It has always struck me that, of all our festivals, Pesach is the most widely observed by Jews across our community around the world.
Perhaps this is because of childhood memories of sitting around the seder table, retelling our people’s remarkable story of deliverance from slavery to freedom thousands of years ago. While our Haggadah is unchanged, each of us adds our own tradition and meaning to our collective story every time we retell it.
Like other families, in my family we re-enact the moments of exodus. My own mother takes things literally – sprinkling a tiny bit of brick dust onto the charoset to symbolise the cement our enslaved ancestors used to make. We recreate the moment of winning freedom, placing the seder plate on the head of each guest to recall the moment the children of Israel escaped bondage, taking with them all that they had, leaving Egypt behind to build a new life and a new society. The resonances for today are all too real.
Food has always occupied a special place in the Jewish psyche. The old Yiddish joke rings true – that most chagim can be handily summarised as ‘they tried to kill us, we survived – let’s eat’. But food can also play a remarkable role in bringing us together – not only within our community but with other groups too.
Last month, I was delighted to attend a packed iftar, the meal to break the Ramadan fast, in Golders Green. Yet this iftar was rather unique – it was hosted by Alyth synagogue.
Sarah Sackman MP
For years, Alyth has pioneered its model of an ‘interfaith iftar’ – hosting local Muslim communities in their shul for an evening of learning, discussion and breaking bread together.
At a time when antisemitism and Islamophobia have spiked, tensions are running high and community cohesion feels more fragile than ever, I reflected that the decision of the attendees even to turn up and be together was an act of courage. When some leaders seek to exploit division for their own ends, turning neighbour against neighbour, our response must be to come together, more proud and more defiant than ever before.
At the start of the 20th century, Rav Kook identified that the only way to overcome the destructive force of sinat chinam – baseless hatred – was through ahavat chinam – baseless love. So too it is today.
This Seder, like last year’s, will feel different and poignant. As we remember our own escape from captivity, I know that all of us will be thinking of the remaining hostages in Gaza and praying for their speedy release. Our government is doing everything in its power to secure a ceasefire and a hostage deal so that all the hostages can come now, so that Israel can live in security and the Palestinians in Gaza can get the food and aid that they so desperately need.
As we sit around the seder table this year, may we strive to build a world in which no one is captive, no one goes hungry, and all can enjoy the taste of freedom.
From my family to yours, Chag Sameach.
