New Beginnings
How Passover brought me back to blogging
Yesterday Diane and I went for a walk and bumped into Helen Senor on the train track here in Jerusalem. Born in 1938 in Košice, Czechoslovakia, Helen was only a little girl and hid with her mother from the Nazis during WWII and later moved to America and built a wonderful family, including her daughter (and our friend) Wendy Singer and her son Dan. Helen recommended the latest episode of her son’s “Call Me Back” podcast. So last night we watched it, and the word remarkable doesn’t do it justice.
He interviewed Rachel Goldberg-Polin about the meaning of Passover, also known as the Holiday of Freedom. Since Dan’s known Rachel since grade school, it was a highly personal and eloquent discussion, ranging from their personal stories and religious beliefs to (salt-water) tears. They spoke about a central sentence in the Haggadah: “In each and every generation they arise against us to destroy us” (אֶלָּא שֶׁבְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר עוֹמְדִים עָלֵינוּ לְכַלוֹתֵנוּ).
I grew up thinking that archaic verse was ancient history. Not anymore!
Passover was a time of liberation for my Mom, too, who was freed from Bergen-Belsen by the British Army on Sunday morning, April 15, 80 years ago this week.
We had a friend, David Steiner, also from Slovakia, who hid in an attic in Bratislava with 7 other people in a space so tight that none of them could turn over unless they all did. He would get emotional on his personal liberation day, also during Passover, when they read Ezekiel’s “Vision of the Dry Bones” coming back to life.
Theirs was a generation who knew uncertainty but also tenacity and resilience.
I haven’t blogged in five years, since I recorded a tribute to my parents in my home office. That was the beginning of COVID-19, which changed everything and seems so long ago.
It was before October 7, too, which changed everything but somehow does not seem so long ago. Before Hamas invaded, raped and rampaged, to the delight of protestors worldwide. Before Iran fired 120 50-foot ballistic missiles (Apr 13, 2024) and later 180 (Oct 1, 2024). Before Brett McGurk’s advice: “Don’t start a war with Israel.”
I thought this week about working for positive change. My friend and hero Dan Bricklin, creator of the original spreadsheet, said, “I’m not rich because I invented VisiCalc, but I feel that I’ve made a change in the world. That’s a satisfaction money can’t buy.” Dan’s a Philadelphia boy who attended Akiba High School. Other alumni include Jake Tapper, David Agus, Jamie Geller, and Josh Shapiro, recently in the news for a seder night arson attack on his governor’s mansion in Harrisburg by a “deranged” man who happened to disapprove of his support for Israel.
Maybe the Haggadah phrase doesn’t sound so ancient after all.
I’m happy to be back blogging and will keep future posts a little lighter :) Shout-out to my first two subscribers: Mike Berkowitz and Keith Teare (“That Was The Week”), who live 10 time zones from each other.
Next time I want to tell you about our new company, Equator.
Happy 7th Day of Passover — and may we all enjoy a “new birth of freedom”!