1983-1984 Rothberg Yearbook

Pesach uith the Pres.
I was sitting in my ropm, listening to Hal tell me about his trip to Russia, and I was rudely interrupted
by the door bell. I answered it, and there stood a man in a suit. I immediately started to panic. In Israel,
suits mean one thing: Bad news. My fears were compounded when he asked to speak to me. He began to read
a letter in Hebrew and when he finished, he asked if I understood. Being the ‘Gimel’ student I was, I said ‘Ken’
and then nearly fainted. The letter was an invitation from President Herzog to attend his Seder at ‘Beit Hanassi.’
The man asked me for a reply, and at that moment I forgot every word of Hebrew. I turned around to the
crowd of room-mates and friends that had gathered behind me, and asked them to help me explain that I
needed to cancel my previous plans before accepting the President’s generous invitation, but, alas, my friends
knew less Hebrew than I did. I managed, somehow. So much for playing it cool.
I arrived at ‘Beit Hanassi’ at 7:15 p.m. and I was the first guest. Not wanting to feel out of place, I did
the only natural thing to do — I hid in the bathroom for 15 minutes. When I finally went into the reception
room, I saw assembled what must have been this year’s members of Israel’s Best Dressed list. Hooked down
at what I was wearing and thought that I really blew it. On the contrary though. Right away all the guests
came over to meet me. I was introduced as President Herzog’s distant relative; only, they called him Vivian,
not President Herzog. Most of the people there were relatives from England. The two exceptions were the
Herzogs, and the Herzog’s friends who donated the Jerusalem Theater, who were Israeli. Although the Seder
was in Hebrew, the conversations were all in English, which I was ecstatic about. I don’t mind wasting most
people’s time with my attempts at conversations in Hebrew, but wasting the President’s time isn’t such a great
idea.
The Seder was held in the formal dining room, which was quite elegant. It was a traditional service, but
laid back and comfortable. President Herzog is quite humorous and down to earth. I sat next to his son,
Itzhak who’s a law student at TAU but I spent a good part of the evening talking to Ronit, his daughter who
is still in the army. The food was the traditional Passover meal, but unlike my Seder at home, this meal was
served to us by servants in tuxedos. After a few glasses of wine, everyone was pretty lively. Itzhak and Ronit
even started fighting about which tune to sing for ‘Dayeini.’ They were a fun crowd, and the President was
laughing and joking and telling us about his trip to England to meet the Queen. One of the highlights of the
evening was eating the Matzoh that had arrived at ‘Beit Hanassi’ that morning, from the Soviet underground.
We attempt to get Matzoh to the Soviet Jews, and they succeed in getting it to us. It gave everyone at the table
a feeling of connection and hope for the Soviet Jews.
The Seder lasted until 11:30 and then everyone slowly started leaving. I thanked them all, and Ronit
invited me to the family beach house in Herzliya. We’ll see if I actually do end up “catching the rays” with
the President of Israel. B u t. . . you never know, stranger things have been known to happen*,.
Tamar Fenton
׳׳*‏ San Diego State University
U r like 7 * " ^ r
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