Next Year in Jerusalem - Passover 2020

I wanted to impart some words of wisdom to everybody, because it's no coincidence that Devon and I are here in the Holy Land this year. 

I want to tell you a quick little story.

A year ago, Devon and I were sitting in Las Vegas doing our Seder, the two of us, and we said, “Next Year in Jerusalem,” knowing we were making Aliyah and moving to Israel.

And yet here we are, a year later, living in Israel, and we still have not been to Jerusalem.

I had a problem with the line that we recite at the end of the Seder: “Next Year in Jerusalem.”

Which caused me to think and reflect on it. I’ve come all the way to Israel, and I have still not made it to Jerusalem. What does that mean?

I really wanted to figure out what that meant. So, I went to Google, which is what I always do. I Google everything.  

I searched Google to find out what you say at the end of a Passover Seder when you're already in Jerusalem? Do you still say Next Year in Jerusalem? Do you say something else?

I already knew that your location can matter in the Jewish tradition.  

For instance, we arrived here in November, in time to celebrate Hanukkah. One of the symbols of Hanukkah is the dreidel which has four Hebrew letters – nun, gimmel, hey, and shin. The letters spell out the phrase “A Great Miracle Happened There.”

But here in Israel, one of the letters on the dreidel is different. The letter “Shin” is replaced with a “Pey.” Which changes the phrase to “A Great Miracle Happened Here.”

Knowing this, I thought, what does that mean in terms of the Passover Seder? What do we say here in Israel, when you’re already here? Except for Gillian and Devon, of course, who have not been to Jerusalem yet.

Surprisingly enough, I discovered that being here in Israel doesn’t matter. Everyone still closes their Seder by reciting the words, “Next year in Jerusalem.”

So that motivated to do even more research. Why no change?

I came across a rabbinical explanation. There's a Midrash (Jewish folklore) that says… you can be miles away from Jerusalem even while living there, and, you can be on the other side of the world but only a step away.

Jerusalem is more than a city. It’s an ideal we’re trying to reach. Jerusalem is not a place. Instead, it’s a state of mind.

And if we look at the Passover story, we start in Egypt. At the beginning of our journey, we're in Egypt, which is about our limitations. It's about slavery and restrictions. At the end of the very long journey is Jerusalem, which is about freedom and peace.

If you look at the Hebrew word for Egypt, it's “Mitzrayim” which means limitations, restrictions, and obstacles.

We’re actually in that right now. All across the world, we’re in lock down. We're all experiencing restrictions and limitations.

If you look at the Hebrew word for Jerusalem, “Yerushalayim” means the city of peace. Which is an incredible state of mind.

And I think that's very appropriate that this year we're really reenacting that journey. Here we are in a period where we feel very restricted. Very locked down.

But what I would tell you all is that when we say “Next Year in Jerusalem”, we not saying we’ll get there sometime in the future. Instead, we see it coming soon. We're moving towards that place – not only as the Jewish people, but as individual people ourselves, all across the world.

Collectively, we're moving forward to a time when we will be more centered and more at peace.

In essence, that's why even in Israel, we say Next Year in Jerusalem. It's not about getting to stand there physically, it's about getting to the stand there spiritually. Getting to that center of peace.

So at this time of Corona Virus, I think we can all embrace that feeling of renewal. Seeking peace. Bringing that light into the world.

The world is very dark right now.

But it only takes a single light, just a single match, can eradicate the darkness. We can be that bright light.

And I'm honored to be here with all of you today to celebrate this beautiful holiday because Passover is about renewal, and I love that it's not just for Jewish people.

This is for everybody, because we all want this Corona virus to pass over us.

The Corona virus is something that is affecting all of us. It's not just happening to those people.

It's happening to all of us, and it's uniting us in a terrible way. We're being told to keep our distance from each other.

And yet, the only way we can fight this is by holding hands and moving forward together.

And that's exactly what the Israelites did when they left Egypt. They held hands. They moved forward.

They walked into that water, which is only when the seas parted.

It wasn't about the seas opening up for them. It was about moving forward and going in the water. And then the seas parted.

I think that's what we need to be doing with this Corona virus.

We need to move forward, hold hands, and know that we're all in this together. We're going to get to the other side.

And the other side is Jerusalem, the city of peace.

Next Year in Jerusalem - Le Shanah ha-ba-a b’Yerushalayim

Dado Beach - Haifa, Israel

Got an intuitive hit today to do one last trip to the beach. We had seen that the weather for the next few days was cloudy (which usually means rain😞) so we decided to do one last quick trip to Dado beach. We had no idea if the buses were even running... they were... but almost empty.

After our quick trip to the beach... we did one last run to the grocery store. We were amazed at how full the shelves were AND how calm the people were. So nice to see after feeling so calm at the beach.


I'm so glad I trusted my instincts and we did one last field trip. Tonight's headlines say we are probably looking a complete country-wide lockdown in the next few days. It could be a week or longer. The Ministry of Health says that despite all the social distancing... the virus is continuing to spread. Thus, the need for desperate measures.


Update: March 17, 2020

So glad that we did the beach trip yesterday.... because that was really the last opportunity. 😎 Today it was rainy and sucky out. Plus, the Israel Ministry of Health published new restrictions. 😷 "The updated guidelines prohibit the public from visiting parks, playgrounds, the beach, pool, libraries, museums, nature reserves or other public spaces except with children in a family framework or with a pet."

