פסח עם משפחת ידלינ: פסח במדבר

Two years ago I had the delightful pleasure of spending Passover in Israel with my entire Israeli family plus a few American study abroad friends. This year, when my parents decided to tack a trip to Israel onto their trip to visit me, and when that trip perfectly coincided with the beginning of Passover, I was lucky enough to be able to go celebrate with the family once again! My parents and I left cold, cloudy, snowy Vienna and arrived in bright, warm, sunny, beautiful Israel a few days before Passover and went straight to the Kibbutz where my dad grew up, not far from the city of Beer Sheva. Kibbutz Hatzerim holds lots of fond memories for me, mostly from several childhood summers spent there with my older sisters, so it's always fun to go back and feel the lively vibe and warm, welcoming, very special atmosphere of the place. Michal (who was also able to meet us there in Israel!) and I spent several afternoons wandering the paths in the Kibbutz, visiting our old favorite sites, talking about how things have changed, but mostly noting how many many things haven't changed a bit. I don't know why I feel such nostalgia towards the Kibbutz, considering I was less than 2 years old when we lived there, but I will always love going back!!

the communal dining hall 

The children's house where I "lived" when we were living on the Kibbutz in 1991

The Netafim factory 

I love the fun artsy things on the Kibbutz!

The playground has gotten a lot bigger and fancier since I played there last

I love the refet despite its smell--this is my calf
friend named Charlie Brown

On our second day in Israel, my uncle Amir took my grandpa, parents, sister, and cousin on a little trip through the Negev, the desert in Southern Israel. While most people think of the desert as completely devoid of plant life, every year the Negev gets completely filled with beautiful wildflowers during the springtime. Unfortunately we were there a little too late to get the full effect of the flowers, but we did get to see a few, in addition to gorgeous views of farmland and barley fields. We drove to the northern tip of the Gaza strip (actually so close that we could see Aza, the biggest city in Gaza, and if we were any closer we would have basically been in the strip itself), and then around to where Kibbutz Be'eri, one of the first Kibbutzim, and the place my grandfather himself settled back in the 1940s. He gave us a lovely history lesson (which we had all already heard several times, but it's nice to hear again :) ). I love that Israel is such a young country that it's history is still so alive and recent, both in the form of actual people (i.e. my grandfather who is quite possibly the most remarkable man I've ever met) and in places and ideas. I never tire of hearing stories from the early days of the settlement of the country.

Some callaniot, the flower native to the Negev

That city there is in the Gaza strip--we were quite close 

Mom, Michal, me, and Saba Aharon 

The next day the rents, Michal and I went back to my old stomping ground: Jersualem! I hadn't been back since I studied abroad there in 2011, but I was proud to find out that I was still able to get around the confusing maze of the Old City without getting lost (well, maybe once)!! We visited the huge market, with the irresistible mix of incredible food, kitchy tourist crap, beautiful pottery, scarves, wood-carved-stuff, random household needs, raw meat, dried fruit, spices, baked goods, electronics, tacky tshirts, and literally everything else you could possibly want. We also went to the Austrian Hospice within the Old City walls (a super fancy hotel with arguably one of the best views of the city from its roof), which definitely holds more significance now than last time I visited! There were portraits of the Hapsburgs in the hallways and an exhibit of pictures of rare Vienna museums. The cafe was advertising Julius Meinl coffee and lots of traditional Austrian food. It made me very happy :) We rounded out our day with visits to the Church of the Holy Sepluchre and Via Dolarosa (it was Palm Sunday so it was PACKED), the Cotel (Western Wall), and finally a visit with my Great Aunt who is wonderful and also lives in Jerusalem. The day was awesome. Jerusalem is amazing.

Tower of David by the Jaffa Gate with the old city wall
in front--a view I know well

Dome of the Rock, Western Wall, and Cotel plaza

Austrian Hospice 

From the roof of the Austrian Hospice.
I love how the Austrian flag is placed so that
anyone who wants a picture of the Dome of
the Rock must picture the flag too :)

