Seders in Iraq

We had two seders on Joint Base Balad, Iraq, one of each of the first two nights of passover.  Both were well run by the Jewish chaplain who is here on JBB for a few weeks. Both were really nice experiences. 

 

The first seder was rather traditional and intimate, about 15 people showed up - at least 10 of whom were Jewish.  One of the Army officers (the youngest) asked the four questions and a soldier from the Air Force found the Afikomen (both were female).  We had Kosher for Passover self-heating LaBriute MREs for the meal as well as plenty of matzoh (regular and some shmurah hand-made in NY), gefilte fish, macaroons, chocolate, jelly friut slices, and other traditional Pesach fare.  One of our JBB regulars made great (Ashkenazi) charoset (with great difficulty as she had only a pocket knife and blender) and we got some sefardic charoset in the mail.  We used little packets of horseradish for maror as well as some horseradish sauce. There was also a little wine- as part of an exception to GO#1B for religious purposes.  

 

During the seder the chaplain was talking about the difficulties he had getting the stuff from the Army for the seders.  The K for P MREs arrived a bit late.  We ultimately did get plenty - half chicken and half beef stew.  There were also plenty of leftovers.  He then went on to tell us about the different people in the US who sent all kinds of things and all the offers he had for help.  Our 20 cans of macaroons came from one person, our gefilte fish came from another.  A third sent kosher for Passover toothpaste and lots of new toothbrushes.  We got tons of kosher for Pesach cereal, Barton's chocolate, marshmallows, and much else that I must be forgetting.  The piece de resistance was a whole lot of gift cards donated to us by a few really generous folks from different schools, congregations and organizations in the US.  It was truly inspiring and humbling to be the benefactor of such largess from such complete strangers who never met us and probably never will.  I sent some of the people thank you emails, but it seems a bit inadequate.  The seders would not have been the same without their generosity. 

 

The second seder was open to the Jewish service members and the first 40 or 50 others who signed up.  The seder itself was thus larger and somewhat less traditional .  There was a lesson on Hora dancing, a movie clip of the Jews crossing the Red Sea from Moses the Lawgiver, and some rather non-traditional music.  One of our guests found the afikoman and everyone left with a bag of stuff that was donated to us.  The rabbi did a great job both nights. 

 

A friend who is stationed a bit farther north in Q-West sent pictures of his seder and I would assume there were seders in Baghdad and Kuwait as well and probably elsewhere in theater.

It was a bit sad not to be able to be with my family and friends this year on Passover, but we pulled together and had an experience that most of us will not soon forget.

Update: 3-MAY-2010 - I am told that COB Speicher's seder was planned out by a TCN who used to work in a South African Jewish retirement home and was able to prepare a whole bunch of traditional seder stuff. I also saw pictures of the Seder on one of our bases in Kaiserslautern, Germany.