Selections from The Israeli Haggadah, Special Edition 2024

The Solidarity
Seder Supplement 2024
by Mishael Zion and Noam Zion
illustrations by Michel Kichka
Table of 3 Introduction

The Mitzvah to Tell Our Story to

8 Ha Lakhma Anya
‫הא לחמא עניא‬
23 Hallel | ‫הלל‬

Gratitude for Redeeming Our Captives

Contents Our Children: A Three-Generation

Haggadah Project Rabbi Mishael Zion
To be a Free People in Our Land
by Yishai Sarid
Jacky Levy, uncle of redeemed and
unredeemed hostages

9 Ma Nishtana: Contemporary 24 Shfokh Hamatkha

6 Kadesh | ‫קדש‬ Questions ‫שפוך חמתך‬
‫מה נשתנה‬
Lift up a Glass by Avner Goren z”l Pour out Your Wrath and Pour out Your
The Historic Haggadahs Love Avraham Shlonsky, Rachel Goldberg
7 Yahatz | ‫יחץ‬ from the Kibbutzim on the Gaza border: and M.L. King
Be’eri, Nir Oz, Nachal Oz
Entering the Broken World 26 L’Shana haBa’a
Mishael Zion “Our Freedom”: The Ukrainian Haggadah ‫לשנה הבאה בירושלים‬
2024 by Vlada Nedak and Zoya Cherkassky
Broken Unto You Elijah’s Good News and Next Year in
Leonard Cohen 14 Arba Banim and Banot Jerusalem David Grossman, Rabbi Oded
‫ארבעת הבנים וארבע בנות‬ Mazor, Rabbi Yitz Greenberg

The Contemporary Four Sons and Daughters 29 A Guide for Parents and
Michel Kichka, Racheli Shalev, Philip Roth, Families
Franz Kafka, Yoel Heshin, Tamar Elad-
Appelbaim, A. J. Heschel, and, Ziva (Tezezew) How will we celebrate Passover this
Mekonen Degu Year?
Dasee Berkowitz
21 B'khol Dor VaDor
‫בכל דור ודור‬

In every generation they rise up against us

Michel Kichka, Noam Zion
The "door of hope" is still open; things A Gift of Solidarity and As an expression of our gratitude, and
are not what they might be, even when Gratitude, Passover 2024 in the spirit of international Jewish
what they might be isn't totally different solidarity, we translated selections of this
from what they are. We still believe, or How will we sit at the family Passover Haggadah into English, Portuguese and
many of us do, what the Exodus first table this year? In this year of extraordinary Spanish, French and German, so that Jews
taught: first, that wherever you live, it pain and heroism, mutual aid and hope, across the world can be "on the same page"
is probably Egypt; second, that there is we created a new version of our Israeli tonight.
a better place, a world more attractive, a Haggadah to help Hebrew-speaking
promised land; and third, that "the way audiences to integrate the challenging We hope this will contribute to interesting
to the land is through the wilderness." experiences of this year into their Exodus discussions at your seder.
There is no way to get from here to stories. We found new stories, texts and
there except by joining together and illustrations relevant to these moments in May we all celebrate a Passover of hope and
marching. Jewish history. strive for peace, freedom and security.

Michael Walzer, Exodus and Revolution As Passover comse closer and the war Mishael and Noam Zion
continues, we have distributed gift copies of mishzion@gmail.com Available now!
the new Israeli Haggadah to the thousands of noam.zion@gmail.com A Night to Remember:
The old will be made new, and the new families most impacted by this war - bereaved The Haggadah of Contemporary
made holy. families who have lost their loved ones, and Available in Israel only. For delivery (send a Voices is available
families evacuated from the endangered gift to an Israeli relative!)
Rav Abraham Isaac Kook, first chief Ashkenazi rabbi of Eretz borders in the Galilee and the Gaza strip click here » tinyurl.com/yisraelit haggadahsrus.com
Yisrael, 1865-193 environs, who are celebrating Seder away
from their homes. $19.95 | DISCOUNTS: 2 or more $14.95;
10 or more $12.95.
We turned to you, our North American
friends, colleagues and rabbis, to join us Orders delivered from our center in
in this endeavor, and were heartened by Cleveland, Ohio:
the warm and generous response. This
joint initiative, together with the Shalom Joe Gelles
Hartman Institute, allowed us to distribute 216.321.6734
thousands of copies of the Israeli Haggadah jbgelles@gmail.com
to families across Israel.

