Page 30 - HaMizrachi #8 Pesach

promise so put some water in the cup every grandfather, certain that he would be as Pesach atmosphere in a Syrian prison. On the
day, something may happen,” he told me. surprised as I was. But of course he was morning before, we meticulously cleaned our
not. Carefully he explained to me that life cell (removing any crumbs of leavened bread)
At the time, I was four years old and we lived is everywhere, hidden in the most ordinary in a way that the cement floor had never been
on the sixth floor of an apartment building and unlikely places. I was delighted. “And cleaned before.
in Manhattan. The whole thing made no all it needs is water, Grandpa?” I asked him.
sense to me. I looked at him dubiously. He Gently he touched me on the top of my head. “On cardboard, we drew a Seder plate, with a
nodded with encouragement. “Every day, “No, Neshume-le,” he said. “All it needs is Star of David in the middle and room to place
Neshume-le, my little one,” he told me. your faithfulness.” each ingredient on the six protrusions of the

And so I promised. At first, curious to see what star.
would happen, I did not mind doing this. But “In the afternoon, we succeed in organizing
as the days went by and nothing changed, Seder in Syrian Captivity permission to shower, albeit in freezing
it got harder and harder to remember the Baruch Gordon water, after which we donned our holiday
water for the cup. After a week, I asked my clothes and anxiously waited for the
grandfather if it was time to stop yet. Shaking On Thursday, April 2, 1970, the Israeli Air beginning of the holiday. These were difficult
his head no, he said, “Every day Neshume-le.” Force attacked Syrian tanks and artillery in hours of contemplation – the memories
the Golan Heights. Three Syrian MIG jets were which swelled up to the point that we choked
The second week was even harder, and I downed, as well as one Israeli Phantom jet. as we recalled our homes, and tried to feel
became resentful of my promise to put water the atmosphere of Pesach as sundown
in the cup. When my grandfather came again, Israeli pilot Gidon Magen and navigator Pinny approached, and sense the distinct smells of
I tried to give it back to him but he refused to Nachmani parachuted out of the jet safely, the late afternoon.
take it, saying simply, “Every day Neshume-le, but were captured by the Syrian enemy.
my little one.” By the third week, I began to They spent the next three years in the high- “… As we celebrated and loudly chanted
forget the water altogether. Often I would security Mezze military prison in Damascus. the Haggadah, the prison guards appeared
remember only after I was in bed and I would Writing on small pieces of toilet and wrapping and demanded that we stop. In the next cell
have to get out of bed and water the cup paper, Pinny kept a secret diary of 300 sat the recently-deposed President of Syria,
in the dark. But I did not miss a single day. pages. He made the following entry after Nureddin al-Atassi, the very man who when
he had imprisoned us declared, ‘Let the
And one morning, there were two little green their second Seder night in 1971: “Pesach Israeli prisoners age in Syrian prison.’
leaves that had not been there the night before. has passed, the quintessential national
holiday of the Jews. We are among the few “We refused to stop! Even the threat of
I was completely astonished. Day by day who are prevented from celebrating with solitary confinement could not stop the roar
they got bigger. I could not wait to tell my our families. It’s difficult to describe the of freedom.”