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Israel Alert Newsletter
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Passover EDITION
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13 Nisan 5773
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March 24, 2013
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CLICK HERE TO EXPLORE OUR SELECTION OF
PASSOVER INSPIRATION
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The Passover Seder Experience
Passover is the eight-day holiday that celebrates the Exodus of the
Jewish people from Egypt. In Israel, Passover is a seven day holiday.
The reason why it is a day longer in the Diaspora is to recall the ancient
custom -before calendars were invented - of observing the holidays for an extra
day in case an error was made when calculating the lunar months. Passover
begins on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nissan.
There is hardly a Jewish home anywhere in the world that does not conduct some
kind of a "Seder" in honor of the holiday. "Seder"
literally means "order" - since the entire night follows a
"script", known as the Haggadah
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The Story of Daniel Viflic:
Beautiful Life and Tragic Ending
"While everyone is busy preparing for the Pesach (Passover) holiday, our
family is busy preparing for our beloved son Daniel's Yarhtzeit (anniversary of
his death)..." This is the story of a gentle soul, Daniel Viflic,
who was brutally murdered in a terrorist attack, just before Passover
2011.
This article was written last year, one year after Daniel's passing. It is
being republished this year with the permission of the Viflic family. Daniel
Aryeh Viflic was born in Hong Kong to Itzak and Tamar Viflic, on the 17th of
January, 1995.
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Passover: Freedom
for the Nation of Israel!
Passover commemorates our freedom from slavery and the birth of the Jewish
nation: A healthy, liberating experience for both the body and the soul of the
People of Israel. Our ancient customs at the Seder and the special
foods we eat - tell the amazing story of our freedom. And they help us to
re-enact those precious moments of liberation, some 3300 years ago.
Marror (bitter herbs) remind us of the harshness and bitterness of slavery.
Matzoh, the "poor man's bread" that we ate as slaves, transforms
itself, during the Seder, into the bread of redemption.
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The Jewish Exodus from Arab Lands
As Jews around the world celebrate Passover and remember their ancestors'
exodus from Egypt, it is also important to remember the modern day
Jewish exodus from Arab lands. In 1945, around one million Jews lived
in Jewish communities residing in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Morocco, Syria
and Yemen. Many of these communities predated Islam. Jews in Arab states
greatly contributed towards their societies.
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The first night of the Seder this year commemorates the 70th anniversary of the
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Indeed, it was on the first night of the Seder in 1943
that the Germans began the process of attempting to liquidate the Jewish
community which lived in the Warsaw Ghetto, in a vain attempt to crush the
Jewish spirit, soul, and nation.
The Warsaw Ghetto originally contained 450,000 souls. However, by the time of
the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, only 35,000 Jews were permitted to remain within
the ghetto by the Nazis, while an additional 20,000 Jews were in hiding.
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Preparing
for Passover in Israel - Lots to Do!
As Passover approaches,
families across the country are getting ready for the holiday. People are
cleaning up their homes, in an effort to ensure that there is literally no
"hametz" anywhere inside the home. Hametz means 'leavened' in Hebrew
and includes any grain products that have 'risen' like bread or crackers.
During the Passover holiday only Matzah is eaten.
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Ribadavia, a town in northern Spain, is set to host the first Passover Seder
since the Spanish Inquisition, when in 1492 the Jews of medieval Spain were
given the choice of expulsion, conversion or death.
The Seder is being jointly hosted by the Ribadavia Municipality's Tourism
Department and the Center for Medieval Studies, which researches the history of
Spain's Jews prior to the Spanish Inquisition. The Seder is expected to attract
a few dozen people, thus breathing life into the city's once vibrant Jewish
Quarter.
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