19 WAYS YOU KNOW IT'S
passover
PASSOVER Passover in Israel • BY JUDY LASH BALINT | JNS.ORG
I
f you’ve never heard an Arab calling out alter zachen (“old things”) in Yiddish, then you’ve never experienced pre-Passover preparations in Jerusalem. It’s part of the clean-up mania that grips the city in the run-up to the Pesach holiday. I remember the days when an old, wizened guy would traipse around the neighborhood looking to pick up anyone’s old shmattes — today, they drive around in a pick-up truck before Passover and Rosh Hashanah, trolling for anything metallic. Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Municipality informs us that: “The Sanitation Department will heighten its activities, double its shifts and add more garbage collection vehicles. Sanitation Department crews are working to clear out waste and garbage dumps discarded by residents in the city neighborhoods as part of the Passover cleaning operation.” Once that’s done, Jerusalemites will be able to ease into the Passover holiday in a spruced-up, cleaned-up city, ready to receive whomever else in the world might feel like dropping in for a visit. Need to stock up on household goods? Pre-Passover is the time to do it, as stores compete to offer rock-bottom prices on dishes and
26
L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • APRIL 2020
cutlery. Bank Hapoalim, which like every bank in Israel charges a fee for every single transaction, redeems itself slightly by underwriting free entrance to 45 sites, museums and attractions throughout the country during the intermediate days of Passover. The array of activities on offer in Jerusalem during Passover is truly astounding. On the religious front, Haaretz revealed in a poll that 68 percent of the population answers “no” when asked if they are planning on eating chametz during Passover and 75 percent of Israelis will take part in a seder. Meantime, on Passover, the extent of the dire poverty of hundreds of thousands of Israelis is exposed. The latest figures indicate that roughly 20.5 percent of Israeli families live below the poverty line. Moreover, 24.7 percent of Israel’s residents and 35.9 percent of its children live in impoverished families. Families and the elderly form almost endless lines in every city around the food banks and soup kitchens, which do their best to provide the basics necessary to celebrate the holiday.