3 introduction Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024

A Three-Generation Haggadah I will never forget the first seder I led in 2002: grandfather told us about how, as a chaplain united by a covenant of common fate in
Project I was a twenty-one year old soldier in the in the US Army Air Forces he composed an times of persecution.
by Rabbi Mishael Zion (2024) Israeli army serving in Rafah, between Egypt original haggadah as a humorous parody
and Gaza. My father, Noam, suggested I fill on “enslavement” in the US Army for his Two years later, in 2004, the first edition
his shoes as the seder leader. We had just Jewish soldiers on Okinawa immediately of The Israeli Haggadah was published.
printed an experimental draft of what would after World War II. Then he described his The Haggadah was wildly successful,
become an Israeli Hebrew haggadah entitled first seder in the Land of Israel in 1948, just and we felt we had attuned our book to
Halaila Hazeh (2004), taking inspiration from weeks before the founding of the State the desire for a truly Israeli combination
my father’s A Different Night: The Family of Israel. At that time, he fought in the of integrating tradition and innovation,
Participation Haggadah (1997, by Noam Zion Haganah, alongside my grandmother, and a legacy of generations with the hutzpah
and David Dishon). was asked to organize the army seder in the and creativity to remake our own traditions
Jerusalem neighborhood of Talpiot. Talpiot anew. In the years that followed, we created
We planned the night meticulously, aiming is the neighborhood I grew up in, and as haggadot in multiple languages together
to perform as many of the customs of Jews my grandfather described how he invited with Jews of varied communities so the
from around the world at once: to sit on the future Nobel prize winner and fellow Talpiot seder would mirror their local Jewish
living room floor like the Yemenite Jews, resident Shmuel Yosef Agnon to lead the perspectives: Denna Afton in Sweden; Una
passing the seder plate in blessing and song Seder, I felt how past and present became Noche de Libertad (Uruguay); Uma Haggada
over the head of each child and adult in more deeply intertwined. Para o Nosso Tempo (Brazil); and A Night to
the North African tradition, wearing white Remember: The Haggadah of Contemporary
like the German Jews and beating each When we finally sat down to the meal, my Voices (USA). I felt honored to be part of
other with green onions during Dayenu uncle pulled me aside and said: “There my family’s multigenerational Haggadah
like the Jews of Persia and Afghanistan. It has been a Hamas suicide bombing at the project: to enable each family to celebrate
was a wonderful and joyous evening: my Park Hotel seder in Netanya. Should we its personal Exodus from Egypt in its own
youngest sibling prepared a quiz with prizes tell everyone?” At that moment the joy of way.
to go with Ma Nishtana; my older sister the holiday was turned to mourning. I felt
offered a feminist analysis of contemporary what Jews had felt again and again during Today, twenty years later, I am no longer a
enslavement based on “We were slaves” our history: A nation that wants to retell young soldier but a father of four daughters.
Avadim hayenu. At the eating of Maror, its story of Exodus to freedom, rediscovers I decided to create a new edition of the
my mother told the tale of my grandfather that “in every generation there are those Haggadah that would be updated and
being saved in Holland by his devout who wish to wipe out the Jewish people.” more accessible for a new generation of
Christian neighbors during World War II. On that evening, we felt once again how we parents and children. In the midst of this
When reciting, “everyone is obligated to are turned into a nation defined through project the attack of October 7th, 2023, on
see oneself as if s/he went out of Egypt,” my the gunsights of its enemy and how we are Simhat Torah took place. This time - unlike

4 introduction Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024

in ancient Egypt - the Angel of Death did the Exodus is not only in the covenant of internal Jewish disputes are highlighted. how much these two covenants stand at the
not “pass over” the houses of Israel. Again common fate that we forged, but also a Yet disagreements and the diversity of foundation of every conversation between
a holiday of joy became a day of mourning. covenant of destiny. The forward-looking our dreams for the future have been very parents and children. Parents want to grant
Again we recalled our covenant of solidarity covenant of destiny does not regard our important resources in our path to freedom, their children freedom and hope for the
due to the common enemy that seeks to cut lives as a predetermined fate that repeats just as any boisterous family knows when future, but also a sense of responsibility
off our existence and eradicate our identity. inevitably in history. Rather it affirms that they sit down around the seder table. for their common fate throughout history.
Will we be forever trapped in a cruel fate by in every generation we can and we must Children want the freedom to set out
those who seek our destruction? change history. This idealistic covenant The traditional Haggadah teaches us that on their own independent path and to
of destiny was established with Egyptian both covenants are bound together like the formulate their own special destiny, and
Seeking inspiration in the midst of this slavery behind us and Mount Sinai in front Hillel sandwich of maror and matzah: In yet they can only do that confidently on the
crisis, I began researching the original of us. At the giving of the Torah at Sinai, we every generation our enemies arise to try basis of a rooted sense of belonging and a
haggadot that had been written over were charged to build an exemplary society to wipe us out and in every generation each rich legacy. The Haggadah reminds us that
seventy years ago by the founders of the together. We acknowledge that in times of of us is obligated to see ourselves as having our family story is always a combination
same kibbutzim next to Gaza that had been trouble, our covenant of mutual fate calls participated in the Exodus from slavery to of two things: the memory of the bread of
assaulted on October 7th. Reading their for greater Jewish unity, while in attempting freedom. Our faith as Jews reinforces our affliction that our ancestors ate in Egypt
words, I was reminded that the power of to define a common covenant of destiny, belief that eventually we will open the and the commandment to believe that next
door to Elijah the prophet who will bring year we will be free people. I believe today,
the good tidings that in a rebuilt Jerusalem as I did twenty years ago when I began this
our destiny of freedom has triumphed over project, that the secret to our capacity to
our fate of persecution. transform the covenants of our people into
a blessed and generous reality begins in
In the end it all comes back to the family one place: around the family seder table in
table. I understand today, as a father to our homes.
my daughters and as a son to my parents,
Rabbi Mishael Zion | mishzion@gmail.com

5 introduction Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024

KADESH Lift Up a Glass! Avner Goren z"l

Look at a fruit salad:

sweet fruits and tangy ones,

‫ַקַ ּ �ֵּדשׁ‬
some soft-skinned and some rough,
some hard and some juicy.
Each fruit brings its own flavor,
colors and texture.

Together they create something new,

something that is all of them united,
while still separate,
tasteful and surprising.

