I'm back...in Israel that is.
You guessed it -- I was that fly on the wall in Air Force 1 en route to Jordan. It was delayed because of a sandstorm, so I decided to wing it and take a chance. I flew in like barak -- lightning -- just as the door was about to close, because I wanted to be right near Barak's ear.
There I was, me and the Prez as he checked off some of the places he saw in Israel: Mount Herzl, Yitzhak Rabin's Grave & Yad Va'Shem.
This got me thinking: is he going to make a connection between these three places and the Passover story at his White House Seder?
Here's my take on how these three landmarks tie in with Passover.
1. Mount Herzl has a museum all about Israel's founding father -- Theodor Herzl. Even though Abraham is the founding father of the Jewish nation, let's face it -- round 2 belongs to Moses and he was a lot like Herzl. Because he witnessed a terrible wrongdoing happen to a Jew, he decided to bring the Jews back to the Promised Land. Sound familiar? Isn't that how Moses got started?
2. Yitzhak Rabin was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel and a military hero who fought in Israel's War of Independence. Yes, I know, Moses didn't fight any wars on a battlefield -- that was left to Joshua. Still, he waged the first battle and the most important one -- releasing the Jews from Pharaoh's slavery.
3. Yad Va'shem is the world's central Holocaust memorial dedicated to the 6 million Jews who died, and like Moses, they never made it to the Promised Land.
So what do you think? It's beginning to feel a lot like Passover? I'm too pressed for time to fly all the way to the White House and make it back here in Israel in time for the Seder, so can any of you pass this on to President Obama? Tell him it's Zvuvi's commentary on why his trip was different from all other trips.
חג שמח
