GUEST COMMENTARY: For the Celebration of Freedom, These Jews Aren’t Free

c. 2007 Religion News Service JERUSALEM _ Very soon Jews from around the world will chant the familiar refrain for Passover _ “Ma Nishtana HaLayla Hazeh” _ “How is this night different from all other nights?” _ as we have done at the Passover seder throughout the ages. During Passover, we will solemnly recount the […]

c. 2007 Religion News Service

JERUSALEM _ Very soon Jews from around the world will chant the familiar refrain for Passover _ “Ma Nishtana HaLayla Hazeh” _ “How is this night different from all other nights?” _ as we have done at the Passover seder throughout the ages.

During Passover, we will solemnly recount the pain, humiliation and suffering endured by our people in Egypt, but we will also rejoice at the sudden salvation, redemption, and freedom. Symbolically, we eat bitter herbs, but quickly transition to the sweetness of the wine and then recline to show that we are as safe and secure as kings in a palace.


There are some, however, who will not share our sense of security this year. These people, although they live in the Jewish homeland, will not be singing joyful songs or reclining in freedom. They are the citizens of the city of Sderot in southern Israel.

Sderot, which borders the autonomous Palestinian region of Gaza, is victim to an average of two to three Kassam rocket strikes daily. Warning sirens only give an advance warning of 15 seconds. That is all the time that separates life from death in Sderot.

So this Passover, the residents of Sderot will not observe the holiday as others will. Instead, they will be confined to their homes, in running distance of a shelter, and parents will have to convince their children of the merits of celebrating the holiday of freedom when they themselves do not feel free.

Guy Nagar has lived in Sderot with his wife and two children for six years. They came as part of a group of idealistic young Orthodox Jews who wanted to integrate into a city which reflected a cross section of Jews and to share common goals and responsibilities.

Nagar works for the Orthodox Union in Israel. He and his wife operate a branch of Makom Balev, an institution that provides social programs for underprivileged children. Enrollment increased exponentially when children began to suffer from the psychological affects of something previously unknown to them _ the Kassam rockets.

Nagar and the other parents were shocked and saddened when their children’s first words were not “Abba” (Father) or “Imma” (Mother) but rather “Tzeva adom mefached” _ ((code) Red, Red, Alarm, Alarm).

How does he deal with this crisis? He struggles, he questions, he even has moments of weakness, mulling over the idea of leaving for a safer environment so he too could recline in peace this Passover. But then he collects his thoughts and proudly says he will not retreat _ he will stay and fight. As a result, he and the other residents of Sderot are truly able to fulfill the rabbinic dictum, “One must picture oneself as if experiencing the Passover story.”


Just as Nagar had his moment of truth when he chose to be counted as a believer, so too did the Jewish people have their moment during the Passover story itself. God commanded each Israelite to take a lamb _ a god venerated by the Egyptians _ and prepare it for sacrifice. To sacrifice a lamb in front of the Egyptian taskmasters would be certain suicide. Some fled and some refused. But others had the courage to stand up against the Egyptian regime, to follow the will of God, and to unite as one nation.

There is a dark irony for the citizens of Sderot between this year’s Passover and the original Passover we commemorate. The pinnacle of the Passover experience was the exodus from Egypt, when each family had to pack up, leave the only home they knew, run and never look back. Today, each family musters up the courage to stay put, to believe in the holiness of the Land of Israel, and to fight for the right to live freely in our Promised Land in peace.

Nagar, his family and thousands of others in Sderot are standing firm and defending their city. They know that retreat is an invitation for those who seek to do us harm and would terrorize the rest of Israel. These people are the heroes of this year’s Passover story, role models for every Israeli.

This Passover will be a test for the rest of us in Israel. We, too, will stay put in our cities and towns; we will not be deterred, terrorized, or maligned into thinking that we do not have a right to live in our homeland in peace.

“Ma Nishtana HaLayla Hazeh” _ how different is this Passover from the great Passover of old? Sadly, in Sderot, not very different at all.

(Rabbi Avi Baumol is the director of communications for the Orthodox Union in Israel.)

KRE END BAUMOL

Editors: To obtain a photo of Baumol, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.


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