Questions for Passover Seder
What is our Jewish Identity?
The Passover Seder, from chocolate to traditional, perfectly encapsulates my Judaism. Where we gather to indulge in ritualistic food, tell mostly-remembered stories, welcome all guests, and ask important questions, Passover is my favorite holiday. Asking questions is, for me, at the heart of our Jewish identity. It is lovingly pushed on the youngest at the Passover Seder and begets jokes about rooms full of Jews having more opinions than there are people. I’m concerned, though, that now more than ever, our ability to question is being squashed.
You don’t have to be Jewish to know the Golden Rule well. Rabbi Hillel’s version is “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary.” A simple lesson in treating our fellow humans with love. Hillel teaches this as the core value of our religion.
Yet we, as American Jews, are being told that not all humans are our neighbors. That some people aren’t equal, aren’t created B’tselem Elohim (In God’s Image), and therefore don’t deserve the kindness the golden rule teaches. As if kindness were a finite resource and it would be wasted on others.
We as Jews are commanded to choose life, Deut. 30:19. Why then, does Israel continue to systematically bomb hospitals, mosques, and schools? Why does Israel truculently stand against Pikuach Nefesh (saving a soul) when those souls are not Jewish?
Jonathan Glazer recently spoke at the Oscars about his Jewishness being used to rationalize an occupation which has led to conflict. Glazer bravely spoke about this concern that many American Jews have felt is not welcomed in our communities.
Why is my Judaism being used to justify a genocide? The Jewish values of loving your neighbor, saving life, and asking questions are in conflict with the organizations that claim to teach them. Organizations that happily take our money for planting trees and use it to illegally displace Palestinians. Organizations that promote the propagandic and incorrect maps and further dehumanize the Palestinian people who have been forcibly displaced, as many Jews were in the years leading up to the Holocaust.
American Jews are being told to support Israel. But how can we stand with a nation that drops bombs on righteous, wicked, and innocent alike? A nation whose onslaught is protected by an iron dome, funded by our taxes, and controlled by the type of strong-man dictator who we, as Jews, have spent our history fleeing?
I am proud of my Judaism, of my Jewish community, and of the Jewish families that raised me. I exist only as a direct result of my grandparents surviving the Holocaust, a genocide of which I heard horrible stories at each family dinner. To know Israel is creating similar horrors to a neighboring people confounds me.
As it happens, I share a name with the biblical Abraham, a character who argued with God to save people in Sodom and Gomorrah from destruction. The same name of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel who marched with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for civil rights in 1965. Heschel said he was “praying with his feet” in joining the protest, using the values of Judaism in action. I have no audience with God but I know the Jewish values I was taught: to cherish life, repair the world, and care for the stranger; for we were strangers in a strange land and importantly, to ask questions. Is Israel keeping to these Jewish values?
A genocide is occurring at Israel’s hands and I hear repeated calls for prayer, but I will not pray. I will not send futile prayers for the families of those killed, the communities who have lost entire family trees, or cities that have lost all semblance of their culture. I know all too well the deafening silence from the nonexistent or uncaring God. My own family tree is over pruned due to the lack of actions of those who did not stand up against a man with power who wanted more and the millions who condoned or defended his status quo. I will not pray idly, but this is my first step in praying with my feet. We must bravely stand against genocide. We must stand against genocide especially when the nation committing it says it is doing so in our name.
I condemn the deadly actions of Hamas, of course. But I also condemn the genocidal actions of Israel that have been occurring since before October 7, 2023 and have dramatically increased since. This must stop, and as we know from the Passover story, Pharaohs are nothing without the people they control. Thus I leave you with four questions to bring to your Seder to discuss the Jewish values in our current world:
Is associating Judaism to the actions of Israel bringing about more anti-Jewish hate?
Why is the same word (aid) used to describe weapons sent to Israel and food sent to Palestinians?
Are we desensitized to the horrible treatment of humans - have our hearts hardened as Pharaoh’s did?
Will there be family dinners in the future for current Palestinian children to share their horrors? How much more of the family trees in Gaza will be pruned before we object?
I want to address my use of the term ‘genocide’ in this. This opinion piece was rejected from a local Jewish publication because, "we aren’t going to publish a piece with falsehoods and using words like genocide to describe what’s happening." This is further evidence that our ability to question is being squashed. But I will continue to question: If not genocide, what word would you use to describe it when:
People are literally dying of hunger because Israel restricts food.
Over 75% of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, or 1,700,000 individuals have been forcibly displaced and are classified as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
Human Rights Experts say Israel's actions are acts of genocide.
Even Elizabeth Warren says there is ample evidence to classify this as a legal genocide.
More than half the homes in Gaza have been damaged.
Of the original 36, there are zero hospitals functioning at full capacity, 13 are partially functioning. All damaged due to Israeli attacks.
And if your response to this information is "That's antisemitic!" You missed what I wrote above and Israel has successfully convinced you to associate Judaism (and thus a Jewish identity) with the terrible actions of a country.
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