Erev Pesach Photo Blog

An early sign of Pesach (or any Jewish holiday in Israel, actually) is that the Coke bottles and potato chip bags start offering holiday wishes to the Jewish people.  Look to the left of the colorful Coke bottle.  It says, "Chag Sameach" (Happy Holiday) in Hebrew.

Stacks and stacks of Kosher for Passover Coke, all bearing the Chag Sameach greeting.

The onions in Israel are often sold with, ahem, a different level of attention to dirt removal.  It takes some getting used to, but I find it earthy and more real than overly sanitized produce in Styrofoam, covered in plastic.  What does this have to do with Pesach?  Well, I cook with a lot of onion on Pesach :-)  

  

Walking around the Shuk the day before the Seder, we found lots of men working hard to help Jews sell their chametz before the holiday begins. 

Other opportunities to sell one's chametz included this "Lucy booth" at the Malcha Mall, 
right in front of a grocery store.

In Baltimore, burning the last of our chametz was a major community event a few miles from home.  Here, it was a much more modest affair.  We walked across the street, put our bag of stale bread, crackers and cereal on the pile, said the appropriate prayer in Hebrew and English and walked back across the street for lunch, all in under 10 minutes.

Notice the giant pot next to the yeshiva guy with the red glove and the tongs.  The pot is almost as tall as a person, filled with boiling water.  All day long, neighbors line up at the ha'agala station where people can bring their utensils, pots,oven racks and other metal objects to immerse in boiling water to make them kosher for Passover use.  This is a free service provided all over Israel.  Just one more way Jewish life is easier to live in this country. 

Finally, my official Israeli driver's license arrived in the mail this week.  Now I'm 2/3 of the way to the Israeli Citizenship Trifecta.  All I need is an Israeli passport, for which I become eligible after we've been living here a full year.  No road test to get a passport.  Just one more reason to rejoice on Pesach.

!חג כשר ושמח לכל היהודים בכל מקום

A happy and kosher Passover to all Jews everywhere!