So too are we:

We have in our midst
an abundance of goodness:
Some of us work the earth,
others fear Heaven.
Some are visionaries, others doers.
Some track new paths,
and others settle into their homes.
Each brings along his own language,
her own customs and their own beliefs. Avner Goren, son of Kibbutz Nir Oz founders, was murdered in Michel Kichka, Darom
Adom - a tribute to the
his home on October 7, 2023 Avner's wife Maya was killed in the red poppy flowers which
Together we are an ingathering, children's nursery where she worked. Her body is held hostage by blossom near the Israel-
a kibbutz of exiles and a fusion of cultures, Hamas. For years Avner was part of the team that wrote the texts Gaza Border, October

a great creation - breathing and vital, for their Kibbutz Haggadah. This text was written in 1996, and re- 2023.

new, innovative, and self-renewing. published also in the Beeri Kibbutz Haggadah in 1999. Avner and
Maya are survived by their four children, Gal, Asif, Bar and Dekel.
Let us raise our glass to toast The literal translation of the word Kibbutz in Hebrew is “gathering”.
our return into the gates of our land,
to a kibbutz of ingathered exiles,
celebrating its fusion of cultures,
and welcoming all who gather and take part!

6 Kadesh Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024

YAHATZ Inviting Missing Persons to our
Seder

The Seder gives us a chance to tell the

Is there someone whose name you would
like to add to that list of those whom we miss
this Seder? Would you like to tell their story
as part of Maggid and what it teaches us?
Broken unto You
by Leonard Cohen

All my life is broken unto you, and all my

‫ַיַַחַץ‬
stories not only of our ancestors but of those glory soiled unto you.
who have no voice, those who are missing
from our table but not from our hearts. Entering the Broken World Do not let the spark of my soul go out in the
Some are beloved parents and grandparents by Mishael Zion even sadness.
who once played a central role in our Seder,
some are cut off members of our worldwide The Pesach story begins in a broken world, Let me raise the brokenness to you, to the
Jewish family and some are just family amidst slavery and oppression. The sound world where the breaking is for love.
members who could not join us and it hurts of the breaking of the matza sends us into
to pass over that poignant absence without that fractured existence, only to become Do not let the words be mine, but change
marking it. Ritual can help heal the pain whole again when we find the broken half, them into truth.
caused by these poignant absences, making the afikoman, at the end of the Seder.
the missing seem present With these lips instruct my heart, and let fall
This brokenness is neither just a physical nor into the world what is broken in the world.
The tradition of pouring a cup "for the a political situation: It reminds us of all those Lift me up to the wrestling of faith.
missing" began in the kibbutzim during hard, damaged places within ourselves. All
World War II when the Fourth Cup was those narrow places from which we want Do not leave me where the sparks go out,
dedicated to the many kibbutz members to break free. In Hebrew, Egypt is called and the jokes are told in the dark, and new
who had volunteered to serve in the British "Mitzrayim", reminding us of the word things are called forth and appraised in the
Army fighting the Nazis. In the 1970s and "tzar", narrow. Thus, in Hasidic thought, scale of the terror.
1980s, many left an empty chair at the table Mitzrayim symbolizes the inner straits that
or added a fourth matza for Soviet Jews or trap our souls. Yet even here we can find a Face me to the rays of love, O source of light,
Syrian Jews who were not free to celebrate unique value, as the Hasidic saying teaches or face me to the majesty of your darkness,
Passover or to make aliyah. Since then, these us: "There is nothing more whole – than a but not here, do not leave me here, where
persecuted Jews have gained their freedom broken heart." death is forgotten, and the new thing grins.
and re-joined us around the table. Today, an
empty place setting might be left for those
massacred and kidnapped in the war with
Hamas and those Israeli soldiers who fell in
defense of their homes and families.

7 Yahatz Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024

HA “To Be a Free People in our Land”
by Yishai Sarid
Finally, it concludes with the aspiration
for freedom: “This year slaves – next year
freedom!” We returned to our homeland to

LAKHMA
A Jew encounters at least two Aramaic be free, as a people and as human beings. In
texts in her/his life: The mourner’s Kaddish the Israeli Declaration of Independence, we
and the Haggadah’s opening festive committed ourselves to the ideal that Israel
declaration Ha Lakhma Anya, “This is the would be a state of free women and men

ANYA bread of affliction!” The Seder begins with

a memory from the past: the bread of the
poor, the matza that recalls enslavement
and humiliation, the hatred for the Jews,
without discrimination based on religion,
race or gender. We will not be infected by
the corrupt racism that persecuted us in the
lands of our exile. That is the magnanimous
and the murderousness of the tyranny of spirit from which Israeli democracy was born.
Pharaoh. We are obligated to remember! That is the dream we realized by virtue of

‫ָהָא‬ Immediately thereafter comes the mitzvah

of social responsibility: “Let everyone who
sacrifices too precious to bear. Now we defend
it mightily in the name of our parents and for
the sake of our children and our people.

‫ַל ְַחְ ָָמא‬

hungers, come and eat; all in need, come to
partake in the Passover meal. The traumas Yishai Sarid, an Israeli novelist, published this reflection
we experienced do not release us from on the Passover Seder in the The Haggadah of the
our moral responsibilities today. We are Protest, 2023. His father Yossi Sarid was a socialist

‫ַַע ְְנָי ָא‬ obligated to extend our hand to those in

need of our aid.

