Saturday night marked the beginning of Passover, one of my least and most favorite holidays. I have always loved the idea of the seder, a meal and service run by the family in the home. Growing up I was always so excited to help set up the seder plate, help make gefilte fish or charoses, set the table with my mother’s good china and silverware, set up all the kiddush cups and take part in all the other traditions surrounding the Jewish festival celebrating the exodus of the Hebrews out of Egypt.

The only thing I don’t like about Passover is the 8 days of no leavened bread products. It’s not even the food that I mind so much (although 8 days of matzah in all of it’s variations does get pretty boring after the first four days) as the result of eating an increased amount of bleached, proccesed flour with very little fiber to compensate. From the time I was 7 or 8 and tried to keep with the tradition until I went to college I ended up popping Correctol like Tic-Tacs for the last 4 days of every Passover. Ahhh, memories.

Anyway, I no longer typically keep in the Passover diet tradition beyond the first day or two and this year I didn’t keep it at all. This is the first year I can remember missing a seder with my family, though. I’m actually writing this on Sunday evening, knowing that my family is getting ready for their seder right now as I type. I’m going to miss the banter while we go through the haggadah page by page with everyone reading parts fo the service out loud. I’ll miss my mom scolding people for licking the wine off their finger when we do the ten plagues (the wine cup can’t be full when so many Egyptians felt the pain of the ten plagues during the final days preceding the Exodus, so we remove a drop of wine for each plague from our “cup of joy” to recollect that others suffered so that we could be free). I’ll miss my brother’s 18th annual rendition of the Four Questions. The youngest child in the family has to sing the questions during the seder. My brother was the youngest in the family until 3 years ago when my cousin Cheese was born, but she won’t be old enough to do them for another couple years so the 24 year old, next to youngest child still gets the Four Questions mantle for yet another year.

I’m not a religious person. Truth be told I’m pretty much an Atheist and a Buddhist (Buddhism is a philosophy, not a religion). I do, however, maintain a very strong sense of pride and identity with my Jewish roots. I come from a line of people who have been mercilessly persecuted for thousands of years and that continue to survive, despite all of the odds that are often stacked against us. Is it some god that has allowed us to continue surviving for all of these hundreds of centuries? I don’t think so. I think it’s the strength of the traditions and the pride of a people who are taught to appreciate the beauty of this world and all of the things in it. So today, for Music Monday, I give you a song taken from one of my favorite animated movies as well as my favorite interpretation of the story of Exodus: The Prince of Egypt. The images, storyline, and music in this movie are beautiful and I’m moved to tears every time I watch it. If you haven’t already seen it, I definitely recommend giving it a glance.

When You Believe - Michelle Pfeiffer/Sally Dworsky

Many nights we’ve prayed
With no hope anyone could hear.
In our hearts a hopeful song we barely understood.

Now we are not afraid
Although we know there’s much to fear.
We were moving mountains long before we knew we could.

There can be miracles when you believe.
Though hope is frail,it’s hard to kill.
Who knows what miracles you can achieve
When you believe.
Somehow you will,
You will when you believe.

In this time of fear,
When prayer so often proved in vain,
Hope seemed like the summer birds
so swiftly flown away.
But now I’m standing here(Now I’m standing here)
With heart so full I can’t explain
Seeking faith and speaking words I never thought I’d say.
There can be miracles when you believe.
Though hope is frail,it’s hard to kill.
Who knows what miracles you can achieve
When you believe.
Somehow you will,
You will when you believe.