{ "clip_details": { "clip": { "is_admin": 0, "is_owner": 0, "handle": "grief-memory-hold-hands", "title": "Grief & Memory Hold Hands", "author": "Jen Gubitz", "author_handle": "jen-gubitz", "author_initials": "JG", "covertext": "Grief and memory hold hands as brokenhearted we find our way from narrowness to freedom... And then came springtime... A...", "user_image": "https://assets.haggadot.com/users/116647/conversions/profile10105504688716549-thumb.jpg", "user_image_original": "https://assets.haggadot.com/users/116647/profile10105504688716549", "body": "<p><b>Grief and memory hold hands<br />\nas brokenhearted we find our way from narrowness to freedom...</b></p>\n\n<p><b>And then came springtime...<br />\nAnd the snow was melting and the flowers were coming back to life...</b><br />\n<strong>And do you remember how we set the Passover table, </strong><br />\n<b>covered in her lace tablecloth, setting it up just as she would have?<br />\nBut the matzo balls were wrong.</b><br />\n<b>They sunk, her’s would float.<br />\nAnd the salt water of Passover tears<br />\nstung all night in our mouths<br />\nthat were to be filled with freedom’s joy.</b></p>\n\n<p><b>And do you remember when we opened the door for Elijah and the dog ran away? <br />\nAnd she laughed so.<br />\nHow we left Elijah a goblet full of wine?<br />\nAnd how was it that the wine always disappeared right before our very eyes? <br />\nHow was it that the charoset was always just so?<br />\nAnd how was it that everyone really listened to one another’s questions?<br />\nAnd every grandchild found the afikomen?<br />\nAnd remember when everyone shared with her a few minutes that felt like forever<br />\nto unburden the narrowness in their lives, feeling freed by her love?</b><br />\nAnd how was it that she was not at the head of the table?<br />\n<b>She was nowhere to be found!</b><br />\nWhy didn’t she enter through Elijah’s open door?</p>\n\n<p><b>They call Passover, Z’man Cheiruteinu, the season of our freedom. <br />\nBut you did not feel free even as renewal sprouted forth freely from the earth.<br />\nThe grandkids were growing up.<br />\nThe last hug you shared seemed further and further away.<br />\nShe was gone now and your memories blurring...<br />\nWorn down by your grief, in the silence of Yizkor, <br />\nYizkor Elohim, God remembered<br />\nand you remembered:<br />\nHer love - sweet like tzimmis,<br />\nHer strength - birthing you from the narrows and freed! <br />\nHer voice - strong like Miriam’s song at the shores of the sea.</b><br />\n<strong>Passover Yizkor, Z’man Cheiruteinu, </strong><br />\n<b>in remembering her, <br />\nyou felt grief and joy bound up together.</b></p>", "cliptype": "text", "clipsource": "Rabbi Jen Gubitz", "featured": 0, "featuredIn": null, "is_public": 1, "is_published": 1, "media": { "image": null, "audio": null, "video": null }, "thumbnail": null, "clip_section": [ { "haggadah_section": "Commentary / Readings", "slug": "commentary-readings" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 179, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "Grief & Memory Hold Hands | Passover haggadah by Jen Gubitz", "description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "keywords": "", "og:type": "article", "og:url": "https://www.haggadot.com/clip/grief-memory-hold-hands", "og:title": "Grief & Memory Hold Hands | Passover haggadah by Jen Gubitz", "og:description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "og:image": "" } } }, "contributed_by": { "author": "Jen Gubitz", "handle": "jen-gubitz", "author_initials": "JG", "total_books": 1, "total_clips": 2, "total_followers": 0, "is_following": 0 }, "user_book": null, "clips_by_author": [ { "clip": { "is_admin": 0, "is_owner": 0, "handle": "remembering-loved-ones-passover", "title": "Yizkor: Remembering Loved Ones at Passover", "author": "Jen Gubitz", "author_handle": "jen-gubitz", "author_initials": "JG", "covertext": "The dining room table was simply resplendent. Covered in her now off-white lace table cloth, the oak wooden table stood...", "user_image": "https://assets.haggadot.com/users/116647/conversions/profile10105504688716549-thumb.jpg", "user_image_original": "https://assets.haggadot.com/users/116647/profile10105504688716549", "body": "<p>The dining room table was simply resplendent. Covered in her now off-white lace table cloth, the oak wooden table stood sturdily atop the navy tuft pile carpet, though every year a few more shims were added for leveling. On the soft carpet, slight impressions from hundreds of chair legs left indented memories of the past. </p>\n\n<p>In the corners of the dining room, white built-in cabinets displayed China dishes with tiny blue and white flowers, wine glasses of every size, a shelf reserved entirely for <a>Shabbat</a> candlesticks, and a rudimentary  <em>hanukkiah</em>  made of wood and bolts, the sole survivor of Sunday school, now coated with wax.</p>\n\n<p>The door was open to <a>Elijah</a>. At one end of the table sat his goblet full of wine, waiting for his visit, while across from it, Miriam’s cup stood in prominence. The children, who were now adults, still shot furtive glances at these cups. Would the wine disappear this year like it always had?</p>\n\n<p>As in every year, there was too much food. He always cooked for twelve, even though now, there were only five or six people who might return to this table for Passover. </p>\n\n<p>In the foyer, a few table leaves leaned against a corner.</p>\n\n<p>“Honey, we don’t need them this year,” he suggested to his wife.</p>\n\n<p>“No. Let's put them in – just in case.” </p>\n\n<p>“But Mom,” their adult children echoed, “its just the six of us. And the leaves are really heavy. It's not worth breaking your back over.”</p>\n\n<p>“No. No. Let's put them in – just in case.” </p>\n\n<p>And so they compromised. This year, one leaf would be used. The other would stand lonely in another room.</p>\n\n<p>“And Mom, we don’t need extra chairs either.”</p>\n\n<p>It’s in these moments, joyous holiday meals and family celebrations, that we remember them. It is in the smell of spices so fragrant, the taste of sweet wine, and the shadow of candles flickering, that we recall the days when they sat next to us and sometimes we can still feel their warmth. </p>\n\n<p>As we recall the story of the Jewish people, of our redemption from slavery in Egypt, we remember also the story of our own families: the journeys and experiences that shaped us, the people and places, and the faces that sat across from us, shared meals with us, shared the story with us – for so many years.</p>\n\n<p>We can’t help but want to set a place for them at the table, hoping that they will walk in the door years after they’ve departed. We can’t help but want to hear their voices singing, laughing. We can’t help but want to smell their perfume, to taste their cooking, to see their smile.</p>\n\n<p>While our memories are but meager substitutes for the warm hug we so long to experience, may we find solace and comfort in knowing that while they may be gone, our memories endure.</p>", "cliptype": "text", "clipsource": "Rabbi Jen Gubitz", "featured": 1, "featuredIn": null, "is_public": 1, "is_published": 1, "media": { "image": null, "audio": null, "video": null }, "thumbnail": null, "clip_section": [ { "haggadah_section": "Commentary / Readings", "slug": "commentary-readings" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 178, "tags": [ { "tag": "Yahrzeit", "slug": "yahrzeit" }, { "tag": "Yizkor", "slug": "yizkor" }, { "tag": "Candle Lighting", "slug": "candle-lighting" }, { "tag": "Passover", "slug": "passover" } ], "themes": [ { "theme": "Wellness", "slug": "wellness" } ], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "Yizkor: Remembering Loved Ones at Passover | Passover haggadah by Jen Gubitz", "description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. 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