At ten o'clock in the morning, two days before Pesach, Sarah Greenberg and her family got into their car and left to go and spend the holiday with Sarah's Bubbe and Zadie. Sarah was very excited about because it was the first time they had been since Sarah was two and she couldn't really remember much about that time.

Sarah's 11 year-old sister, Chava, spoke up soon after they had joined the motorway, "How long will it take us to get there, Abba?"

"We probably won't get there until 6 this evening, I'm afraid." Abba replied, signalling to come over a lane.

There were loud groans in the back of the car, they hated long journeys.

They listened to a story tape most of the morning and stopped around one o'clock at a motorway services to have a packed lunch. After half and hour, Abba spoke up,

"Come along, we need to be making headway. Anybody need the bathrooms?"

After packing the remains of the food into back into cool-box and using the bathrooms, they all climbed back into the car and continued up the motorway.

After playing numerous car games, getting bored, singing songs, getting bored, playing more car games and getting bored, they arrived at the town where Bubbe and Zadie lived. Sarah, Chava and Asher, Sarah's 8 year-old brother, stared out of the car windows at all the people, shops and cars. They eventually got to the road where Bubbe and Zadie lived.

They all counted out-loud the numbers of the houses until they arrived at Number 26, where Abba stopped and parked the car. The children scrambled out and ran up the garden path to the front door. Asher rang the bell for a long time and still had his hand pressing on it when the door opened and Zadie stood there.

He greeted them all and helped Abba take the two suitcases upstairs. Bubbe came out of the kitchen at the end of the hall, beyond the stairs and suggested that before they had supper maybe the children would like to run around in the garden for a few minutes to stretch their legs.

They said the would and when they got outside they found that the back garden had a tree in it that looked like it would make good climbing. They played tag for a while and then climbed the tree, Sarah being helped up by the other two, and played trains on the biggest branch.

Zadie came out and said that tea was ready, so they got down, lifted down in case of Sarah. They washed their hands in the scullery and then went into the kitchen, which smelled wonderfully of maccaroni cheese.

After they had finished eating and cleared up from the meal, Zadie suggested they played a game before they went to bed. So they played 'UNO' until Abba said it was time the children had their baths.

Sarah thought it was exciting having a bath and doing her teeth in a different bathroom and going to sleep on a make-shift bed on the floor beside Chava, instead of her bottom bunk in their bedroom at home.

The next morning, before breakfast, the children went round the house, looking into all the rooms and opening all the cupboards. Of course Asher and Chava had seen it before but Chava said she was just "making sure they didn't do anything"!

After breakfast Zadie went off to work, saying he would be back for lunch, and the rest of them, even Abba, helped Bubbe Pesach clean the kitchen, pantry and scullery - the only places that hadn't been cleaned. With all of them cleaning at once, it only took a few hours and Abba said he would play a game with the children, while Bubbe and Imma made lunch.

When there was a delicious smell coming from the kitchen and the clock said it was 1:15, the doorbell rang and the front door opened! Sarah, thinking it was Zadie, rushed out into the hall... to find a lady standing in the hall, a baby in her arms, and a man, who looked very like Imma, coming in the door with a suitcase.

Sarah turned, saw Abba standing in the lounge doorway, and ducked in between his legs to hide behind him. The lady laughed and said hello to Abba. Abba said hello too and then stepped forward to take the suitcase from the man, so Sarah went behind Chava.

Peeping from behind Chava's skirts, she whisperingly asked who the people were, while she watched Bubbe and Imma come out of the kitchen and hug the man and lady.

"Menachem! Rachel! It's wonderful to see you again." Imma exclaimed, "And is this Joshua? He looks fine and healthy, like all the Elmsburg babies." she laughed.

At this point the front door opened again and Zadie came in, "Well, well, well!"

"Three holes in the ground!" the man who looked like Imma, who seemed to be called Menachem, said, "Or rather, three people in your house!"

Everyone laughed and when Zadie and Menachem and Rachel had taken their shoes and coats off, they came all went into the kitchen as Bubbe said that lunch was just cooked so they might as well eat straight away.

Sarah kept very close to Imma until she introduced her to Menachem and Rachel, who she said were one of her uncles and aunts. Sarah thought that they looked nice so didn't stay so close to Imma after that. Joshua stayed asleep most of the time, occasionally opening his eyes to blink and the go back to sleep.

They had just finished lunch when there was another ring on the doorbell and the front door opened again. This time a boy of about sixteen came in, followed by a girl, who looked a bit older than Chava. The boy called "hello to who ever was in the house". The girl laughed at this and when they had taken off their shoes they moved up the hall to make room for two more boys, both younger than the girl, and a man and woman, who came in.

