Haggadah Supplement 5784
‘Why is this night different from all other nights?’
That is what we are used to asking when we celebrate Passover. But this year, we might also ask, “Why is this seder different from all others?”
This seder will inevitably be conducted in the shadow of the war that began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, killing more than 1,100 people and taking over 240 hostages. How can we commemorate “the time of our freedom,” as the Passover Kiddush mentions, while honoring Jews who remain in captivity? As we ritually re-enact the Jewish journey out of Egypt – in Hebrew, Mitzrayim, the land of constriction – how is our understanding of the Exodus affected by the constrictions we fear are encircling Jews today, in Israel and in our own country?
We invite you to use the quotes and questions in this packet as a jumping-off point to supplement your seder with discussions that tie our ancient rituals to modernity – to the State of Israel and the children of Israel. We wish you a joyful and meaningful Pesach.
PAS RABBINIC INTERN AIDEN PINK
COVER: WALLS OF JERUSALEM
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAWRENCE CONLEY PARK AVENUE SYNAGOGUE © MMXXIV
MOUNT BENTAL PARK AVENUE SYNAGOGUE 2
HAGGADAH SUPPLEMENT 5784 3
You Have Chosen Us From All The Nations
Our pioneers interpreted atah b’chartanu [“You (God) have chosen us,” which is traditionally sung on Passover] to mean that when Jews would return to their homeland, and when they alone would be responsible for their home and society, they would make a better society. This is my explanation for their absolute devotion to the concept of Jewish peoplehood and the reestablishment of Jewish independence, combined at the same time with an equal fervor for the nature of the society which would emerge in this independent Jewish state: their desire that it should be something better than what had been known in most other parts of the world.
GOLDA MEIR, A LAND OF OUR OWN, 1973
What responsibilities come with freedom – in this case, the freedom of having an independent country?
How should Jewish heritage and history, including the Passover story, influence the formation of Jewish society?
Is it possible to make any country “better than what had been known in most other parts of the world?”
PARK AVENUE SYNAGOGUE 4 HAGGADAH SUPPLEMENT 5784 5 SUPREME COURT OF ISRAEL
Our Hope Is Not Yet Lost
When the great scholar Avraham Holtz went to study in Israel in the 1950s, among the first things he did when he moved to his apartment was order a telephone. A week went by, two weeks, a month, and no one came to install a telephone. So, he went downtown to the office of the telephone company and asked what was going on. “Did you lose my request?” “No, it’s right here.” “So, what’s the problem?” “There’s a waiting list for telephones.” “Okay, so how long will I have to wait?” The clerk scanned the lengthy list. “I’d say you’ll probably get your telephone in about a year.” “A year?” Professor Holtz said. “Do you mean to tell me there is no hope of getting one sooner than that?” The clerk responded, “A Jew is not allowed to say, ‘There is no hope.’ Hope there is, a possibility there isn’t!”
RABBI DAVID HOLTZ (NO RELATION), YOM KIPPUR SERMON, 2014
Do you agree with the clerk?
Why do you think Hatikvah (“The Hope”) was chosen as Israel’s national anthem?
Which Passover songs and rituals also express hope?
PARK AVENUE SYNAGOGUE 6 HAGGADAH SUPPLEMENT 5784 7 WESTERN WALL, JERUSALEM
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
Zionism has succeeded in bringing back into the fold many men and women, both here and in Europe, who otherwise would have been lost to Judaism. It has given them a new interest in the synagogue and everything Jewish, and put before them an ideal worthy of their love and sacrifice . . . Zionism is the natural rebound from an artificial and overstrained condition of things which could no longer last. It is the Declaration of Jewish Independence from all kinds of slavery, whether material or spiritual.
SOLOMON SCHECHTER, ZIONISM: A STATEMENT, 1906
What influence does Israel have on your Jewish identity?
Do you agree with Schechter that not having a Jewish state was a form of slavery?
On this holiday of freedom, what else do we want to declare our independence from?
PARK AVENUE SYNAGOGUE 8 HAGGADAH SUPPLEMENT 5784 9 GRAFFITI, “THE NATION OF ISRAEL LIVES!”, TEL AVIV
A Vision of Jerusalem
Once I sat on the steps by the gate at the Tower of David, having laid two heavy baskets by my side. A group of tourists stood there surrounding [their tour] guide and I served as their reference point. “You see that guy over there with the baskets? A little to the right above his head is a Roman arch, a little to the right of his head.” But he moved, he moved! I said to myself: Redemption will come only when they say to them: You see that Roman arch over there? Insignificant. But next to it, a little to the left and below, sits a man who just bought fruit and vegetables for his family.
YEHUDA AMICHAI, TOURISTS, 1980
When you talk about Israel, do you usually think more about history, politics, and other grand issues, or about ordinary Israelis like the man carrying groceries?
How would an ordinary Israelite have experienced the Exodus from Egypt? Would it have been different from the major characters like Moses and Miriam?
PARK AVENUE SYNAGOGUE 10 HAGGADAH SUPPLEMENT 5784 11 JERUSALEM
What Zionism Means To Me
My Zionism is also a universal statism. I think that everybody who needs a state should have one, not only the Jews but also the Armenians, the Kurds, the Tibetans, the South Sudanese – and the Palestinians. The modern state is the only effective agency for physical protection, economic management, and welfare provision. What the most oppressed and impoverished people in the world today most need is a state of their own, a decent state acting on their behalf.
MICHAEL WALZER, THE STATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS: LIBERAL ZIONISTS SPEAK OUT, HUFFPOST, 2012
Do you agree with Walzer’s vision of Zionism?
Have your thoughts on Israel changed since October 7?
Jews are commanded on Passover to remember our experience in Egypt and our journey to the land of Israel. How does this narrative influence the way you view the contemporary situation in the Middle East?
PARK AVENUE SYNAGOGUE 12 HAGGADAH SUPPLEMENT 5784 13 INDEPENDENCE HALL (DIZENGOFF HOUSE), TEL AVIV
Next Year In Jerusalem
Israel, surely, is our ultimate destination. But the immediate question is less whether Jews are at home in London or Jerusalem than whether they are at home in their Jewishness.
RABBI LORD JONATHAN SACKS, WILL WE HAVE JEWISH GRANDCHILDREN?, 1994
What does “next year in Jerusalem” mean to you?
What does Rabbi Sacks mean by saying Israel “is our ultimate destination?” Do you agree?
Do you feel “at home in your Jewishness?” What would help you feel more at home?
PARK AVENUE SYNAGOGUE 14 HAGGADAH SUPPLEMENT 5784 15 MAP OF JERUSALEM
I always wanted to do something related to medicine, but I never had the motivation to study for so many years. It was only there that I promised myself, “If you get out of here, you’re
BRING THEM HOME
going to study medicine” . . . I always knew I was strong, and captivity just proved to me how much.”
–Maya Regev, 21, freed from Gaza after 51 days, interview with Ynet , 2024 50
Thank you to Rabbinic Intern Aiden Pink for compiling this supplement. Printed April 4, 2024.
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