Next Year in…?

For Jews, this is not a question but a statement of purpose, repeated year after year at the end of the Passover Sedar:  "Next year in Jerusalem." Some take it literally and plan trips to the Holy Land.  Others take a more metaphorical journey and seek out their Jewish spiritual "home" in the coming year. But if you're an Urban Nomad, each year, you ask it more as a question, not knowing where the coming year will take you and whether the journey ahead will be profound or banal. The vernal Passover Sedar is the time to start the clock again, so to speak. Time to reflect on journeys past and adventures ahead, friends and family, food and wine, good and bad. A time to sit back and ponder life's joys as well as its hardships and losses.

Tonight, as we recite the "Four Questions" we start by asking "Why is this night different from all other nights?"  I believe it's because it forces us to even ask that question. It gives us a vacation from other nights of television and Twitter, a time to be with family, whether you like them or not. We argue. We debate. We challenge each other. We question our very existence and the root of our "Jewishness." Had it not been for some "parting of the waters" about twenty five hundred years ago, we would not be sharing this meal with each other. Rather we'd still be desert-dwelling slaves, or nomads or even a non-existant tribe referred to only in history books.

But we are here. We've multiplied. We've thrived. We've assimilated. We've become part of the fabric of many cultures. And, some of us have returned to our more nomadic roots.

This year, my family and I are happy to be in California but as we think about the coming year, we don't know where the path will lead us. It is an unknown, as it is for all of us. Next year …could be in Jerusalem. It could be in Prague. Or Greece. Or New York. Or ...

Wherever you land, may it be a fruitful journey. Chag Sameach.