites of rocket attacks. I understand that the idea is that it is supposed to serve as a deterrent, but when radicals use civilian homes to launch attacks, everyone loses: the terrorists launch their attacks, and when Israel responds, they get more martyrs for the cause. I don’t have a better solution, but any time innocent children are killed, I think we need to take a minute and re-evaluate things.

That brings me back to a picture of a poster that I put up on my last post. I erroneously assumed that the poster I saw was an election poster. A colleague at the center translated the Arabic on the poster for me. In fact, while I’m sure that there is political motivation behind it, the poster is actually what they call a “martyr poster”. The Young man on the poster was part of Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade. He was killed by IDF forces. Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade has been active in planning and carrying out attacks in Israel on military and civilian targets. They consider themselves (and are considered by many in Fatah) as Fatah’s “military wing.” Their official status is a little murky as some members of Fatah have tried to distance themselves from the group. So, the use of the Fatah emblem on the poster may or may not have been sanctioned. A colleague of mine pointed out the lunacy of it all when he said, “What are they going to do, sue for copyright infringement?” I guess this is another instance of things not always being what they seem. I should be used to it by now.

Be safe.
- Seth