by Ruchi
This
morning found me preparing some Passover chocolate-chip cookies with my
little daughter Nomi. (As an aside, they bear no resemblance to my
normal chocolate-chip cookies aside from the chocolate chips.) Nomi
started humming Mah Nishtana while we worked, so I decided to pull up some music on You Tube for her enjoyment. We listened to Mah Nishatana a few hundred times, then moved on to a spirited rendition of Dayenu, followed by a rousing "Alef-Bet."
And then I discovered one of my favorite songs of all, by the
inimitable Abie Rotenberg, that had nothing to do with Passover. Or
maybe it did.
I am an ancient wall of stone, atop a hill so high.
And if you listen with your heart, you just may hear my cry.
Where has the Bais HaMikdosh [Temple] gone, I stand here all alone.
How long am I to wait for all my children to come home?
A house of marble and of gold once stood here by my side.
From far and wide all came to see its beauty and its pride.
But Sin'as Chinam [senseless hatred] brought it down, and with it so much pain.
Now only Ahavas Yisrael [love for a fellow Jew] can build it once again.
Together, together, you stood by Har Sinai, my daughters and sons.
Forever, forever, you must stand together forever as one...
And if you listen with your heart, you just may hear my cry.
Where has the Bais HaMikdosh [Temple] gone, I stand here all alone.
How long am I to wait for all my children to come home?
A house of marble and of gold once stood here by my side.
From far and wide all came to see its beauty and its pride.
But Sin'as Chinam [senseless hatred] brought it down, and with it so much pain.
Now only Ahavas Yisrael [love for a fellow Jew] can build it once again.
Together, together, you stood by Har Sinai, my daughters and sons.
Forever, forever, you must stand together forever as one...
My eyes stung with unshed tears as I rolled the cookies. So true! I shouted inside.
This IS the problem of our people. But look! I send a silent plea upward. Here, it's Passover. Jews all over the world are celebrating... connecting. It's been said that attending a Passover seder is the most widely observed Jewish ritual. So maybe it wasn't random that on Passover, while rolling my cookies, with my little girl, the future of our nation, we encountered this song? Maybe this hoiday is the key to our unity? No matter how apart we are, the Jews turn out en masse for Passover? Can we come together over some Passover chocolate-chip cookies?
Passover Chocolate-Chip Unity Cookies
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
1 cup oil
2 packages ground nuts (about 3 1/2 cups)
1 cup potato starch
one package chocolate chips
Cream eggs with sugar. Mix in remainder of ingredients and proceed as though they were normal cookies. Enjoy!
Enjoy the rest of your holiday,
R