All the adults got up, Menachem picking Joshua up and taking him with him, and went into the hall, while the children were left wondering what to do.

"Who are they?" Sarah asked.

"They are Imma's sister and her family. The tallest boy, Simeon, is sixteen, the girl, Esther, is twelve, and the other two boys are twins, Jonathan and David, and are nine, I think."

"What about the grown-ups?" Asher asked.

"Imma's sister is called Avigail and her husband is called Nathan." Chava answered as she got up, "Why don't we clear the table as a surprise for Bubbe, so she doesn't have to do it?"

Asher and Sarah thought this a good idea and Chava was wiping the table down when 'the cousins' came in. Chava put the crumbs in the bin, dumped the cloth on the side and washed her hands.

They then stood staring at each other, until Simeon broke the silence,

"Bubbe said you'd just finished lunch."

This was such an obvious fact that Sarah giggled.

"What did I say?" Simeon asked, slightly puzzled.

"It is rather an obvious statement, Simmy." Esther said, laughing herself.

Simeon grinned, "I had to say something, my ears were getting oppressed by the silence."

They all laughed and David said,

"Bubbe said we could go out in the garden if we wanted to."

This seemed to meet with approval and they all ran up the hall to get their shoes. The adults had gone into the lounge and were sitting round talking. Once out in the garden, a game of tag ensued, the tree being "home".

The children played in the garden for a most of the afternoon, only going in once to have some drinks. This was largely because they had decided to play Robin Hood and there didn't seem to be a conclusive ending.

When they came in, Bubbe, Imma and the two aunts had started on supper. Esther, Chava and Sarah decided to help, while the boys went to talk to the men.

Sarah was appointed to go and call them in when supper was ready and she walked into the lounge to hear Zadie saying,

"Well, if that is what Rav Sha'ul says, then I think it must be correct, whatever tradition says."

Sarah was rather glad that she had chosen to help Imma and the other ladies with supper. They might talk about the boring subjects of how to stop a wall getting damp but she didn't find it so confusing as what Abba and the men talked about!

They came into the kitchen talking about some tricky point where the Torah seemed to be contradicting itself, so Sarah sat by Esther and Chava so she could join in their whispered conversation.

After tea and sun-down, Zadie said it was time for bedikat chametz. They gathered in the lounge with a feather, wooden spoon and candle. After Zadie said the blessing, the children scattered around the house, looking for the home-made croutons and sachets of yeast that they knew Bubbe had hidden. There were shrieks when somebody found any chametz and they guarded that area carefully until Zadie came to that room, as for every piece that was found, the discoverer was given a chocolate!

It was nearing the end of the search and Sarah hadn't found any chametz. She went into the dining-room and found Simeon in there.

"Hello!" he said cheerfully.

"I haven't found any chametz yet," she said, disappointedly.

"Oh! I'm sorry. But, never mind, Zadie is still upstairs. Maybe you will find something before he comes down." He went over to the games cupboard, opened the doors, looked inside and closed it again. He then moved over to a plant in one of the other corners.

Sarah went over to the games cupboard; she might as well look there, just in case Simeon had missed anything. She opened the doors and there, on one side, was a crouton!

"Simeon! Look!" she dragged Simeon over to look. "I found a crouton! I don't know how you missed it."

He laughed, "Well done! You had better make sure you don't let any one else find it before Zadie comes in here."

She carefully closed the cupboard door, making sure the crouton hadn't disappeared first, and then sat down in front of it. When Zadie came in to the dining-room, Sarah proudly showed him the chametz. He was very pleased and gave her a chocolate.

"Maybe you had better give it to your Imma. You don't want it to melt before you get to eat it," he said.

So Sarah rushed off to where Imma was, in the kitchen looking in the cupboards in there, and gave it to her to keep until the search for chametz was over.

It was time for bed when Zadie had gone through the whole house, but the children were allowed to eat their chocolate first.

There was much laughter as the children cleaned their teeth and Nathan came up at one point to tell them all to quiet down and that a little less talking might help them to be ready for bed quicker!

Sarah went downstairs when she had got into her pyjamas and fell asleep on Abba's lap while the adults were still talking. She woke up briefly when Abba put her in bed next to Chava and stayed awake long enough to say the Shema.

Next morning Sarah had a bath as she hadn't had one last night and then hurried down for breakfast. After breakfast Zadie lit a small bonfire to burn all the remaining chametz. Simeon was the only one allowed to go near it, the others being told to stay well back.

After the bonfire had been put out, Zadie, Abba, Menachem and Nathan said there was something they had to do and were going out. The rest of them, even, the boys, then helped with the cooking - washing and chopping vegetables, mixing and stirring things and fetching and carrying. It was fun, them all doing together, a tape playing in the background and the general air or excitement - Pesach was starting that evening!

