At our seders, we retell the story of Exodus. Our Seder tables and our blessings, however, tell a bigger story about who we are and what we care about most. We supplement: We add to our Seder plates, our Haggadah readings and blessings, and our guest lists. And this is especially true in wartime as attacks and threats to Israel grow.
This year it’s more important than ever to extend our invitations, to open our tables, especially here in America, when anti-Israel protests are blocking traffic in cities around the country, when antisemitism has reached new and terrifying heights. When we see a surge of divisions across our nation, including within the Jewish community. All of this makes opening our tables and coming together especially powerful and necessary — across divides, across faiths, across differing opinions about what needs to happen now in Israel.
Many of us who have always placed a glass of wine at our Seder table for Elijah will add a symbolic empty chair to remind us of all the families who are missing loved ones at their table. I hope you will too, on behalf of the families torn apart by the war Hamas viciously thrust upon Israel on October 7. This way, we hold in our hearts and prayers the families whose loved ones were murdered or are devastatingly still being held hostage or, horrifically, whose fate we do not know.
Many American Jews have a Miriam’s Cup at their tables, to honor Miriam’s contributions every step of the way in leading and sustaining the Jewish people on their journey out of Egypt. At Hadassah, I and our other national leaders sit at many tables, representing Hadassah’s commitment to women, to Israel, to healing and to the Jewish values that drive our mission. So many of us have spoken out as part of Hadassah’s #EndTheSilence campaign to loudly share the truth about the women and girls brutalized sexually by Hamas.
As part of that global mobilization this Passover, members around the country will add extra questions to the usual four: Why is this seder different from all other seders? Why is my nail yellow tonight? The answer is that we’re still working to #EndTheSillence and bring home the hostages, yet our yellow nails also signify solidarity and hope.
Even as Israel fights a war and faces new threats, as we pray for peace, and as we continue to call for the safe and immediate release of the hostages, we see hope. Consider the recent words of President Herzog, who with his wife, Michal, hosted an Iftar meal this month, a traditional Muslim meal to break the fast during Ramadan.
“When we take down the walls of separation, fear and alienation, and when we meet each other, face to face, we suddenly discover that we are not so different. We learn to respect the culture, values and customs of members of other religions. We discover that the distance between us is only that of an outstretched hand,” he told his guests, Arab leaders from Israel and beyond. Then he called upon them to “stand together, shoulder to shoulder, and fight with determination against hatred, against those who distort faith, against those who try to make us act against each other.”
As we stretch our hands out to others to join us at our Passover tables, I hope you’ll consider adding a new piece of matzah and blessing to your seder, Hadassah’s “Matzah of Refuah (Healing).” In part, it says: “Just as we have shared in the sadness and trauma of October 7, we look forward to a better future… Let our matzah of refuah bring healing, joy, hope, comfort and renewal to all those celebrating Pesach around the world. And may we continue to go from strength to strength.”
A Zissen Pesach. Happy Passover.