Then Ha Lakhma Anya continues with

Israeli parliamentarian. The title “To Be a Free People
in our Land” derives from HaTikvah, the Israeli National
Anthem, and this slogan has often been quoted by
demonstrators protesting the proposed radical right-
the hope for redemption … which is the wing reform of the judicial system, 2023.
dream that brought my grandparents to
Israel from Baghdad, Casablanca, Tsaana
[in Yemen], Warsaw and Berlin. They rebuilt
Israel with enormous devotion and realized
generations-long dreams with their own
hands.

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Ma Nishtana ‫ַמַה ִּנ� � ְְּׁש �ַּתָּּנ� ָה‬
Contemporary Questions
Unanswered

A Seder Ice Breaker: How is

This Year Different?

When extended families and distant friends

gather for the annual Seder, it is the norm
to catch up and ask what’s new. To deepen
this exchange, some families ask each one
at the table to report briefly, to everyone,
or to share with those sitting next to them,
the most important ways in which they or
their world has changed since last year’s
seder. On the one hand, there are personal
milestones and sometimes losses to be
marked alongside descriptions of how we
have tried to grow and cope. On the other
hand, especially in 2023, the collective
worldview of many Jews – the experiences
of physical and social vulnerability, anti-
democratic authoritarianism, rising
antisemitism and anti-Zionism and radical
Islam – have raised challenging questions
and caused disorientation. What are the new
or newly acute questions we ask ourselves
this year about our Jewish identity?

9 Ma Nishtana Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024

“Contemporary” Versions of Historically, the original questions at the One of the most original features in the
the Ma Nishtana Seder were meant to be spontaneous kibbutz seder was the custom of composing
from Kibbutz Haggadot (1930s-1950s) and genuine queries, but over time contemporary questions for the young
Jews fell into the comfortable habit of to ask their elders and then asking the
memorizing and performing the simplest founders of the kibbutz to propose answers.
ritual questions taught at the level of the Today, after Oct 7, 2023, these spontaneous
youngest and least sophisticated child. questions resound with new urgency and
Even these rote questions have varied in poignancy, though satisfying answers are
different countries and eras. However, not easy to find.
with the Zionist Revolution and especially
the innovative attempt to create new For example, after the rise of Hitler and
collective Jewish communities called during World War Two, and after the
kibbutzim, the traditional seder opened beginning of the Arab Revolt in Palestine
itself to contemporary questions, disturbing and the Israeli War of Independence (1936-
inquiries about why the world is the way it 1943), kibbutz Haggadahs recorded the
is and pointing towards what it could be. following unanswered questions:

Illustration: Maryam Bartuv, Kibbutz Gvaram, 1943

Before and after the establishment of the
Jewish state in 1948, the secular kibbutzim
issued new Haggadahs reflecting the
dramatic events of Jewish history, such
as the Holocaust and the return to Jewish
sovereignty for the first time in 2,000
years. In recalling the genocide of Jewish
boy babies in Egypt and the struggle for
freedom from persecution and slavery, they
could not help but relate contemporary
fears and hopes to the ancient holiday of
freedom. Even though secular socialist
kibbutz members were far from traditional
observance, they felt the acute relevance of
Passover’s history to their own lives in Israel.

10 Ma Nishtana Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024

 Why do they hate Jews all over the world? When will peace reign in our land and
throughout the whole world
Why is there so much bloodshed in the
world? (from Kibbutzim Ein Harod and Beit Oren, 1936)

How different is this dark and dismal In 1956, many new kibbutzim were settled
night from every other night! How along the new Egyptian border next to Gaza.
strange and how bizarre is this world, In its first Haggadah, compiled and printed
in 1956, Kibbutz Nahal Oz, located on the
in this year, in this generation! What is Gaza border, modified the Four Questions
happening to us that human beings are as follows:
turning into malevolent, predatory animals?
What is happening to people whose On all other nights our ancestors
consciences in their chests are silenced? were slaves to Egypt subject to their
taskmasters.
How have we, our brothers, been
transformed in the eyes of our enemies But on this night we are free and we
- from fellow human beings, fellow are settled on the border of Egypt and
creatures of God, fellow mortals born now our own hands are ready to defend
to human mothers? our lives!

Why did we take up arms? For in every The name Nahal Oz means the Strong
other era, we did not have the spirit in us Outpost, but, painfully, on Oct 7, 2023,
to rise up and respond to our enemies in many of its members were massacred and
kind, but now we stand up in the gates kidnapped by Hamas.
of our towns to defend ourselves?

When will all the Jews of the Diaspora

return to their land?

When will our land become a verdant

garden?

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The Beeri Haggadah Kibbutz Beeri, many of whose members Nazi-ravaged Europe, and from the Tower
were massacred or taken hostage during of Babel representing the Zionist youth
the attack of October 7th, composed its movements of Iraq - to become a single
own Haggadah even before it settled on the community. This illustration is a tribute to
Egyptian Gaza border. In 1946, the founders the three groups that founded Kibbutz Beeri
wrote their own Haggadah to reflect their together. Next to the painting, the secular
values and hopes, and a few months later founders of the kibbutz wove verses from
settled in the Western Negev, and began the comforting prophecies of Jeremiah and
to build the kibbutz they had dreamed of Isaiah, skipping over the name of the God
around the Seder table. of Israel, but without giving up the Biblical
message of comfort:
Their first Haggadah was created with a
simple copying machine, but after the “Restrain your voice from weeping, And
establishment of the State of Israel, the your eyes from tears; For your work shall
kibbutz turned to the designer Paul Kor, a be rewarded, says the LORD, And they
new immigrant from Paris, and asked him shall come back from the land of the
to design a new and modern Haggadah enemy." (Jeremiah 31:16).
for them. Kor, who would later become a
famous Israeli designer, was influenced
by the optimism of the young kibbutzniks
and created the Haggadah in the spirit of According to Yigal Zora, 'Lines and Dots', Kibbutz Beeri
the agricultural village, fields, sheaves of
wheat and spring flowers. Kor arranged
their innovative non-traditional text
using a Torah scribe’s font - the traditional
Ashkenazi script, thus expressing the
combination of tradition and innovation.

