{ "clip_details": { "clip": { "is_admin": 0, "is_owner": 0, "handle": "addis-ababa", "title": "Addis Ababa", "author": "Gary Aidekman", "author_handle": "gaidekman", "author_initials": "GA", "covertext": "Addis Ababa, EthiopiaWe arrived in the late afternoon, about a half hour before sundown. We walked from our bus to the t...", "user_image": "", "user_image_original": "", "body": "<p>Addis Ababa, Ethiopia</p><p>We arrived in the late afternoon, about a half hour before sundown. We walked from our bus to the transit center along narrow, dirty alleys strewn with trash and animal bones. I picked up a ram’s horn thinking I'd take it home but the smell was just too awful. </p><p>We entered the transit center one by one through a narrow gate. The center was clean but certainly no palace. There were rooms with mattresses on the floor where the soon to be olim/immigrants slept the night before and there was a modest open courtyard.</p><p>The Ethiopian Jews stood along the exterior wall in two lines. Their only possessions were in small carry-on bags or backpacks. They were absolutely quiet. Even the children were still. Sometimes silence is truly deafening.</p><p>Together we exited the narrows (Mitzrayim) of the center's gate one by one. Two lines reformed. We walked down the dusty and dirty alleys. People from the neighborhood stood and stared but did not say a word. The olim stayed in two lines throughout. No one spoke; all we heard was the soft sound of their feet taking them home.</p><p>The walk took about 20 minutes, the silence continuing. Some of us held hands with the younger children; connections made.  The faces of the olim were neither happy nor sad, just serious. This was an exodus march and the olim understood the awe of the moment.  And we felt it and we too transcended to an Exodus long ago.</p><p>Asher Seyum, an Israeli consul and Jewish Agency director of operations, led the march. Some 30 years ago, as a young teen, Asher made a more difficult exodus. He and members of his family walked some 500 miles from Gondar to Sudan in order to reach Zion. They traveled at night and hid by day. After three weeks, when they reached Sudan, they were thrown into detention camps. Many were beaten and many became ill. At least 2,000 Ethiopian Jews, some say 4000, died in those camps. Fortunately, the government of Israel, with the help of North American Jewry, rescued Jews like Asher as part of Operation Moses.</p><p>About 100 yards from the bus that would take them to the airport and  the plane to Israel, Asher began to sing “Am Yisrael Chai”  — the people of Israel live. The olim joined in and so did we. We had felt it but at that moment it became clear… the people of Israel live, truly one people united, caring and responsible for each other, and strong together. Am Yisrael Chai!</p>", "cliptype": "text", "clipsource": "Original", "featured": 0, "featuredIn": null, "is_public": 1, "is_published": 1, "media": { "image": null, "audio": null, "video": null }, "thumbnail": null, "clip_section": [ { "haggadah_section": "-- Exodus Story", "slug": "exodus-story" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 188, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "Addis Ababa | Passover haggadah by Gary Aidekman", "description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "keywords": "", "og:type": "article", "og:url": "https://www.haggadot.com/clip/addis-ababa", "og:title": "Addis Ababa | Passover haggadah by Gary Aidekman", "og:description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. 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And the</div><div>Holy One, Blessed be He, saves us from their hands.</div><div> </div><div>Rabbi Joshua Hess' exposition:</div><div> </div><div>Tonight we recall the innumerable and horrible national tragedies that we have endured. \"She-lo Echad Bilvad Amad Aleinu  L'chaloteinu,\" there hasn't been only one wicked ruler that has attempted to wipe us off the map. Generation after generation another evil tyrant has emerged threatening to destroy us. Fortunately God has saved us from their deathly grips.</div><div> </div><div>Yet as we remember the Pharaoh's, Hitler's and Ahmadinejad's, we are also reminded of another invaluable lesson taught  by the great Chasidic rabbi known as the \"Sfas Emes,\" based on this very paragraph.</div><div> </div><div>The greatest challenge facing the Jewish people is not from our enemies but rather, from our internal discord. The biggest source of our personal, communal and national struggles is our inability to maintain a sense of unity and brotherhood among all factions of Judaism; to remember that what unites us is greater than that which divides us.</div><div> </div><div>On this Seder night let us remember that Kol Yisrael areyvim zeh bazeh, we are all responsible for our fellow Jews. All of us desire for Israel to dwell securely in her borders. All of us want Judaism to continue to thrive and flourish. All of us hope that our community achieves even greater success, and all of us pray for the welfare of our parents, spouse, family and friends.</div><div> </div><div>Let us resolve, therefore, to strive to achieve a sense of unity and harmony in our homes, community, country, and homeland, by not allowing the squabbles and frustrations to break us apart. As we give thanks to God for his divine protection, let us also extend a thank you to everyone around us at our Seder table and beyond for their work on behalf of Judaism and Jewish life. And in that spirit of togetherness, friendship and fellowship we pray that God will continue to keep us safe, secure and successful.</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Rabbi Joshua Hess is the religious leader of Congregation Anshe Chesed  in Linden and the president of the Va'ad of Rabbis of Central NJ.</div><div> </div>", "cliptype": "text", "clipsource": "Rabbi Joshua Hess", "featured": 0, "featuredIn": null, "is_public": 1, "is_published": 1, "media": { "image": null, "audio": null, "video": null }, "thumbnail": null, "clip_section": [ { "haggadah_section": "-- Exodus Story", "slug": "exodus-story" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 176, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh B'Zeh | Passover haggadah by Gary Aidekman", "description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. 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