It is a wonderfully beautiful full moon night in Miami.
Why is this night different from all the other nights?
I will tell you
I was told to go out at 10 35 pm and look at the moon.
As you can see in the images, it was very pretty.
I had confirmatory images from other parts of the world, including Cuba.
(moon over Havana, cuba)
I had been fielding telephone calls from colleagues and friends
About the situation in our planet at the moment, something we couldn’t have imagined
Just three months ago.
While they were hiding/reporting the first case of the Novel Corona virus
I was in my favourite spot in India, the port city of Cochin in Kerala
At the Old Light House Bristow Hotel, looking at the Arabian Sea..
Wuhan, Hebei, Corona
Pneumonia, ventilator
National, then regional and then international
Endemic to Epidemic to Pandemic
The last pandemic was 1918
102 years ago..
Fear, psychological and financial instability
Lack of information, unreliable talk shows and incessant TV coverage
Then we became prisoners in our houses.
Looking at the figures from around the world, I felt comforted that the virus was playing out its natural life style in this digital age
Today alone, 200 flights were to leave Wuhan to other parts of China
Austrian government announced the opening of certain shops in one week’s time
Here in USA, it has become our Mizraim, our Egypt
3300 years the Jewish people were slaves in Mizraim, the current day Egypt
Ruled by a Pharaoh
We are now ruled by a pharaonic megalomaniacal narcissist
Conglomeration of Europeans of mostly German ancestry aided and abetted by
Children of other European nations who stealthily settled down on this land
Of a magnificent race of Indians
To this basket joined the fascists from Cuba, Hindu transplants from India
While the black man suffered more and more
We were once slaves
We have to recognize other people who are undergoing slavery
Just because you put an Amazonian Indian in a baseball cap and long pants
He does not become an American
Slavery of the mind continues to the hangers on from Cuba and India
Tomorrow we are to celebrate the escape from Slavery
Let us pray for the children of Africans who were brought here through Middle Passage
Who are dying like flies in Chicago and Detroit and New Orleans and New York?
I have downloaded a play list of prayers and songs
Which I remember
I will not have a Seder to attend to
It will be a Seder for one
Mah Nishtanah Ha lila Hazeh? Why is tonight so different from all other nights
None of us have a Seder to go to .. In Israel in Miami or elsewhere.. Stay Home it is Safer..
But I would remember the various sederim I have in the past chanted through, had long discussions through
In Cochin, Kerala
In the island of Rhodes with a Turkish Jewish family
With my teacher Cecil Helman in London
Miami with my dear friends
This story does not get old
Each year its vitality is renewed and it is we who are rejuvenated
I will say the Kaddish for the Israelis (60 so far) and the Brits (141 so far) who have perished in this onslaught from the planet
Pray for the lonely in their deaths
Pray for those whose society brought this death on them
WE have to celebrate this 3300 plus anniversary of our redemption
Redemption song by Bob
Hag Sameach
Will be thinking of you
For some reason, some dear friends in Cochin
My family in La Habana
Mayn mishpochah in Haifa Miami Portland
