I had many meaningful and uplifting encounters this week with lots of different people as I drove around paying pre Passover house visits to people across the area. One of the most memorable encounters took place in the middle of the week, when I visited Izzy, who spoke for us a number of years ago about his Holocaust experiences.
As I stood there at the bottom of his steps, Izzy stood at the top of his stairway behind his mask, and reminisced about Passover memories in his childhood town of Slonim, Belaraus. At one point, Izzy sang for me the Mah Nishtana (the Four Questions) with the traditional melody of Eastern European Jews, and a unique Slonim touch.
Izzy began the Four Questions with the Yiddish introduction “Tate, ich vil by dir fregen fir Kashiyos”, “Father, I want to ask you four questions”.
As he said those words, a chill went through me, as I thought about Izzy’s story, who as a young child of approximately six years old was separated from his family who were murdered by the Nazis. His uncle who had helped him escape, passed away soon after from disease and Izzy was left alone as a young child in eastern Russia to survive the ravages of famine and war, with his uncle’s dying words ringing in his ears “to never forget who he is”.
Yet here I am standing with Izzy, thousands of miles away some eighty years later, as he sings the Mah Nishtana with the same beautiful melody he sang to his parents on that last Passover together as a family when he was just a young and innocent child.
The passion of his singing, was the same of that of a young pure child, the word “Tate”(“Father”), he said, as if he was standing there asking his father in person, and the meaning and his love of the message behind the four questions, was vividly obvious from the way he sang the melody.
I stood there imagining the scene, as some eighty plus years ago, Izzy sat around a beautiful Passover Seder Table adorned with the family heirlooms and delicacies of his mother’s home baked food, even as the ominous clouds of war were out there in the distance. His parents and siblings were listening on with pride and joy as he sang with a sweet youthful voice, the Mah Nishtana. The night of the Seder, was memorable as the children were engaged and included and engaged in passing on the story of our people’s heritage and the trials and tribulations that have often been a part of the story.
The goal of that night’s Seder and of Izzy’s parents, (like all other Seders) was to remember the past, engage the family, and to make sure that the children at the table, would absorb the meaning and relevance of the story so that they too could continue to live on with pride and joy the timeless messages of Judaism.
The birds continued their chirping and Izzy was still singing the final questions of the Mah Nishtana. Time seemed to stand still, as these thoughts passed through my mind, and Izzy’s beautiful melodic voice filled the crisp air with the purity and innocence of a child of Slonim.
It is 2021, but the message of this year’s Seder is no different as the theme of the Seder is VeHigadato LeBinhca, “You should tell to your child”. Indeed the name of the Hagaddah comes from this phrase which is about telling and absorbing the story and its message.
Our job as parents or friends, is to facilitate a Passover Seder, that will create beautiful life moments and inspiring Jewish messages, so that our children too, will continue living and singing these songs and their messages when they are well into their older years and when they are the grandparents of the next generations.
Like Izzy, who has used the love and passion of his Judaism that was instilled in him by his parents and teachers at such a young age, to inspire and uplift so many, let’s do that for our kids and our families, so that together we can continue to sing the hopeful song at the end of the Seder as we say L’Shana Habaah BeYerushaloyim, Next Year in Jerusalem!
You can see the video of Izzy singing (which he said I could share) the Mah Nishtana over here.
If you would like to visit our Passover site to learn more about Passover, view Recipes, Download Haggadahs including some brand new great ones, sell Chametz or more visit this link
Good Shabbos & Shabbat Shalom
Yisroel