Israel vs Exile
“Tonight is the first night of Passover, when Jews across the world celebrate their ancestors’ freedom from the yoke of slavery in ancient Egypt. Sitting round the dinner table, we will recount the tale of liberation and the first aliyah in minute detail, with four glasses of wine to help us get into the festive spirit. We’ll move on to a lovingly-prepared feast midway through proceedings. Once Grace has been recited, the singing begins - including the traditional and rousing refrain of Next Year In Jerusalem.
For me, this is always a source of consternation - I already live in Jerusalem, yet every year I find myself flying back to my family in London for Seder night, in apparent contradiction of the song’s instructions. Thus, year after year, I try to imagine what it would take to get my nearest and dearest to actually up sticks and join me in the promised land - and I also wonder where the buck stops.
For, if I am sincere in wishing that my parents, grandparents, siblings and cousins would make the move to Israel, does it follow that I wish that my entire childhood community should do the same? If I extrapolate even further, am I saying that I wish that all of English Jewry - all of world Jewry, in fact - should take literally the commandment of “gathering in the exiles from all four corners of the Earth”? Read on at Comment is Free.















