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Driving Louella — “Necessary Stories” column from The Jerusalem Report

April 16th, 2011 · 2 Comments · Culture and Ideas

Haim Watzman Thanks to the editors at the Jerusalem Report for permitting me to post this before the current issue reaches subscribers, so that you can read this story before Pesach. This is the story I tell my family every Seder night. When I was about two years old, soon after my little brother Saul [...]

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Remembering Slavery

April 6th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Judaism and Religion

Haim Watzman Jews who grew up in the Diaspora and have raised children in Israel face a challenge at the Pesach Seder every year. The text of the Hagadah, and the spirit of the holiday, call on us to remember that we were slaves in Egypt, strangers in a strange land, outsiders. I grew up [...]

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Rav and Shmuel at the Gym: How Should We Begin the Passover Seder?

April 14th, 2008 · 4 Comments · Judaism and Religion

Between sets of arm curls, Nahum walks over to me and says, “You’re familiar with the disagreement between Rav and Shmuel about the way the Seder should begin?” Nahum doesn’t look like the kind who works on his biceps—he’s a slender guy in his mid-thirties who wears a black kipah and glasses. He resembles a [...]

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