The two girls in this story have Hebrew names, Shulamit and Aliza. They are pronounced as if they are spelt "Shoolamit" or "shoe la mit" and "Aleeza".

Yesterday was the first seder and, of course, the house was full. Bubbe and Zadie were here and all the Aunts, Uncles and cousins, plus four elderly couples from shul and a smattering of guests all invited at the last minute, like one of my brother Yossie's friends from work, our neighbours and an old friend from school that Imma met at the grocery store yesterday morning!

As usual we started late, and we only just got to the Afikomen before midnight! It was so difficult keeping awake; it always is. Full of Imma's good food, you get a little drowsy, and with so many people all in one room it gets kind of hot, too ...

... Aliza Schuster walked through the hallway to the front door, turned the key and swung the door open. It was dark and there were no stars or a moon to be seen. The wind made the trees rustle and groan, but Aliza stared out into the darkness. No Elijah. Maybe next year. Aliza quietly shut the door and returned to the dining room, slipping into her seat next to Imma.

"No one there, Aliza?" Imma asked in a whisper.

"No Imma," Aliza whispered back, "I think he only comes to seders in Israel."

Imma smiled and squeezed Aliza's hand. "Maybe he'll come next year!" ...

... My favourite part of the seder is at the end when we all pray that we will be privileged to celebrate Pesach next year in Jerusalem. Ever since I was five I have prayed especially hard every year that next year, I would be privileged to celebrate my favourite feast in the Land ...

I remember very clearly a letter you sent me last Pesach, in which you confided to me that it has always been your special dream to celebrate Pesach here in Israel. My parents would be delighted if this year, you would come for a visit. What do you say to spending the Pesach Chol HaMoed with us, here in Jerusalem?

Having no sisters, our friendship has always been very special to me, so it would thrill me more than I can say if we were able to celebrate our favourite feast together. I do hope you'll be able to come, and will count the days 'til I hear from you! ...

... Shulamit Abulafia sang all the way to the post office, where she slipped her letter to Aliza into the mail box. Coming out of the building, Shulamit turned towards the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, smiling brightly at everyone she passed as she wound her way through the narrow streets towards the Kotel.

Finding a secluded corner, Shulamit rested her forehead against the cold stone, her fingers resting in the grooves that the fingers and tears of thousands of Jews had worn in the ancient stones. As the sun beat down, peace began to fill Shulamit. In a city torn by strife, it was easy to feel scared and vulnerable; but as she prayed, Shulamit felt a peace and comfort surround her that surpassed all words. The peace that had been given to all her ancestors, throughout their trials and dangers, was gently taking hold of her and filling her heart ...

... Yes, I often get scared, Aliza, very scared. My elder brother Baruch is serving in the IDF and last time he came home on leave the stories he told were horrendous. I'm constantly afraid for him. Terrorist attacks and fear are a normal part of everyday life here in Jerusalem, but we still live normal lives, although I confess I am too afraid to go on a bus - what would happen if that were the bus? It might easily be - you never know who will do what when, there are so many people in the streets, in the shops, on the buses. I never travel on buses. But the dangers of active service are different, and I worry that Baruch will be injured or killed ...

Thank you a thousand times for your kind invitation to spend Pesach with you and your family! To spend our favourite feast together and to see my dream come true will be, I know, an extra-special time! For two weeks we shall really be sisters ...

"Aliza, do you have everything you need?" Imma asked, coming into Aliza's room, where the family suitcase was lying open on the bed as Aliza packed for her visit to Israel.

"Yes, Imma, I think I have everything now," Aliza said, smiling up at her mother. "And if I leave something essential behind Shulamit and I are probably about the same size, so I can always borrow from her!"

"Don't forget to write often ..."

"I won't, Imma!" Aliza said, closing her suitcase.

"... And if any terrorist attacks happen while you are there, you must ring us so that we know you are alright."

Aliza hugged Imma. "Imma, you mustn't worry so! I'll be fine. Shulamit and her family will take very good care of me and I'm sure I won't get caught in any terrorist attacks. Shulamit says you live your lives quite normally in spite of them."

Imma smiled. "Your name means 'happy' - maybe that is why you are so optimistic all the time!"

Aliza smiled too. "Maybe it is ..."

... Imma is very worried that something will happen while I am with you and that I won't be safe, but I am determined that, like you, I shall take everything in my stride and have a wonderful time with you and enjoy what I am sure will be the best Pesach ever! ...

