How Is This Passover Different From All Other Passovers?

With four days to go until Passover, there might be a lot on your mind.  Is the shopping done?  Did you find the haggadahs?  Are the tablecloths washed?  Is the pre-cooking on schedule?  Is there room for that last-minute guest?  Did I get enough matzah?  Do I have a Seder to go to?  If so, what do I bring!?  Hopefully the Seder itself raises a different category of quintessential questions: what does it mean to be free?  In what way are we still slaves?  How is the story relevant to me today?

These are questions that apply to every Passover.  This year, there is a more unique one on my mind.  How do I celebrate the miracle of crossing the Sea, celebrate our freedom as Jews, cling to our hope for a better future, when Israeli brethren, 130 men, women, and children, are still in captivity?  Pidyon Shvuyim (redeeming of captives) is a Jewish obligation, upheld by the Rabbis of our past as a very significant responsibility – Jewish communities would go to great lengths to redeem Jewish captives.

According to Maimonides (12^th Century Jewish Philosopher, in the Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Matnot Aniyim, Gifts to the Poor, 8:10) the redeeming of captives should take precedence over supporting the poor or clothing the poor.  We know that Judaism places a great emphasis on caring for the most vulnerable in our community – generally represented by the widow, the orphan, and the poor in traditional texts – so that makes Maimonides’ perspective that much more surprising.  Maimonides explains that the captive is considered to be among those who are hungry, thirsty, unclothed, and in mortal danger.

The Haggadah tells the ancient story of our freedom, and serves as a commentary on our time as well.  Each year we are commanded to see ourselves as if we are among those who left Egypt.  I hear this imperative as a call to see ourselves, and be a part of, bringing people from narrow places (the translation of word for Egypt in Hebrew) to the openness of freedom.  Over the generations, various symbols have been added to highlight groups whose stories needed to be lifted up in our journey to bring freedom to all in our world.  This year, there are several suggestions for bringing the hostages from October 7^th into the story-telling this year.  Below are links to five free downloads that range from a printout for an empty seat for a hostage (Seder Seat) to a 100+ pages of reflections (AJR) and in between.  I encourage you to look at one or more of them, reflect on them, and perhaps, incorporate a piece into your Seder or Passover this year.

Next Year in Jerusalem, with Peace!

Chag Hamatzot Samech

• The Social Blueprint: Bringing the Hostages to Your Seder: Seder Supplement
• That Jewish Moment: Let Our People Go: Prompts and Questions to Remember the Hostages
• CCAR: Haggadah Supplement: Prayers, Poems, Songs, and Meditations in Response to October 7
• AJR: Seder Interrupted: A Post-October 7 Hagaddah Supplement
• In Every Generation Passover Supplement

Board of Deputies of British Jews: Seder Seat for a Hostage (Social Media Campaign)