At the end of the Haggadah, Kor merged

past and present, when he drew immigrants
gathering together at the same time -
from the pyramids representing ancient
Egypt, from the illegal refugee ships of

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The New Ukrainian Haggadah: invasion]. The air raid siren was howling
“For Our Freedom” and I was unsure whether we should stay
by Vlada Nedak at the table or run to a shelter. I found some
comfort in the fact that, during World War II,
Za Nashu Svobodu «За нашу свободу» (2024) Jews, even in death camps, had practiced
some of the rituals of Pesach.
“The more they oppress us the more we
increase” (adapted from Exodus 1:12) Unfortunately, many Ukrainian Jews do not
speak Hebrew and can't understand the
My first Pesach lasted about four hours. In prayers and texts, and accordingly many
a small university canteen, the Seder was have to read the Passover texts in Russian. I
packed mainly with people my grandfather's worried: How can we celebrate our freedom
age. I understood nothing because the entire in the language of the oppressor. I resolved
celebration was in Hebrew, but I only spoke that in the future we must celebrate Pesach
Russian and Ukrainian. I was 12 years old and not only in the language we inherited from
felt like the simple child who can only ask: our forefathers and foremothers, the holy
“What is this?” Later, at one of Project Kesher’s Hebrew, but also in Ukrainian - a language
Jewish seminars in the 2000s, we had a day that has become a symbol of courage,
devoted to the Pesach story, where I finally fortitude, and indomitable will, the language
understood what the holiday was about, of the land where we were born and raised.
what events it referred to, and who the main
characters were. I was 22 years old then. Project Kesher’s new Ukrainian Haggadah,
which was published in 2024, is entitled
In 2022, when my family gathered for the For Our Freedom whose title is drawn from “Ma Nishtana (2022): How is this night different?
by Zoya Cherkassky
Pesach Seder, I was no longer the simple the Ukrainian national anthem: "Soul and
child, so I held a "training" Seder for them. body shall we sacrifice for our freedom.” It (Vlada Nedak, Executive Director of the All-Ukrainian Jewish
Women's Organization "Project Kesher".
I explained the symbolic meaning of certain resonates with the mood of Ukrainian Jewry,
foods, told them the Exodus story, and which, in response to the full-scale Russian ›› Listen to the podcast interview with Vlada Nedak.
focused on how long it had taken for the invasion, has continued to forge its distinctive
Jews to escape slavery. It was the second identity. Its title reflects our desire to unite
month of the full-scale war [in Ukraine for the sake of our freedom and to choose
which has been defending its independence our identity as Ukrainian Jews.
and its national identity against the Russian

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Arba Banim ‫ארבעת הבנים‬
and Arba ‫וארבע בנות‬
Banot
Four Sons
illustration by Michel Kichka

In 2004 Michel Kickha reimagined the wise

child in Israeli society not as a Torah scholar
as in many traditional haggadaot, but as a
computer geek sitting atop seven books
all titled by the question: Why? What for?
How? As he munches on matza he explores
his laptop emblazoned with the icon of the
hi-tech giant “Intel” followed on the second
line with the letters “ligent.” Instead of the
ideal Israeli of 2004 being a fighter pilot,
he had become the successful dot.com
entrepreneur of Start-up Nation.

14 Arba Banim and Arba Banotn Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024
Four Contemporary Israeli educational approach or a child’s youthful every Jew there is a mob of Jews. The good Four Daughters, Israel 2024
Children revolt or his or her idealistic critique of Jew, the bad Jew. The new Jew, the old Jew. illustration by Racheli Shalev
the status quo. Recall that Elijah’s hopeful The lover of Jews, the hater of Jews. The
Today, as in the past, many Jewish families prophecy is that somehow he “will turn the friend of the goy, the enemy of the goy. The Israeli illustrator Racheli Shalev, known
feel the challenge of generational conflicts hearts of the parents to their children, and arrogant Jew, the wounded Jew. The pious for her depictions of motherhood in Israeli
around the definition of Jewish identity, the hearts of the children to their parents” Jew, the rascal Jew. The coarse Jew, the press, portrays the Four Daughters as
Jewish loyalty, and the pursuit of tikkun (Malachi 3:4) gentle Jew. The defiant Jew, the appeasing four phases in a woman’s life: The smart
olam/social justice. That parents necessarily Jew. The Jewish Jew, the de-Jewed Jew. “Hermione Granger” tween, the questioning
have different memories and experiences The Jew is a Dispute Incarnate Shall I go on? So I have to expound upon the and challenging teenager, the spiritual
than their children is the original reason for by Philip Roth Jew as a three-thousand-year amassment of seeker in her twenties to the adult mother
the Haggadah. It is natural, says the Torah, mirrored fragments . . . Is it any wonder that becoming herself an educator to her
that children will ask about the significance “WHY COULDN’T THE JEWS be one people? a Jew is always disputing? He is a dispute, daughter who doesn’t yet know how to ask.
of the Jewish commitments and rituals Why must Jews be in conflict with one incarnate.” (Operation Shylock, 1993) Shalev flips the usual hierarchy between the
central to their parents’ and grandparents’ another? Why must they be in conflict with children, starting with the wise child and
worldviews and practices. It is good though themselves? Because divisiveness is not ascending from there. Throughout the four
not unproblematic when children and just between Jew and Jew — it is within the daughters as throughout life’s changes and
parents inquire of each other about the gaps individual Jew. Is there a more manifold phases, healthy questioning remains a key
in perspective and values. Generationally personality in all the world? I don’t say element in a woman’s life.
divergent experiences of Israel in both North divided. Divided is nothing . . . But inside
America and Israel itself can be at the center
of such conversations if we allow ourselves
to be honest and open.

