In Every Generation We Are Obligated To Feel As If We Have Just Left Egyptian Slavery

In Every Generation We Are Obligated To Feel As If We Have Just Left Egyptian Slavery (Haggada shel Pesach) By Malka Taub

Pesach celebrates the most famous journey that the “Wandering Jews” ever took. Leaving Egyptian bondage on their way to Kaballat Hatorah and Eretz Yisrael was nothing short of a dream come true.

The Seder is celebrated with a great degree of simcha, yet when one pauses to think about it, for these thousands of years since the Exodus the majority of Pesach-seder experiences have been “celebrated” under adverse circumstances. Despite this, we as a people of extraordinary emunah and trust in Hashem have managed to draw out the simcha in our sedarim.

Through the grace of G-d we “Netanyatim” are celebrating Pesach right here in Eretz Yisrael, the realization of the collective dream of Bnei Yisrael. Of course the Geula Shlaiyma is not here yet and the Beit Hamikdash must still be rebuilt. But one cannot deny that the footsteps of redemption are approaching closer and closer.

My husband often says that Netanya is the best kept secret in Eretz Yisrael and I know you would all agree. The majesty of the sea (the Yam Hagadol), the Torah diversity, hundreds of Batei Knesset (shuls), Yeshivot, Kollelim, Chabad centers and the unique Chassidic Kiryat Zanz community; not to mention the expansive and beautifully rebuilt kikar and of course the availability of kosher eateries.

While perhaps we do not quite have the kedushah of Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh, if one listens and observes closely one can feel the kedushah of Eretz Yisrael in Ir Hakodesh Netanya and in the sacred walls of our Beit Knesset Hechadash.

For me growing up in a home where Eretz Yisrael was always at the forefront — making aliyah was always my dream. Nine years ago, that dream came true.

To leave our families and especially our grandchildren was very difficult for both of us and we hope and pray that ...for these thousands of years since the Exodus the majority of Pesach-seder experiences were “celebrated” under adverse circumstances.

in the not too distant future our children and grandchildren will join us. We look forward each year to when we are able to parent our grandsons and granddaughters as they come to learn in Yeshiva or in seminary.

Netanya has welcomed us with open arms. We have renewed old friendships and discovered many new ones.

Learning to be patient when driving has not been easy, neither has realizing that if one does not assert oneself while waiting in line at the supermarket one will land up at the back of the queue. We have learned what a “fraiyer” is (sucker) and we now know to take a ticket whereever we have to be. A hundred small things remind us every day that this is not the land of our birth. And yet…so different and so familiar it all seems. Like so many sedarim over so many hundreds of years, the journey is often tinted with sadness. The “marror” aftertaste of what we had to sacrifice to be here lingers in our mouths, but like every generation that came before us we are unwavering. We don’t regret for one moment our decision to leave our birth places and come to our Promised Land.

There can be no mistaking that we are finally home. o

בְ כָ ל דֹור וָ דֹור חַ יָב אָ דָ ם לִ רְ אֹות אֶ ת עַ צְ מֹו כְ אִ לו הוא יצָ א מִ מִ צְ רַָ ים