On the occasion of Passover, President Yitzhak Herzog and his wife Michal will host the traditional Seder dinner for the first time at the President’s House in Jerusalem. Along with the president’s three sons and his wife, lone soldiers and a family of new immigrants from Ukraine who arrived from the battlefield will join the gala dinner.
Among their guests will be the President and his wife, Sergeant Glenn Chavez, a fighter in the Kfir Brigade and a lone soldier from Costa Rica. Glenn immigrated to Israel following his grandfather’s special connection to Israel and the conversion of his family, and Corporal Yara Lerner Torczynski, 21, a lone soldier who immigrated to Israel from Argentina about two years ago. Serves as a dog in the Air Force.
Members of the Ivanova family from Ukraine will also join the Seder table. Yelena, the mother of the family, immigrated to Israel from Odessa with her two children, 9-year-old Vadim and 2-and-a-half-year-old Yevgeny. The father of the family Alexander was forced to stay in Ukraine. Jelena and her children crossed the border through Poland last March. The Ivanova family is currently living in a Jewish-mediated housing arrangement designed to help immigrants from Ukraine.
Herzog published a special greeting to the public and Diaspora Jews this morning (Thursday) ahead of Passover.
“Dear citizens and citizens of Israel, in a few days the entire Jewish people will celebrate Seder night. The night we left laboratories for freedom, the night we turned from a collection of individuals into one Jewish people. “Only when each of the individuals in the nation sees itself as part of the overall picture, part of the past – of the tradition of passing the baton from generation to generation – and a significant part of the present and future, only then is a nation created,” Herzog said.
“This year, for the first time, Michal and I will hold a Seder at the President’s House with our family and refugees and immigrants from Ukraine and with lone soldiers. “The whole of Israel, the diverse and rich Israeli family. Of all shades from all denominations and all beliefs. We can and should celebrate together, remembering the common destiny that connects us to each other and to this land.”
“I hope and pray that we emerge from Independence Day, Passover, stronger and more united, determined to continue to develop Israeli and Jewish diversity, in developing a shared vision for the Jewish people and for Israeli society as a whole. So, a happy holiday is shared by all of you. The whole house of Israel. “