Happy Passover to all who observe and celebrate. We have had the privilege of sharing in Passover Seders that were festive and illuminating. It is a holiday I am fond of and interested in for its ancient biblical origin.
Without knowing it, I was introduced to and developed my own personal connection to the Passover story early on through the 1956 film The Ten Commandments.
When I was growing up the film would be shown on television around Easter every year. And without fail I watched it every year, commercials and all, totally captivated by Charlton Heston and the epic scope of the story and film.
For a long time it was one of the reasons I wanted to make movies. If I ever do, then it still will be. The scene of Moses parting the Red Sea blew my 10-year old mind away.
When you experience that kind of magic, it never leaves you. It is a force that compels you to seek and conjure it. At least this is the case for me.
While I’m still trying to figure out how to make magic and all the rest of it, I also have pursuits that may appear random and unlikely. But in an unprecedented time as this, I find that having wide and varied interests and ambitions are both very useful and comforting.
Two years ago I decided I wanted to read the Bible from cover to cover. I wasn’t about to tackle such a tome without a plan, so I made a spreadsheet and used it to track my progress:
I had set aside a block of time, usually 5 or 6 in the morning, dedicated to reading a chapter. Sometimes I read more, sometimes less. Looking at the unfinished plan, I know exactly why I have yet to complete the task of reading the whole Bible.
After finishing Esther on March 1, 2018, we went to Rome for the weekend on March 2. After that it was non-stop packing up our lives in Switzerland, uprooting ourselves and moving here. The plan fell by wayside as we took on a larger journey.
Two years later, in the midst of a pandemic, it’s been almost a month since we are all confined to our homes. And it doesn’t look like we’ll be going anywhere anytime soon. Perhaps now is the time to get back to my plan and do something magical.