With rare exception, Israelis will never experience a three-day holiday, like the one we just had, Shabbat going into two days of Passover. Aside from Rosh Hashanah, holidays in Israel are one day, whereas in the Diaspora they are two days. (The rare Israeli exception is when Rosh Hashanah either immediately precedes or follows a Shabbat.) How often have I heard Israelis smugly commiserate at our plight. But the more three-day holidays I “endure,” I start to realize that the joke’s on them! They’re the ones missing out!
Of course, one can chose to focus on the prep work — meal planning, shopping, cooking — a three-day holiday entails.
Or, one can revel in the expanse of time on offer, a rarity in our rushed world. This is especially true for those who also abstain from using any devices. No phone calls to take, no news to keep up with (it’s probably bad), no latest trending controversy to weigh in on. It’s liberating, which is a nice fit for Passover, a holiday that celebrates freedom.
What I’ve found these three-day stretches particularly suited for is reading incredibly long, saga-type books. I killed Ken Follet’s Fall of Giants, a 1,000+ page WW I epic, some years ago on a three-day Pesach.
This year, a package from my sister arrived just in time, on Friday afternoon. It included two books, a series about a woman surviving the Holocaust. The Scent of Snowflowers by R.L. Klein (not quite 1,000 pages, but over 500) takes place in Hungary and elements of the author’s story are so similar to my own Hungarian family’s.
Tragically, most Hungarian Jews share very similar stories. Many lived in small towns or villages; most lived in relative, though uneasy, peace until March, 1944. All (aside from those with forged identities) were forced into ghettos in April, 1944. And nearly all were deported to slave labor or extermination camps in June, 1944. The majority perished in gas chambers.
Reading Klein’s story transported me to my relatives’ reality in a whole new way. Through her characters, I could see the fears they felt, the uncertainty, the finality of their fate.
The second days of Passover will be limited to two, but I’ve already got my book lined up. I saved Klein’s second volume for them.
Shana Goldberg may be reached at shana@ijn.com
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