One thing that did puzzle Sarah was that the things that they were making weren't what they usually ate at Pesach. There seemed to be a lot of salads and bowls of fruit and nuts. She went up to Imma and asked about this,

"Imma, why aren't we making what we usually eat? There aren't any Carrot Tzimmes, which we always have!"

Imma looked quickly across at Bubbe but before she replied, Simeon said,

"Different people eat different things at Pesach, Sarah."

"Are you implying that Zadie and I are 'different'?" Bubbe said in a pretend offended voice.

Everyone laughed and Bubbe asked them to clear the table for lunch. When the men came in for lunch they came in from the back garden!

"I thought you lot were out." David said, surprised.

"We came home quite a long time ago," Zadie said.

"What have you been doing since?" all the children wanted to know.

But "just something" was all that they could get out of them, no matter what questions they asked!

After every-one had finished eating but before anybody got up, Bubbe made an announcement,

"Your mothers' and I think it would be a good idea if you children had a rest."

"But we never have rests at home." Asher said.

"Well, it won't do you any harm to have one here," Zadie said, laughing, "and we'll call up when we think you have had a long enough rest."

"What about Simeon?" Chava asked, "He doesn't need a rest, surely!"

"Simeon can stay down here." Avigail said, smiling at Simeon.

"But," Bubbe added quickly, seeing Esther's and Chava's hopeful looks, "None of the rest of you."

So, when they had helped to clear the table, they had to trundle up stairs to have a rest.

"It's ridiculous! I don't need rest!" Esther said, aggrieved, when they were at the top of the stairs.

"Anybody would think we were little old ladies in a nursing home sent off to spend the afternoon having a nap!" Jonathan said disgustedly.

Sarah giggled, it sounded so funny!

Asher went to the room where the other boys slept to have his rest with them and Esther joined Chava and Sarah in their bedroom as she said it was boring being in room all by yourself. They read mostly, sometimes talking, and Sarah lay on the Imma and Abba's bed, staring at the ceiling. After a few minutes of wriggling round she said,

"Chava?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think we'll be called down soon?"

Esther looked at her watch, "We've only been up here for five minutes."

"Oh!" Sarah said, trying to imagine how long their rest was going to be.

"Why don't you try going to sleep?" Chava suggested.

"But I'm not sleepy!" Sarah stated.

"Well, why don't you design a doll's house in your memory?"

"Okay." Sarah said.

"Why don't you close your eyes and lie on your side?" Esther suggested, seeing Sarah lying on her front, legs up in the air and her chin resting on her hands.

Sarah got settled and in a few minutes she was asleep. She slept for a quite a while before she woke up. Chava and Esther were both deep in their books so Sarah decided to go and find Imma.

She was almost all the way down the stairs when she stopped and stared. Zadie, followed by Abba, came out of the dining-room, each with two of the dining-room chairs! Why were they needing them for the Seder that evening? Neither Zadie or Abba saw Sarah but a few minutes later Avigail, laughing, came out of the dining-room. She saw Sarah and gasped,

"What ever are you doing down here, Sarah?" she asked.

"I came to find Imma." Sarah said.

"She is in the kitchen. But surely you can't of had enough of a rest yet?" Avigail asked. She then gently turned Sarah around, so she was facing upstairs, "Why don't you go back upstairs and see whether you can have a sleep?"

"I've just had one." Sarah replied, wondering why she just couldn't go to Imma, like she wanted to.

"Well, why don't you see whether one of the boys will play with you?" Avigail suggested.

"Alright." Sarah liked that idea and went back upstairs and along to where the boys were. They were all awake and greeted Sarah's suggestion of playing enthusiastically. Before they started making a tent, they had decided to play Indians, Sarah told them about what she had seen downstairs.

"Maybe we are going to have the Seder in the kitchen instead of the dining-room, this year." Jonathan suggested.

They all thought it rather strange but decided in the end that they had better get on with their tent, otherwise they would not have time to play before they were called down.

It didn't seem very long until Esther and Chava came along the landing to say that they could go down now and help lay the table for the Seder.

When they got downstairs, they were met by Simeon, who said that there was a surprise for them. He led them into the dining-room, where they all stopped and stared - the dining-room looked so different!

The chairs and table had been removed and all the excess furniture and plants too! Instead, there was a big, square, thin, piece of wood on the floor, propped up, they later discovered, with some big books of Zadie's. Around the edge of room were beanbags and cushions.

Simeon laughted at their astonishment but when he stopped, he explained,

"Bubbe and Zadie came up with the idea. We are going to have an Israelite Seder! That's why we're having such unusual food, Sarah."

