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Politics, cultures converge during Pesach in Peru
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BY: JEFFREY SCHEIN Special to the CJN
For my wife Deborah and I, spending Passover in Peru was an extraordinary experience as it involved leading a Pesach seder for nine Peace Corps volunteers, one of whom was our daughter Hana.
As usual the preparation itself was half the fun. Shipping haggadot and Passover foods early was easy enough. Rushing off to Wang’s market (Peru’s equivalent of Giant Eagle), the largest chain grocery market, to get the very last jar of horseradish was more challenging.
We were an erev rav (motley crew) around the seder table: five Jewish Peace Corps volunteers and a number of their parents, four non-Jewish volunteers, and the Peruvian fiancée of the Jewish Peace Corps director in Peru. A colleague had provided us with a number of Ladino/Spanish Pesach songs that made a great common denominator for the group.
We had a lively discussion about the nature of the American freedoms Peace Corps volunteers brought with them to Peru as part of their work. We looked at Franklin Roosevelt’s famous “Four Freedoms” (freedom of speech and religion, freedom from poverty and fear) through the lenses of their own aspirations.
We asked ourselves whether there was a fifth American freedom ... a freedom to imigrate to and from the United States.
We had actually discussed this question at our seder in Cleveland the year before as new immigration legislation was just then being proposed by the administration.
So, mah nishtana? What was different about this discussion? Well, everything in the sense that all the volunteers knew Peruvians who had either spent time in the States or were seeking immigration visas.
The discussion was both lively and a bit pained. In retrospect, it was an odd question for Peace Corps volunteers to be considering since their mission in Peru was to make small contributions toward securing those four freedoms in Peru. (I came to sense what a thin line they walk between exporting American values without being cultural imperialists.)
As usual, context is everything. Deb and I were often moved to tears by the idealism of these young adults and their tough encounters with reality. Somehow I think of lyrics from the Dixie Chicks’ Grammy-winning album “Taking the Long Way” in this regard:
“My friends from high school
Married their high-school boyfriends
Moved into houses in the same zip codes where their parents lived.
But I ... I could never could follow .... taking the long way around.”
The surround of Peru affected much of our Passover celebration beyond the seder. We kept a Sephardic Pesach, allowing ourselves rice and beans. Our prominent box of matzah in Peruvian restaurants raised few questions and only a few eyebrows.
We found our paths crossing, in interesting ways, the Catholic rhythms of the country. On Palm Sunday we happened to be in the central square of Lima. We watched with interest as thousands streamed to their church carrying a lulav and hadas (myrtle plant) in a bouquet (no etrog) with an orchid added.
The aura around the churches was that of Yom Kippur, particularly so because Easter attracts many Peruvians who are mainly nominal Catholics during the rest of the year.
More comically, we became the Jewish delegation to a candle parade in Puno. Our taxi couldn’t get through the parade to our hotel. The only way we could get there was by exiting the taxi and joining the parade.
As for many travelers to Peru, one of our highlights was the visit to Machu Picchu (Old Mountain). The setting of the Andean mountains is breathtaking and the archaeological find of Machu Picchu extraordinary.
As we visited Machu Picchu on the second day of Passover, we couldn’t help but note an irony. Here we were, part of a tradition of making aliyat ha-regel, going up to Jerusalem for the haggim (holidays). But we were descending from the ancient Incan city of Cusco (at approximately 11,000 feet) to Machu Picchu at 8,000 feet.
The Incans did yeridat ha’regel (a journey downward), but they passed through a single gate (the gate of the sun) in order to celebrate their holidays. The feeling of entering a holy space was not so dissimilar from what we experienced several months earlier as we walked up the southern steps of the beit ha-mikdash (house of worship) in Jerusalem.
Jeffrey Schein is director of the department of Jewish education at Siegal College.
As usual the preparation itself was half the fun. Shipping haggadot and Passover foods early was easy enough. Rushing off to Wang’s market (Peru’s equivalent of Giant Eagle), the largest chain grocery market, to get the very last jar of horseradish was more challenging.
We were an erev rav (motley crew) around the seder table: five Jewish Peace Corps volunteers and a number of their parents, four non-Jewish volunteers, and the Peruvian fiancée of the Jewish Peace Corps director in Peru. A colleague had provided us with a number of Ladino/Spanish Pesach songs that made a great common denominator for the group.
We had a lively discussion about the nature of the American freedoms Peace Corps volunteers brought with them to Peru as part of their work. We looked at Franklin Roosevelt’s famous “Four Freedoms” (freedom of speech and religion, freedom from poverty and fear) through the lenses of their own aspirations.
We asked ourselves whether there was a fifth American freedom ... a freedom to imigrate to and from the United States.
We had actually discussed this question at our seder in Cleveland the year before as new immigration legislation was just then being proposed by the administration.
So, mah nishtana? What was different about this discussion? Well, everything in the sense that all the volunteers knew Peruvians who had either spent time in the States or were seeking immigration visas.
The discussion was both lively and a bit pained. In retrospect, it was an odd question for Peace Corps volunteers to be considering since their mission in Peru was to make small contributions toward securing those four freedoms in Peru. (I came to sense what a thin line they walk between exporting American values without being cultural imperialists.)
As usual, context is everything. Deb and I were often moved to tears by the idealism of these young adults and their tough encounters with reality. Somehow I think of lyrics from the Dixie Chicks’ Grammy-winning album “Taking the Long Way” in this regard:
“My friends from high school
Married their high-school boyfriends
Moved into houses in the same zip codes where their parents lived.
But I ... I could never could follow .... taking the long way around.”
The surround of Peru affected much of our Passover celebration beyond the seder. We kept a Sephardic Pesach, allowing ourselves rice and beans. Our prominent box of matzah in Peruvian restaurants raised few questions and only a few eyebrows.
We found our paths crossing, in interesting ways, the Catholic rhythms of the country. On Palm Sunday we happened to be in the central square of Lima. We watched with interest as thousands streamed to their church carrying a lulav and hadas (myrtle plant) in a bouquet (no etrog) with an orchid added.
The aura around the churches was that of Yom Kippur, particularly so because Easter attracts many Peruvians who are mainly nominal Catholics during the rest of the year.
More comically, we became the Jewish delegation to a candle parade in Puno. Our taxi couldn’t get through the parade to our hotel. The only way we could get there was by exiting the taxi and joining the parade.
As for many travelers to Peru, one of our highlights was the visit to Machu Picchu (Old Mountain). The setting of the Andean mountains is breathtaking and the archaeological find of Machu Picchu extraordinary.
As we visited Machu Picchu on the second day of Passover, we couldn’t help but note an irony. Here we were, part of a tradition of making aliyat ha-regel, going up to Jerusalem for the haggim (holidays). But we were descending from the ancient Incan city of Cusco (at approximately 11,000 feet) to Machu Picchu at 8,000 feet.
The Incans did yeridat ha’regel (a journey downward), but they passed through a single gate (the gate of the sun) in order to celebrate their holidays. The feeling of entering a holy space was not so dissimilar from what we experienced several months earlier as we walked up the southern steps of the beit ha-mikdash (house of worship) in Jerusalem.
Jeffrey Schein is director of the department of Jewish education at Siegal College.
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