In the Haggadah the rabbis promote a

differentiated view of the questions posed
by their diverse children and the appropriate
responses. Who is the wise daughter or
son and what questions do we associate
with them? Who, if any of our children,
is the “rasha” understood as wicked or
rebellious or, perhaps, courageously critical?
When is alienation from Jewish identity
more a product of a parent’s inadequate

15 Arba Banim and Arba Bano Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024
Who is the Wise Israeli job, and I did my job. I think anyone would
Daughter? have done that.” Another reported: “You think
illustration by Michel Kichka about the civilians trapped in their homes and
text by Noam Zion the people that needed us. You understand
that there was no room for fear.”

3. The Israeli Protestor

1. Israeli reserve combat officer 4. The marathon runner
and mother Jerusalem is modelled after Tova Sheleg,
law student, daughter of two politically is modeled after Lonah Chemtai Salpeter,
reflects the unprecedented role of women active religious journalists, a journalists. popular Kenyan-Israeli Olympic marathon
IDF soldiers fighting Hamas terrorists. All- 2. Religious feminist woman Tova became the face of the Jerusalem runner. Her personal best time for the
woman Israeli tank crews killed 50 terrorists branch of the judicial protests aimed at marathon is 2:17:45, which when she ran it
who overran Israeli communities near Gaza engaging in daily Talmud (Daf Yomi) study, uniting religious protestors (Orthodox, in 2020 made her the sixth-fastest woman
during 17 hours of combat on October 7, 2023, a new movement among Orthodox religious Conservative and Reform) with secular in history, the second-fastest European
and they were the first Israeli (and perhaps women, riding a scooter symbolizing her Israelis from left, center and right to defend all-time, and set a new Israeli national
Western) women soldiers to go into active mobility – no longer tied to the home, the principles of the Israeli Declaration of record. Lonah came to Israel in 2008, to
tank battle. One soldier said: “You keep saying but connected to her children, to Torah Independence and the separation of powers work as a nanny for the children of Kenya's
‘heroines’ and ‘historic’… I don’t feel like a study and her intellectual journey in a self in a Jewish Democratic state. She holds up a Ambassador to Israel and married the Israeli
hero. I feel like I’m a soldier that was given a propelled journey. sign proclaiming: THIS year - we shall be free. track coach Dan Salpeter.

16 Arba Banim and Arba Banotn Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024
Who is the First Wise We teach our children to do research, to be Who is the ‘Wicked’ Son, Who is the Wicked Child, or
Daughter? Eve, the First Start- curious, to observe and to learn. As venture Father? the Wicked Parent, Today?
up Entrepreneur capitalists funding innovative hi-tech By Franz Kafka
by Yoel Heshin companies, we seek out entrepreneurs with Families often encompass diverse opinions
a fierce desire to investigate, to develop, and “I could not understand how, with the on political, moral and religious issues,
When the woman saw that the tree was to do all that is necessary in their project insignificant scrap of Judaism you yourself including issues involving Israel. The
good for eating and a delight to the eyes, in order to bring it to the next level. We possessed, you could reproach me for not questions and discussions at the Seder
and that the tree was desirable as a source are project initiators whose own curiosity making an effort ... to cling to a similar, should respectfully include diverse voices,
of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She motivates us to go forward and gives us a insignificant scrap. It was ... a mere nothing, but must stretch to allow honest expressions
also gave some to her husband, and he ate. reason to get up in the morning. Do we really a joke-not even a joke ... At home it was of disagreement. The Rabbis who composed
(Genesis 3:6) want to describe eating from the fruit of the ... confined to the first Seder, which more the text of the Four Children identified
Tree of Knowledge as a sin? and more developed into a farce, with fits certain kinds of alienation between Jewish
of hysterical laughter ... How one could do parents and their children as a threat to
The Torah tells us that Eve seduced Adam into anything better with that material than get rid Jewish continuity. As a result, they label
eating from the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of it as fast as possible ... Precisely the getting some children as disloyal, as “wicked,” even
and marks her as the guilty one. But in my rid of it seemed to me to be the devoutest if we might prefer to call them rebels, critical
mind, Eve is the first start-up entrepreneur. action.” thinkers, or contentious adolescents. What
She is the researcher who tested the fruit and are our boundaries of legitimate debate
shared it with her husband. By virtue of her Franz Kafka’s Letter to His Father, Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1919. today? How can we bridge gaps or at least
curiosity, she refused to forgo an opportunity keep open a big tent of inclusivity among
and she went out to experiment. Therefore, Jews and where do we draw absolute red
she did not sin but rather expressed the lines, no to be crossed?
entrepreneurial spirit within her. She simply
interacted with the environment around her.
The identification of the start-up initiative of
the first woman, Eve, with a transgression, may
be the reason that the worldwide percentage
of women start-up entrepreneurs and VC
investors is so shamefully low. If we were to
praise Eve’s courage, her curiosity, and her
collegiality toward Adam, then we might create
a greater balance between the number of male
and female start-ups.