Boy oh boy... people in Israel are mighty upset about the latest restrictions that came out tonight. They are mad as blazes at all the F@*%# idiots that didn't take the Corona Virus thing seriously and went to beach. 😳 Busted! But on the other hand, I think we all knew that the country-wide lockdown was imminent. Don't regret going at all.

Good Friends & Good Food

Had the most awesome visit with these two yesterday. ❤️ Steve & Ona Siporin, our dear sweet friends, from Logan, UT. While on the way from traveling in Northern Israel, they decided to hop off the train in Haifa and take Devon and I out for lunch. Such a wonderful visit. Great time catching up.

So this is what you get for lunch when your friends take you “out for hummus.” Wow. It was as wonderful to eat as it looks. Brand new experience for Devon & I. We loved it.

Me, failing miserably at trying to take a group photo with my short arms. I’m like a T-Rex. (Needed a selfie stick)

Obviously Steve Siporin has the knack for being able to take a great photo. I love this one he took of Devon and I.❤️ I love his caption: "Israel is good for romance and beauty! (And food!)" 

Voting in Israel

Devon and I voted today for the first time. The election held today is the 3rd one to determine who will be the Prime Minister of Israel. Let's hope that the third time is a charm.


We were happy to have friends accompany us where we needed to go to vote. It's a little scary voting in an election, when you don't speak/read the language.

Luckily, it was fairly straight forward. You get a blue envelope, go in the voting booth, and choose a card for the party you want, and place the envelope in a ballot box.

If you don't read Hebrew, Arabic, or Russian, you'd be totally clueless on WHO to vote for. Luckily, we knew enough to do our homework in advance and become familiar with all the different choices.

Having this many parties to choose from is so different than the way voting is done in the United States. Now we understand why it's hard for anyone running here to win by a landslide. Hence, this is why the "winning party" has to form a coalition with other parties.

Update:  This is pretty amazing. 😃 They actually came up with a way to make sure that the people quarantined, as a result of the Corona Virus, could still get out and vote today. Where else but in Israel?

Papers Please!

Devon and I received our Israeli passports today. For me it is passport number 4. I am now a Canadian, American, British, Israeli. Truly a global citizen. 😊

What's amazing is that I actually have a passport for every single country I hold citizenship. And, I'd be hard pressed to actually choose ONE of them as being my homeland.

Each country is a part of who I am.

I was born in Canada to a family of Brits. Both my parents and my two sisters were all born in London, England. This was a big deal, because despite living in Canada... their British customs formed how I was raised.

My family did not adopt many of the Canadian traditions. Instead I grew up drinking tea, having Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding for Sunday dinner, and having a water bottle to keep me warm at night.

As an adult, I moved to the United States, and after 10+ years, became a United States citizen. I was delighted to discover that becoming an American would not cause me to lose my Canadian citizenship. And I later found, that I was able to pass on my citizenship to my American children.

Both my sons, are considered dual citizens. When they were young adults I did all the paperwork needed to get their Canadian documents and helped them obtain their Canadian Passport and Social Insurance Number (allowing them to seek employment one day).

While I was in the process of completing the documentation for my kids to be recognized as born abroad Canadians, I discovered I was a born abroad British Citizenship. With the United Kingdom, there wasn't even any requirement to obtain a Certificate of Citizenship. Instead, all I needed to do was simply apply for a British Passport. Which I did.

And now, here I am living in Israel. Devon and I made Aliyah in November 2019. Because I am Jewish, I was entitled to full and automatic citizenship in Israel. As my spouse, Devon was granted the same privilege.

To qualify for a passport, all that we needed to do was wait until 90 days after our Aliyah date. On the 92nd day, we had an appointment to get our Israeli Passports. I think they were delivered to us within about 1-2 weeks. We thought that was pretty darn fast.

While I don't know what the Guiness World Record is for the number of citizenships, I do know I hold the highest record in my family.

It's amazing that I happen to be a citizen of 4 countries that all play nice together and do not require allegiance to their country only.

Searching for Sour Cream in Israel

In Israel a gazillion "dairy products" are packaged in Yogurt like containers. When you can't read Hebrew, you struggle to figure out what they all are.

Yesterday we were making tacos for dinner and wanted Sour Cream. After doing a Google Search, we finally figured out what the Hebrew phrase was for Sour Cream and bought the right product.

Last night when we made our tacos, we discovered we didn't care for "Israeli Sour Cream." Made the tacos taste a little weird.

Of course, that's when we realized we'd mixed up the containers and had slathered yogurt all over our tacos.

Oh brother!

Christmas in the Holy Land

Had to laugh. Devon just realized it's Christmas Eve. He said, "OMG, we have to remember to watch Die Hard tonight!" The Whitney family tradition continues... even in the Holy Land.😉 Tomorrow we will follow up with our tradition of eating Chinese food for dinner. Since we weren't sure if that's a "thing" here... we'll be making our own Cashew Chicken & egg rolls.

Of course my favorite, Christmas Classic is "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." But then again, I think I was always just partial to the little red dachshund called Max. Don't show this to the Grinch, he might steal my Max.

Last Thursday, the city of Jerusalem distributed complimentary Christmas trees to residents who celebrate Christmas. Apparently this is an annual tradition. Kind of cool.