the voice of a neighbor calling her children in from their play. For a moment he thought back to his own childhood and the times he had spent playing with the children in his neighborhood. Often his grandfather, who had lived with them, would come out and throw a softball with him; or they would take a walk together through a nearby park and talk about what Scott was learning in Hebrew school, or about the weather. Sometimes his grandfather would talk about his wife. Scott had never known his grandmother and he could listen for hours to his grandfather talk about her.
The steam from Scott's chicken soup – his mother's recipe – rose before him and brought him back to the present, but as he looked around he became aware that he was not where he thought he was. This was his parents' house; the one they had owned in the United States when he was a boy. Before him the table was set for five. Near his father's place sat a large brass plate with sprigs of parsley, a small dollop of horseradish, a larger dollop of an apple mixture called charoseth, the shank bone of a lamb, and a roasted egg. Next to it was another plate stacked with matzah. The table was obviously set forpesach – the Passover. Four of the five places were set for Scott, his parents, and his grandfather. The extra place, in accordance with tradition, was set for the prophet Elijah should he choose to return from heaven and grace their table with his presence.
Scott gave his head a quick shake and when that failed to have any effect on his circumstances, he tried rubbing his eyes. 'Scott, come in here and help your mother,' said a woman's voice from the kitchen. It was his mother, Liana Rosen. As he heard the voice, it was as though the memory of his adult life had been but a dream. He tried to recall what he had been thinking but the memory was fading too fast. All he could latch onto were a few, small, disassociated parts. He remembered that in the dream of his future there was something about his grandfather dying and him going to Israel; about his parents coming to live in Israel and him telling the authorities that they… but the rest of that memory was gone; about his parents dying… about a war with Russia… and… Scott brushed the thoughts away as the meaningless vestiges of a daydream and ran in to help his mother in the kitchen.
'Your father and grandfather will be home soon,' Scott's mother said when he came into the kitchen. 'We need to hurry with the preparations for Passover.' Outside the sun was setting, marking the beginning of the Passover Shabbat or Sabbath. Liana Rosen worked at the cork in the bottle of red wine. 'Here,' she said as she handed the bottle to Scott, 'see what you can do with it.' Scott gripped the bottle firmly and gave it a tug. The already-loosened cork came easily. 'Wonderful! 'Liana said, as she clapped her hands. 'Now take it to the table but be careful not to spill any when you fill the glasses.
Scott poured the wine into the glasses for his parents and grandfather, half a glass for himself, and then very carefully he poured Elijah's cup. This was a very special wine glass, made of hand-cut leaded crystal – though this had always seemed strange to Scott because the glass was clear and he could see no lead in it. Still, it was a very special glass, taken out only for the Passover. For just an instant Scott seemed to have a memory of having broken this glass as he took it from the cupboard when he was fifteen. But that was silly: Scott was only eleven.
Behind him, Scott heard the front door open and turned to see his father and grandfather. Scott stopped what he was doing, ran over to his grandfather, and hugged him with all his might. How wonderful, he thought, to hug his grandfather again. As this thought occurred to him he remembered a part of his daydream: his grandfather had died, a thought that made him shudder. But that was all a dream. Still, he took tremendous pleasure in feeling his grandfather's arms around him again.
Soon the Passover meal or seder began and progressed through each step as directed by the tfaggadah, which serves as a sort of a Passover guide book with descriptions, recitations, and the words to songs sung at points during the meal. First was the brechat haner, or kindling of candles; then the kiddush, the first cup, which is the cup of blessing; the urchatz, which is the first of two ceremonial washings of hands; the karpas, when parsley is dipped in salt water to represent the tears that Israel shed while slaves in Egypt and the salt water of the Red Sea. Next was the yachutz, when the father takes the middle of three matzahs from a white cloth pouch called the echad (meaning unity, or one), breaks the matzah in half, places one halfback in the echad and the other half in a separate linen covering. Later, as directed by the Haggadah, the father hides the broken piece of matzah, called the Afikomen (a Greek word meaning 'I have come') somewhere at the table. The youngest member of the family then must search until he finds it. When he does, he takes the Afikomen to his father to be redeemed for a gift or money. This had always been Scott's favorite part of the seder. But Scott would have to wait until later in the dinner for that.
After the breaking of the middle piece of matzah came the maggid, the retelling of the story of Moses and the Passover, and then the ma-nishtanah, or four questions. Scott, as the youngest member of the family, in his best Hebrew, would recite four questions about the Passover, each of which was answered in turn by his father. Then came the recitation of the ten plagues which had befallen the Egyptians. This part had always been a little funny to Scott because the Haggadah directs that, as each plague is named, those at the table are to stick a finger in their wine and sprinkle a drop on their plate.
Everything was the same as it had been every other year until the family sang one of the traditional Passover songs called 'Dayenu,' which means, 'We would have been satisfied.' The song is a happy, upbeat piece sung in Hebrew, which names some of the things that God did for the people of Israel. After each verse is the chorus which consists entirely of repeating the one word, 'dayenu.' In English the words to the song would be:
If He had merely rescued us from Egypt, but had not punished the Egyptians '
Dayenu (we would have been satisfied) If He had merely punished the Egyptians, but had not destroyed their gods
Dayenu
If He had merely destroyed their gods, but had not slain their first born Dayenu.
And so the song continued, each time stating that if God had only done what was mentioned in the previous verse and not done the next additional things, the singers – representing all of Israel – would have been satisfied.
As they sang the last verse which speaks of the Temple, Scott's grandfather suddenly stopped singing and shouted, 'No!' Scott looked at him confused. 'It's not true,' his grandfather said. 'Dayenu is a lie! We only fool ourselves.'
'We only fool ourselves!' agreed Scott's parents.
This was not in the Haggadah. Something was wrong. And then without a sound, immediately there was another presence at the table. A man reached across the table in front of Scott and took the Afikomen, which had not yet been hidden, from beside Scott's father's plate. The man was sitting at the place set for Elijah. Scott recognized him at once as Rabbi Saul Cohen. But this made no sense at all. Scott didn't know anyone named Saul Cohen, except… except perhaps in that strange dream. How could he be here in Scott's home and sitting in the place of Elijah and drinking from Elijah's cup, the special cup that Scott's parents kept only for the seder and from which no one was allowed to drink?
'Let us fool ourselves no longer,' Cohen said.
It was nearly midnight when Scott found himself once again an adult and in his home in a suburb outside of Jerusalem. His soup was now hours cold and the only light was from a digital clock and a street light outside. He was exhausted. For a few moments he just sat there. If he had any thoughts that the events of the past few hours in his childhood home had all been a dream, they were quickly dispelled. Near him at the table, in the position that had been Elijah's place in his dream or vision, where he had seen Cohen, was a three-quarters-empty glass of wine. It was Elijah's cup; the one which had irreparably shattered into a hundred pieces when he took it from the cupboard when he was fifteen. Even in the subdued light he recognized it. Scott sat back into his chair and noticed the plate beneath his bowl sitting askew on the table before him. There was something under it. He raised the plate and found underneath it the Afikomen, hidden for him to find and redeem.
Thursday, August 15,2019 – New York
French Ambassador Albert Moore's secretary showed Christopher Goodman into the office where Moore and his chief of staff awaited his arrival. 'Good morning, Mr. Ambassador,' Moore said, addressing Christopher. 'Please come in.'
'Thank you, Mr. Ambassador,' Christopher responded. 'I appreciate your seeing me on such short notice. I know how busy you must be.'
'Well, you said it was urgent.'
