PASSOVER—A TWO-EDGED SWORDApril 11, 2025

Shabbat ends tomorrow (Saturday) night and Passover begins. The weeklong holiday will bring both joy and distress.  

Passover commemorates the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt and slavery (though not of the Black American sort). What’s more, Pharaoh ordered the deaths of newborn Israelite boys. The story is familiar to most Americans, though not all. Several years ago, while visiting our oldest son in Pensacola, Florida, we asked a supermarket employee where the Passover food section was. His response: “What’s Passover?”

Pharaoh refusing to let the Israelites leave, God struck Egypt with ten plagues, culminating in the deaths of all Egyptian first-born males. He passed over the Israelites’ houses, marked with lamb’s blood.

Pharaoh relented, then led his army into the wilderness to chase down the Israelites. Israel crossed the Reed (some interpretations, Red) Sea on dry land between walls of water. Pharaoh followed. The waters crashed down. He and his army perished.

Do we celebrate Israel’s freedom? Absolutely. The deaths of the Egyptians? No!

During the Seder (order of the home service), we tell—and sing—the story. (We’ve done costumed plays here, and in Israel, and used finger puppets.) Sephardi (Spanish-descended) Jews whip each other with green onions to simulate—without injury—the Egyptian taskmasters whipping the Hebrews. We’ve done that, too.

At one point in the Seder, we recite the ten plagues. As we do, we remove one drop of wine from our glasses for each plague. We diminish our joy in recognition of the deaths of the Egyptians. And, for good reason.

An ancient midrash (story not in the biblical text) tells of the angels singing God’s praises as Pharaoh and his army drown. God scolds, “You are singing while My people are drowning?” All people are God’s creatures.

Hatred has no place in the Seder. Torah states, “You shall not abhor an Egyptian, for you were a stranger in that land” (Deuteronomy 23:8). 

If God can mourn the Egyptians, whom He drowned, and command Israel not to abhor the Egyptians who oppressed them, surely Israel can find a proper way out of its war in Gaza. Israeli and Diaspora Jews must insist that Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu state war aims seeking to create a permanent peace through a viable two-state solution.

We Jews will have a difficult time celebrating Passover with images in our head of the death and destruction in Gaza. Of course, October 7 was barbaric. Of course, all Israeli hostages should be released immediately. Of course, Israel has the right to defend itself. And of course, Hamas must have no role in a Palestinian state.

Sadly, Netanyahu and the Israeli far right want not only to disenfranchise all Palestinians but also drive them from a Greater Israel. This challenges most Jews to celebrate our freedom and maintain Israel’s right to exist while acknowledging the rights of others.

Times columnist Tom Friedman wrote on April 8 in “Trump and Netanyahu Steer Toward an Ugly World, Together”: “Each is steering his nation away from its once universal aspiration to be a ‘light unto the nations’ toward a narrow, brutish might-equals-right ethnonationalism that is ready to mainstream ethnic cleansing.”

As we Jews observe Passover, a “sword of Damocles” hangs over our heads. In celebrating our freedom, may we uphold the dignity of all human beings. 

Chag sameach!

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