I'm safely arrived in Israel and am keeping well. Shulamit is simply the most lovely person you ever met and we get on so well! Mr and Mrs Abulafia are lovely too, and I am, for the time I am here, established as part of the family.

Yesterday afternoon Shulamit took me into the Jewish Quarter of the Old City and, after completing a maze of streets so narrow there is barely room for three people to walk together, we reached the Kotel. It was a truly awe-inspiring experience, being at the Wall in person, to stand where thousands of our people have stood, to be on the sight of the Beis HaMikdash ...

... "This," Shulamit whispered as they stood in front of the Wall, "Is my favourite spot."

"I can see why," Aliza whispered back, gently running her fingers through the grooves in the huge stones that were cold, despite the blazing sun. "It makes you feel somehow connected, doesn't it?"

Shulamit nodded. "It's incredible to think that so many of our people have stood right here ..."

"... And that each of them found the same peace and rest that we do now! You're so blessed, Shulamit, to live here, in the Holy City!"

Shulamit smiled at her friend. "Yes ..." she looked up and up to the sky, then at all the people gathered against the Wall and filling the Plaza, then across at the skyline. "Yes," she said with more conviction, "Yes I am ..."

... The streets are crowded with people, cars, buses, carts, children and animals. And it's so noisy! Everyone talking and shouting, the noise of the traffic and the constant beeping of horns - driving is taken very seriously in Israel: if you want to stay on the road, you have to fight for it! Along the main road from the airport to Jerusalem the hard shoulder was littered with mangled cars, tyres, bumpers and, of course, lots of broken glass! It is very alarming riding in the buses, because they sway and lurch first to one side of the road and then to the other, and the driver is always leaning out of his widow to wave to a friend or yell at another driver ...

... "Shall we take the bus home?" Aliza asked as the two girls made their way back through the Old City. "I'm so tired - I think my legs are about to fall off!!"

Shulamit laughed nervously and looked scared. "I don't think so, Aliza. It's safer to go by foot."

"Why?" Aliza asked as they walked on.

"Well ... buses have been blown up so often, and you never know if it might be the bus you are on that will go next."

"But it might just as easily be when you are standing in the queue at the grocery store, or praying at the Wall, chas v'shalom, when a bomb goes off ... but don't worry, we'll walk." ...

... With Pesach starting only the day after tomorrow, Shulamit and I are kept busy most of the day helping Mrs Abulafia clean, cook and prepare for the the seders and for the Chol HaMoed ...

This Pesach is like something out of a book! Yesterday afternoon Mrs Abulafia sent Shulamit and I to the store to get some more vegetables. With the Abulafia's, anyone you meet is invited to the seder. Here is an example: Shulamit and I arrived at the store, took a basket and started to select the vegetables we needed ...

... "I don't know what it is, quite, but there is something so ... contagious about excitement," Shulamit said to Aliza as she choose out the carrots. "Anyone could tell a mile away that you are really excited about Pesach and it's making me excited too! ... Oh! I'm so sorry!"

Aliza stooped to pick up the bag that the elderly lady Shulamit had bumped into had been carrying. She handed it back with a smile. "Are you alright?" she asked anxiously.

The lady straightened the large kerchief that covered her hair and took her bag with an answering smile. "Yes, thank you. I hope you don't mind my saying so, but you look so like my granddaughter did last time I saw her ... she must be about your age, too ... she lives in Russia, you see. I am the only one of my family who has been able to come to Eretz Yisrael."

"You must miss your family so much," Aliza said politely.

"If you have no family here, you must come to our seder tonight!" Shulamit exclaimed. "We always have more room and will be delighted to have you join us. Our name is Abulafia," and Shulamit gave the lady their address.

Aliza watched in stupefied amazement as the elderly lady smiled, thanked Shulamit warmly and said she would see them again that evening.

"Won't your parents mind?" Aliza asked as the two girls walked homewards.

"Oh no, we always have lots of people at our seder, and we don't know half of them! Baruch, my brother, is always giving our address to the other soldiers he meets and hardly a Shabbos goes by without one of them turning up without anywhere else to go." ...

... And Mrs Peletchovitz did come, and brought photo's of her late husband and all her children and grandchildren. There were lots of people, just as Shulamit said there would be, who one or other of the Abulafia's has sat next to on a bus or met somewhere, and had invited to come!

There was a wonderful feeling around the table and everyone acted like they had known each other forever! There was more than enough food to go around and everyone laughed and talked and shared their life stories while we ate. There is something very special about Israeli seders! ...

