It is said that last year both of you were invited to the president’s Passover Seder but skipped it, preferring to celebrate with your families, at home. Very touching. But why?
What I really want to know is not how you begin your family Seder but rather how you end it. Normally, Jews finish the night’s ceremony declaring “Next year in Jerusalem” or Next year in the rebuilt Jerusalem.”
Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod:
Do you recite those words at your family table? If so, do you mean what you say, or just repeat the words for custom’s sake?
And would you dare recite these words in public, words mouthed by Jews for centuries as they were tortured and burned at the stake, or sent to Siberia to die, for daring to repeat the fundamental tenet of the Jewish people?
Exactly how do you say it? “Next year in Jerusalem”? Or “Next year in occupied (or disputed, or conquered, or Arab) Jerusalem”?
Isn’t it time you left the White House and came to your real home, in Israel, in Jerusalem, where you too can stand proudly at the Kotel and recite, as Jews have through the ages, “Next year in (Jewish) Jerusalem”?