Jewish World Review April 5, 2001/ 12 Nissan 5761
The 'Night of Protection'
The Torah guarantees special protection to
the Jewish people on the first night of Passover,
referred to as Lail Shimurim, the "night of watching" (Exodus 12:42).
Destructive forces are not given reign on this night. The following true
story took place before the iron curtain fell, when underground
Muscovites joined the long tradition of Jews willing to gamble
on this protection.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
TRY AND OBSERVE Passover in Moscow. There aren't
any matzos, kosher wine or meat; gathering together to
celebrate a seder is all but illegal.
Recently, forty Jews decided to participate in a
communal seder, nonetheless. Each participant carefully
considered his decision. Was a one-night ceremony worth
all of the inherent risks? Detection by the KGB (and who
could avoid it?) was tantamount to arrest and incarceration.
Parents would be guilty of religious indoctrination of Soviet
youth (a felony) and university students would face
immediate expulsion and automatic conscription into the
army. Was a seder really necessary to impress upon a
Soviet Jew the image of Egyptian subjugation?
Forty Moscow Jews did not view this question as
hypothetical. Aside from the heroism called for, parents
taught their children the ingenuity of Jewish enterprise. A
clandestine matzoh bakery was set up and each
fragile matzoh was smuggled out in a newspaper. As for the
Four Cups of wine drank during the seder ceremony, friends and relatives helped purchase the huge
amounts of raisins needed for making the wine.
While this was going on, some of the participants
looked over carefully prepared notes about how to conduct
a seder. Cassettes of Passover songs circulated with joy
and excitement among the friends.
Zev, the seder mastermind, suggested that since they
had never attended a seder before they should conduct a
rehearsal. Accordingly, Zev and Sasha secretly convened in
Moshe's apartment in preparation for that momentous
night. Using makeshift props: water substituting for wine,
plates for matzos, a pen for the zroa (shank bone), etc., the
mock seder commenced.
IT WAS MORE than a week before Passover, but for the
three men sitting at the bare seder table, the excitement
was already impossible to contain. By the time they completed
three-quarters of the Haggadah, they were hoarse from their
hushed singing. But they couldn't stop. Each stanza about the
slavery and the Exodus was so rich in meaning for them:
"Appoint watchmen to your city all day and all night"...
Bang, Bang, BANG!! It wasn't a knock at the door, but
a thunder-clap intended to unsettle and frighten. The
pounding was accompanied by the incessant ringing of the
buzzer. The intruders weren't petitioning for permission to
enter. Before they broke in they wanted to instill as much
fear as possible. You never knew exactly what waited on the
other side of the door. How many? How anti-Semitic? Had
they brought along the hungry dogs who always managed to
get loose for a few seconds...? Five men burst through the
door and surrounded the three. They started shoving and
shouting: "Jewish nationalist propaganda!" "Obstruction of
socialist justice!" "Anti-Communist blasphemy!" "Zionist
hooliganism!" etc. Each mouth parroted a different offense.
This went on for almost an hour, waking up all of the
neighbors in the building. After examining the identity
papers of the Jews, they threatened that one more violation
of "anti-Soviet propaganda" would mean immediate arrest.
If the purpose of this raid was to frighten, it hardly
succeeded. Of course, initially the three were scared and
had trouble falling asleep, but they remained undaunted.
Come what may, they were going to make a seder.
RIGHT BEFORE Passover, the forty received
permission to use someone's dacha (vacation home) at a
relatively safer location, fifty kilometers southwest of
Moscow. They made their exodus from the city one by one,
each person carrying a portion of the precious Passover
cargo. The women worked like an experienced team to
render the kitchen kosher for Passover, while the men helped
out with the rest of the house. This little home had to double
as a minature synagogue and as a dormitory.
When evening arrived, the tired but jubilant men
gathered in the dining room for the evening prayer . There were
so many different types of Jews assembled in that dacha. For
some it was their first time praying, for others it was their first
formal prayer service. After they finished, they quickly took
their seats around the special table. The air of expectation
in that room was almost tangible. All eyes were turned
toward Zev who started the Kiddush, sacremental prayer over wine.
Afterwards, Moshe's son Chaim'ke asked the Four
Questions, "Ma nishtana halaila hazeh mikol halailos?" There
wasn't a dry cheek in the room. Ma nishtana halaila hazeh
mikol halailos! "Why is this night different from all other
nights?!" On this night forty Jews chose to affirm their
Judaism which they knew so little about. To stand up to a
calculated campaign against such affiliation. On all other
nights they can only dream about being a Jew and "leshana
haba'a be'Yerushalayim" (next year in Jerusalem). But
tonight, tonight was so different! "We were once slaves to
Pharaoh in Egypt. 'Maaseh avos siman lebanim -- the
actions of fathers presage the events of the children'-- how
true it is. Laban (our forefather Jacob's father-in-law) tried to
uproot Judaism--and his archetypical descendants are still trying!"
The most attentive participant was dreamy-eyed
Simon Eisikovitch. The last time he had attended a seder
was fifty years ago, when he was just ten years old. For
Simon, the thrill of the seder was mixed with cherished
nostalgia--fifty years ago he had asked the four questions.
Simon remembered the sequence of the seder and offered
instructions to the participants before Zev could read them
out.
AS THE SEDER CONTINUED, Zev's face suddenly turned
pale. Looking up from the Haggadah he turned to Moshe
and asked in a whisper, "Are we expecting anyone else?"
Shadows outside the window began moving closer. Moshe,
as calmly as he could, arose from the table and drew the
shades tighter and double-locked the door. The
responsibility resting on Zev's shoulders was awesome. He
had not only invited all of the participants but had convinced
them to attend. How could he bear the responsibility of
causing parents and old people to be sent to Siberia? Zev
lamely tried to assuage himself with the thought that it was
Lail Shimurim, the Night of Heavenly Protection.
But his conscience kept nagging at him, affording him
no relief. The shadows were not disappearing. Simon,
unaware of what was transpiring, announced that it was
time to open the door for Elijah the Prophet. Zev tried to
delay the continuation of the Haggadah, but Simon
wouldn't hear of it. "Everyone rise for Elijah," Simon
proudly announced. Zev told them that it was cold outside
and opening the door wasn't really necessary. "Lately," he
assured the group, "the custom of opening the door hasn't
been observed..." Simon scoffed at the comment, accused
Zev of trying to alter the precious Jewish tradition, and proceeded
toward the door. Moshe intercepted him and stared at him for
twenty long seconds until Simon finally took his seat.
IT WAS 2:00 IN THE MORNING and Zev was anxious to finish
the seder--there was just so much you could rely on this Night
of Protection. Everyone wished each other, and promised
themselves, the most fervent blessing of the evening:
Next Year in Jerusalem!" All of the matzos and
Haggadahs were quickly stashed away into various hiding
places. Moshe peeked through the shade and found that the
shadows had 'passed over.'
Parents of children and university students, potentially
the greatest offenders in the eyes of the KGB, were
recommended to leave the dacha, and to stay away until the
following afternoon. At a quarter to seven in the morning
the shadows reappeared, this time with their source in full
evidence. Nine of them. They swarmed in like hawks and
started searching the premises, not uttering a word. They
found nothing, not a clue.
That night, an even more joyous second seder was
conducted. Simon finally got to open the door for Elijah for it
was veritably a Lail
By Hanoch Teller
Rabbi Hanoch Teller is the author of several works on Judaic themes, including Once Upon A Soul,
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