Yoel Heshin, an Israeli venture capitalist, whose father was

the Israeli Supreme Court Justice, Mishael Heshin

17 Arba Banim and Arba Bano Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024
A Simple Girl’s Question: How On one Seder night in a suburb of Tel Aviv, are all destined to live as a free people in Tamar Elad-Appelbaim,
Can We, too, Go out of Egypt when I was a little girl of approximately Eretz Yisrael. But now you are sending the Rabbi and founder
Tonight? seven, our extended family, the Bouskilas, women to the kitchen? How will we too, of Kehilat Zion,
By Tamar Elad-Appelbaim originally from Morocco, gathered the whole family together, get to the land Jerusalem; founder
around the Passover table of my beloved of Israel?“ of the Beit Midrash
Moses replied to Pharaoh: “We will go [out grandparents, Saba Ya’ish and Savta Zari, for Israeli Rabbis, a
of Egypt, all of us] with both our children may they rest in peace. We began the Seder I asked the question of a simple child. The joint initiative of the
and our grandparents.” (Exodus 10:9) with great excitement, in song and in joy. question of a simple girl, a granddaughter. Hartman Institute
But the Seder got longer and longer, and Silence. Everyone went quiet. Then my and the Midrasha in
my grandfather noticed that everyone was beloved Saba Ya’ish arose and announced: Oranim.
growing tired, even though they had not yet “The girl is right. Just as then – so tonight,
finished the Maggid section of the Haggadah just as then - so also always, we will exit
and so we had not arrived at the meal, Egypt only when we are all together, the
Shulkhan Orekh. So he announced: “My whole family, and everyone helping until
sweet ones! There are some tired people we arrive!”
here, so let’s ask Savta, the daughters-in-
law, and the beloved granddaughters to go On that night in my grandparents’ home
to the kitchen to prepare the food, while the near Tel Aviv, the whole Bouskila family
rest of us complete the readings from the went out of Egypt. Together we finished
Haggadah. Thus we will succeed in speeding the Maggid portion of the Haggadah.
up a bit the Exodus from Egypt tonight.” Together we went to the kitchen. Together
we all helped. And together we merited to
Everyone thought the plan was very become free men and free women in Israel.
reasonable. Savta Zari got up and went That night we sang until the middle of the
to the kitchen. So too, my mother and my night – Hallel, the Song of Songs, songs
aunts. Now it was my turn, the oldest of the of praise and liturgical poems. On that
granddaughters, and all the other women night Saba Ya’ish and Savta Zari showed
were already in the kitchen. But suddenly, us the way to the land of Israel, the way of
I stood up, a little girl arrayed against the family togetherness, the way of moderation
Seder table, and I cried out: “No, Saba! and tolerance, the way of honoring God’s
My dear Saba, you taught me that on this creatures in humility, listening to one
night everyone went out of Egypt together. another and taking mutual responsibility
You taught me that we are all free and we for one another.

18 Arba Banim and Arba Banotn Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024
Our Mothers as Heroes: My At a traditional Ethiopian Passover Seder young without any formal education. My greet her with the honorary title, “Mother
Mother and Our Family’s Exodus (Kurban), it is the Qes (the Bete Israel mother recalls how great her excitement of Tzezew” (which was my name). Even
from Africa rabbi) who tells his son (“as if he went out was when she went off to school and how in the most economically stressful times,
by Ziva (Tezezew) Mekonen Degu of Egypt”) about the Biblical trek from her school years were the most beautiful my mother would never economize on our
Africa, to the land of Israel, from slavery and meaningful of her life. She felt privileged education.
“You shall tell your child on that day: ‘It is to freedom. But in our family, it is on Israeli as the only daughter in her family to be able
because of this that God did for me, when I Independence Day, Yom HaAtzmaut, that to study. Nevertheless, the extended family When I was 12 years old in eighth grade,
went out from Egypt.” (Exodus 13:8) my mother retells the tale of our real trek pressured my grandmother to marry off my we began to organize our illegal flight from
in 1984 from Ethiopia to Sudan and then mother at age 15 to a man who promised she the communist dictatorship in Ethiopia
Ziva Mekonen-Degu served as Executive Director of the to Israel. The hard trek! could go on learning. However, as a married through Sudan to Israel. My mother decided
Association of Ethiopian Jews between 2011-2019. She is woman with domestic responsibilities and to start her trek with six of her children,
a co-founder of “Mothers on Guard” an anti-racism activist From her story I learned about a mother’s soon children of her own, her dream of even without our father (who joined us
group calling for justice for young Ethiopian Israelis suffering courage and determination to protect every continuing her education evaporated. While later in Sudan), and she was accompanied
from police brutality. Born in Ethiopia, Ziva lives in Jerusalem single child from death and even, in times my mother mourned that lost opportunity by her mother and extended family. This
with her family. of crisis, not to give up. She demonstrated her whole life, she promised herself that, pilgrimage constituted her personal
for me the character traits necessary to come what may, her daughters would not Exodus to freedom, on foot, for hundreds
continue to lead our journey to freedom in suffer that discrimination, as she had. of kilometers, through a parched desert,
Israel and our campaign as activist mothers to fulfill her dream to go up to Jerusalem.
seeking to liberate every human being. Since her husband’s income did not suffice The daily march usually began at night, to
to pay for her children’s schooling in avoid the police and the heat. While three of
From my mother, whose Amharic name Ethiopia, my mother took on extra jobs as an our family were old enough to walk on our
is Tru Work Itzhak Adane, I learned about agricultural worker and then as a talented own (ages 9, 12 and 16) and my mother or
a parent’s obligation to advocate for seamstress for wealthy Christian women. my brother could carry our three-year-old
the education of one’s daughters even When I was born, the first daughter after brother on their backs, my mother had to
in the face of strong prejudices. My three sons, she sent me at age four to study hire two local guides to carry my 5 and 7
mother’s drive for education began when at a preschool conducted by a Christian year old brothers. After each night’s trek,
my grandmother, who was widowed at monk called Abba Yanta. He taught us the each morning my mother took her children’s
a young age, became landless and lost numbers and letters of ancient Geez and roll call, since she knew that some of our
the services of a husband to support her. modern spoken Amharic, as we gathered extended families had tragically lost track
Nevertheless, my grandmother decided to around the single available copy of the of relatives on the march.
send my mother, her youngest daughter, textbook. As a gift of appreciation, my
to school along with her brothers, unlike mother would send him her homegrown, As we approached the Sudanese border in
her older sisters who were married off very homemade corn mash, while he would a particularly dry desert area without water,