And now begins the REAL highlight of the experience in Israel. As previously mentioned, a large part of the decision to go was to celebrate Pesach. At some point last year, someone in the family had the idea that it would be fun for the whole family to go down into the desert and have our Seder (the opening Passover meal) in a tent in the desert. My uncle Amir (my dad's younger brother) and aunt Karen (my dad's older brother's wife) made this joke a reality, so this year we found ourselves caravanning down to a desert resort (Lev HaMidbar, literally "heart of the desert") to sleep and eat and celebrate in tents. But that's not all. During a seder, before the festive meal, it is customary to retell the story of the Jewish Exodus from Egypt, using a book called the Hagadah. However, the Yadlin family does not just tell stories. The Yadlin family lives stories. During this portion of the seder, the entire family, aged 1.5 to 87, dressed up in costume with props and scripts, and literally wandered through the desert surrounding our camp to reenact the Jewish plight in Egypt, flight from Eypgt, and 40 years in the desert wilderness. Everyone had an assigned role: my grandpa was Aaron, my cousin was God, my uncle was Moses, my little 4-year old 2nd cousin was Miriam, and the rest of us were the very generic but incredibly important "Children of Israel." When we were told to cry, we cried, when we were told to sing, oh boy did we sing. We had recorders and tambourines and walking sticks, and portable wine cups so we could even drink the customary 4 cups of wine during the procession. At the part where God speaks to Moses from the burning bush, we found a bush, my cousin playing God stood behind the bush, and talked to the uncle playing Moses. During the "let my people go" song, "Moses" and "Aaron" waved their sticks and yelled at our "Pharaoh." At the part where Moses hits a rock and it becomes a spring, "Moses" hit a rock with a large stick and my aunt poured water onto it with a big "voila!" Literally no stone was left unturned in this incredibly faithful and hysterical retelling of the Passover story. We even had to literally climb a hill to get back to our camp (aka "the Promised Land"), where the rest of the ceremony and the all-important festive meal was waiting to for us. The evening was absolutely hilarious and perfect and without a doubt the most memorable Passover to date. We ate, we sang, we laughed, and there really is nothing more you could ever ask for in a holiday! Here are some pictures and a few videos of the event:

The tent where we ate and cooked and shielded ourselves
from the desert sun

Our homes for the 2 nights

uncles Amir and Amos with me and Michal
decked out in our Israelite garb

The whole gang!

Elohim talking to Moses from the bush

Talk about beautiful.

SO READY FOR THE PROMISED LAND!

The Yadlin Brothers getting ready to
enter the Promised land

Seder table

This is us crossing the red sea:

And this is us singing because we made it out of Egypt:

The day after the seder there was a huge sandstorm so we had to cancel our outdoor activities and instead did a bunch of fun group games and "team-building" kinds of activities with the whole family inside the sort of club that was near to our tent area. Spending time with so many aunts, uncles, and cousins was such a treat. I don't have a big family in America, so it's a great deal of fun when we can come over to Israel and be with this huge group of people who are all so fun and awesome! I only wish I were better at Hebrew! No matter how much I could unterstand (which was way more than I expected), every time I tried to say something, German came out of my mouth. Languages are hard.

On our way back to the Kibbutz we made a few stops in the desert. One to a little hill with a cool set of rock formations, another to an area with multi-colored sand that we used to make sand bottles out of when we were younger, and then to Maktesh Ramon, a crater-like geological formation with a brand new visitors center, which is the reason we went. A large portion of the visitors center's new exhibit is dedicated to Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut, and my dad's close friend and flight school classmate. In 2003, Ilan was on the Space Shuttle Columbia when it broke up reentering the atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts on board. Ilan had invited my dad to the launch, and he and Roni went, giving the whole experience an even closer connection to my family. Israel is understandably incredibly proud of Ilan (not just for being the first Isreali astronaut, but also for the many many huge things he did during his career as an Israeli fighter pilot), and this exhibit was beautifully done. His death was such a horrible tragedy and I was really emotional looking at all the pictures and watching the beautiful video they showed about Ilan and his life. The kind of fun part of the exhibit was 1) seeing my uncle interviewed in the video and 2) walking into the first room and seeing a picture of Ilan's class in flight school, and then spotting my own dad's face in the picture! It's not every day your father is in a museum!! The crater itself is stunning as well, so the addition of this wonderful exhibit right next to the crater was a well-done, smart move on the part of Israel.

signs in the desert. hilarious.

Hey pops, peeking out of that back row. I see ya.

Sands of the desert 

The week we spent in Israel was beyond amazing. I love that country so so so so much, more than I can ever express, and I am thrilled I was able to spend time with my family whom I love so much. I cannot wait to go back. My next trip can't come soon enough!