Dear Friends: It is hard to believe that it has been over six months since the unimaginable happened in Israel, when in a matter of hours 1,200 Israelis were brutally murdered and 253 people were taken hostage into Gaza on October 7, 2023. Since that day, the world has felt different for Jewish communities everywhere. The ongoing war in Gaza affects all of us in different ways. Some college campuses have become places where Jewish students are experiencing an increase in anti-Semitism. Synagogues have experienced acts of hatred, and even within our own families, viewpoints about the war have caused stress, and sometimes even fracture, between family members. There is that sense of before and after – the world before October 7th and the world after.
It is only natural that as we gather at our Seder tables tomorrow, our joy is diminished this year because we carry tremendous sadness with us. The refrain, "let my people go" rings differently this year, not as some ancient story from a distant past, but rather as a very real and very immediate need in this moment. That feeling of oppression is weighing down on us because of those in Israel who will say yizkor for the first time and light yahrzeit candles this Passover for relatives who were murdered; because of families who will have empty chairs at their table while they wait desperately to hear if their relatives in captivity in Gaza are alive and if they will be released from captivity; because of college students who are being held responsible for a war over which they have no control; and because of the pain we feel for innocent Palestinians, especially children, who have been killed, displaced or are starving as a result of war brought on them by Hamas' hateful actions.
Tomorrow, as we sit down to Seder, the hostages will have been in captivity for 198 days. To remember them, consider leaving an empty seat at your table, or placing the picture or name of a hostage on your Seder plate.
We always end the Seder with words of hope, לְשָׁנָה הַבָּאָה בִּירוּשָלָיִם, “Next Year In Jerusalem!” In the midst of such devastating brokenness this year, we all pray that next year, when Passover arrives, there will be healing, wholeness and peace for Israelis and Palestinians, for Jews all over the world, and for all of humanity. I wish you and your family a comforting and meaningful Passover. L’shalom, Rabbi Melinda Panken