Bubbe came in a that moment and started organising everyone to the different jobs of laying the table.

When this was finished, after mopping up the charoseth that had been knocked over by one of the boys, Rachel came in with twelve red candles, all in different mix-matched candle sticks, and put them at various points round the room. This fascinated Sarah, and she asked what they were for.

"They are so we can see to read our haggadahs." Rachel replied, standing on tiptoe to put one of the candles on a high ledge where a light usually stood.

"Is the electricity not working, then?" Asher asked, handing another candle to Rachel.

"Oh, thank you!" she said, "No, the electricity is working but the Israelites didn't have electricity, so we are going to pretend we haven't any lights too."

Sarah gave a squeal and started running round the room. Simeon caught hold of her,

"Not in here, Sarah. Why don't we go out into the garden and then we can run with out fear of hurting Bubbe's Seder ware?"

"Have you told them about the clothes, Simeon?" a voice behind them said, and they turned round to find Bubbe standing in the doorway.

Simeon shook his head, but when on to explain, "We are going to dress up as Israelites! Bubbe has made clothes out of curtains that we are going to wear over our normal clothes... only we boys won't have to wear ties."

This announcement was met with enthusiasm, and the room fairly buzzed as they all tried to ask questions at once. The guests coming would also wear the costumes and would become relatives for the night, to make it more fun. Bubbe explained that she had bought some old curtains from a charity shop and had made them into loose-fitting costumes to wear over their normal clothes. She had a variety of belts for the men and boys to wear and cord-like things for the ladies and girls. She had made some bundles for them to have on hand during the Seder and had organised the head-dresses as well.

So the children were sent upstairs to get into their normal clothes, with the costumes Bubbe had made as well. Imma came up to help Sarah get dressed and when she was, she looked very authentic.

When all the children were dressed they gathered in the kitchen before going outside in the garden. They all looked a bit strange and broke into laughter when they saw how funny they each looked. Bubbe shooed them out into the garden, where they were to await the guests arrival.

They played tag until Asher fell down and Simeon said that they had better not play such a active game in case they spoilt their clothes - not a wise idea seeing they hadn't even started the evening. So they played Chinese Whispers and Detective until they were called in to start the Seder.

All the adults had got dressed up in the costumes Bubbe had made, even the guests! The guests were a fairly elderly couple and their grown-up grandson who had come to visit them, a widowed lady and couple who had just had their first baby and so, were grateful for the offer of attending some-one else's Seder. These were made into aunts, uncles, cousins and various other relatives.

When Sarah got up to ask the Four Questions, she felt very nervous. However, she didn't make any mistakes and was very proud, when she sat down, that she had gone through all four questions without any prompting.

She only had a little horse-radish but it still made her eyes water. Simeon had taken quite a lot and his face went very red. He said afterwards that his mouth had nearly exploded! Sarah knocked her grape juice over at one point but it was soon mopped up and Bubbe said it wouldn't stain the carpet.

The meal was fun, even if they did have some rather unusual dishes. All the children were sitting at one side of the made-up table and so they talked between themselves without disturbing the adults.

They finished eating before the adults and started looking for the Afikomen. Sarah really hoped she would find it but she didn't. Simeon found it in the lounge, underneath the sofa! She was very disappointed because who-ever found the Afikomen opened the door for Elijah. Simeon saw her disappointed face and said she could come with him when he opened the door. This cheered her up and she didn't mind so much any more about not having found the Afikomen. As the ransom price, Zadie gave Simeon a 5 pound note.

When it came to opening the door for Elijah, Simeon and Sarah both went to the door. As they went up the hall, Sarah whispered,

"Aren't you scared there might be some-one there?"

Simeon squeezed her hand, "It'll be okay. Of course, it would be nice if Elijah was there but as he usually isn't, I don't expect he will be."

He wasn't and it was a disappointed Sarah who took her place next to Chava back in the dining-room.

"No Elijah?" Zadie asked.

Simeon laughed and shook his head.

"Oh well, maybe next year." Zadie said, smiling.

Just before the end, Menacham laughed, "I don't suppose this year we ought to say 'Next year in the Promised Land'?!"

They all laughed and Zadie shook his head,

"No, I don't think so!"

As if they really were leaving Egypt, they all said "Lashanah haba'ah bi Yerushalayim - Next year in Jerusalem" with feeling.

The Seder was over! But there was all of Pesach to play in the garden with the cousins and eat matzah and have fun. Simeon had agreed to help make a tent in the garden for them to play Indians with. All week of Pesach - and the hope of "Next year in Jerusalem"!

Copyright T. Allen - MET