... Shulamit and Aliza held each other's hands tightly as together they walked up the passage to the front door.

"Wouldn't it be wonderful if Elijah came this year?" Aliza whispered excitedly.

Shulamit nodded and her insides shook with anticipation. "Every year I've hoped he would be here, but he never has been."

"Me too," Aliza whispered, "I've always thought he only comes to people in Israel ..."

Shulamit giggled and pulled open the front door. It was dark outside, but the moon was high and the stars bright. There was a warm breeze that stirred the trees and broke the still, quiet night. And then, at exactly the same moment, both girls gasped.

A tall figure had turned off the street and was walking up the path towards them. As the figure drew closer, the girls could see that it was a young soldier, wearing a kippah, with a large pack slung over one shoulder. As soon as he reached the two girls, as they stood in the doorway, their eyes wide with amazement, he said:

"Is this the Abulafia's house?"

"Yes it is, come in! Imma, Abba, everyone! Come quick! Elijah is here!" Shulamit squealed. Both the girls took hold of an arm each and pulled him inside.

"But I'm not ...!" the young man protested, looking dazed and confused.

"Yes you are, you must come in! You can't go away again! We've been waiting for you for years!" Aliza declared, the large and heavy pack falling to the ground as the girls pulled him along the passage to the dining room.

"It's Elijah!" Shulamit declared as they entered the dining room and everyone at the table jumped up and hurried forward.

"No, no!" the young man protested again, struggling to make himself heard above the noise, "You don't understand - I'm not Elijah, I'm just Avi!" ...

... I can see you laughing, Abba, but Shulamit and I really did think that Elijah had come! After all, you hear of Elijah appearing in so many guises, why not as an IDF soldier? But this was just Avi. It took a while to sort out the muddle, but when it was finally clear to everybody what had happened, we all had a good laugh!

Avi is one of Shulamit's elder brother Baruch's friends in the army. Both of Avi's parents were killed last Lag B'Omer in a bus-bomb, so as it's his first Pesach on his own, Baruch gave Avi the Abulafia's address, telling him to come here if he got any leave over Pesach.

By the time poor Avi had recovered from our onslaught and the shock of such a rapturous greeting (he said: "Baruch told me I'd have a warm welcome, but he didn't warn me just how warm it would be!"), Shulamit and I were feeling rather silly! Next time Shulamit or I think Elijah has come, we'll ask him who he is first! ...

... The seder over, Aliza lent back in her chair and beamed at Shulamit. "Think, Shulamit! This seder I didn't say 'Next Year In Jerusalem', this seder I said 'This Year In Jerusalem'!"

The two girls laughed happily and Mrs Peletchovitz whispered, with tears in her eyes, "May it please the Holy One that next year, my children and grandchildren may say that too!" ...

... It really has been the best Pesach ever, and I can't believe that in only nine days I will be leaving Jerusalem and returning home. It's been wonderful, and Shulamit and I have become such close friends. There is something, too, about the people in this special city; they are so independent and full of life and fight, like our ancestors in Mitrayim. None of them will be walked over or give way to terror. I wish you could be here to see and hear and feel it all ...

I must thank you, not only for coming to see us and for making this Pesach the best ever, but for showing me what it is to be happy and not fearful, free and not oppressed. You so truly live out the meaning of your name - happy. It so exactly describes your generous and bubbly personality and sweet, loving nature. And thank you, Aliza, for helping me to be able to live out the meaning of my name - peaceful. It's something I haven't been for so long, but now the peace I have surpasses everything ...

... Shulamit hummed to herself as she stood in the queue at the bus-stop near the Kotel. The sun was beating down on the Jerusalem street from a clear blue sky, and Shulamit felt at peace with all the world.

"You look very content!" the elderly woman in the queue behind Shulamit said kindly.

Shulamit smiled. "I am. Baruch and Avi are both coming home for Shabbos, and it's such a lovely day!"

The lady looked around her, as if seeing the crowded street and radiant sunshine for the first time. She smiled too. "It's so very peaceful."

The bus pulled in to the lay-by and the passengers began to climb aboard. As she stood on the steps of the bus, waiting to pay for her ticket, Shulamit looked at the crowded pavement, the busy midday traffic and listened to the roar of the engines, the clamour of voices and the honking of car horns. Then she looked over her shoulder towards the Kotel. Her smile widened. "Yes, it is peaceful!" ...

... And, Aliza, I hope that next Pesach you may say again 'This year, in Jerusalem'!

Copyright N. Allen - MET