Shalom and Aloha

Last night we went to the community Passover seder hosted by Temple Emanuel, the local Honolulu synagogue. It was incredibly fun and I'm so glad we went. It started out sort of questionably -- as the rabbi was introducing himself and getting the evening started, the door at the back of the room burst open and a bunch of people yelling and carrying signs marched in. "Holy crap, anti-Israel protesters!" was the first thing I thought, but then I realized it was a planned "comedy" bit. The signs said things like, "Down with Pharaoh" "Freedom Now!" and "Egyptians use non-union labor," and then the protesters had this conversation with the rabbi in which he explained that the Jews had been freed from the Egyptians by God and that's what we were all here celebrating. I guess it was kind of funny, but I was dubious. Then we all had to stand up and hold hands with everyone at our table sing a song to the tune of "We Shall Overcome," except that this version was entitled "We Shall Overeat."* Jesus Christ. And, oy. My heart kind of sank, because I don't like my Judaism flavored with hippie-dippy, joke-y type bullshit. I like my Jewish rituals to be a little more formal and reverent.

But then everything settled down and we got down to the business of the seder, which ended up being lovely. We were seated at a table of other young couples who were all very nice and interesting, and I think I made a friend -- a woman whose husband is in the military (he's really cool, too), and she works from home as a management consultant. We exchanged numbers and are working on a plan to get together soon. The service was very multicultural and warm -- the Four Questions were read in a number of different languages (French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Yiddish, etc) to symbolize the fact that the Passover seder is observed by people all over the world. Each table had a special question about Passover that they were supposed to come up with an answer to, and then at some point in the service the rabbi would ask them the question and talk about the answer. There was lots of discussion and in*terpretation about the various points in the service. And the congregation was all shapes and colors -- Asian, Polynesian, caucasian, people that lived in Hawaii, people that were visiting from out of town. Everybody was incredibly welcoming and friendly, and in addition to having a good time, I really felt the spirit of the holiday. Happy Passover, everyone. May we have a year in which we work towards peace and freedom for all.


*Here's one of the five verses we had to sing:

We shall overeat
We shall overeat
We shall overeat this day
Oh, this is our wish
Please pass the gefilte fish
For we shall overeat this day