19 Arba Banim and Arba Bano Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024
we were warned to go quickly throughout Then she commanded my oldest brother: youngest daughter, to go to school despite Today, as a mother myself who has earned
the night. Then the local smugglers took “Take grandmother’s horse, take this water, the discriminatory social conventions. Even an MA in Gender Studies and who leads
their leave of us, and we stumbled on, with and go bring back your brothers.” In the today my mother encourages each of us public advocacy organizations, l appreciate
heavy steps, exhausted by a hot wind and meantime, it grew dark, but my mother still – her already academically accomplished how my mother combined caring for family
thirsty, because our jerry cans were now refused to drink or eat anything. She was children and her grandchildren to keep on and leadership even without knowing a
empty. When all the families reached the waiting for her remaining children. I don’t studying. There is no week in which she single feminist theory. She is my hero.
thick bushes near the border, my mother remember the exact hour, but in the middle does not take an interest in my studies.
asked me, “Where are your younger of the night, my older brother arrived with
brothers?” I told her I had seen them under his missing younger brothers. My mother I feel that all my accomplishments were
a tree and told them to follow, but now they lamented: “I almost lost three of my sons!” earned through her merit. I internalized
had disappeared. My mother opened her Over the last week, we had lost Manaale from my youth that when you have
eyes wide in shock, but she could not say Genetu, aged three, her niece's daughter, the will, nothing can stop you, as long
anything. I remember her standing there, and Ayelign Avera, aged 40, her brother in- as you have faith in the Creator and in
with her hands on her hips, helpless, not law. Even now, forty years later we do not yourself. As the executive director of the
knowing what to do, looking back in the know what happened to them. Association for Ethiopian Jews (2010-2019),
direction from which we had come. Then the organization committed to change social
she sat down, hugging my 3 year-old At the end of this debilitating march, and policies and to combat racism in Israel, I
brother, and rocking him back and forth, after three more months in refugee camps in knew I could have an influence and change
as she tried to calm herself. Sudan, the Mossad took us by Hercules cargo reality by virtue of that faith and my mother’s
planes to Israel [in what was appropriately encouragement. We also established the
My older brother had gone out with other named Operation Moshe] arriving just one movement, “Mothers on Guard” to struggle
young boys to find some water for the week before Israeli Independence Day. Over to overcome police violence and prejudice
whole group, though the water was more time, the evening of Independence Day has against young males of Ethiopian parentage
mud than water. Still that water saved our become a traditional family gathering with and against all civilians. Before my eyes,
lives. My mother used a cloth to strain out a thanksgiving meal to thank the Holy One always, are the integrity, the faith and
the mud and gave us each a drink from my for uniting us and for the privilege to make the professionalism that characterize my
brother’s jerry can. But she did not take Aliyah in peace. Every single year, my mother mother.
a drink for herself, closed the top tightly, tells the story of her trek again, highlighting
placed it firmly under her legs, and refused how God rescued her children – Yael, Asher
Exodus of Ethiopian Jewry (1991) by Aliza Urbach, photographer.
to share its remainder even with her aunt: and Uri, as they are called in Hebrew. Of
“No, this is saved for my other children, [my course, we remember Grandma Wagaye
lost children], not for me!” Yitzhak who started the trek but did not
complete it and who allowed our mother, her

20 Arba Banim and Arba Banotn Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024
B’KHOL ‫ְ �ְבָּכָל‬
DOR VADOR ‫דּ ֺֺור ָוָד ֹֹור‬

Michel Kichka, 2004

21 B’KHOL DOR VADOR Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024

“In every generation they rise Jewish history never seems to become In the original ”Halaila HaZeh” Haggadah,
up against us to wipe us out" an irrelevant historical fact of the ancient Israeli illustrator and political cartoonist
by Noam Zion past. Back in the 1930s, the socialist kibbutz Michel Kichka portrayed the perennial
educator Yitzhak Tabenkin explained the attempts to destroy our people as a mob
meaning of Jewish identity to the children assault of the ages. He drew the characters
in his idealistic kibbutz in terms of Pharaoh's of Pharaoh, Christian Crusaders and
original plot to throw all the Jewish boys in Inquisitors, Czarist pogromists and more,
the Nile. He had in mind the contemporary led by a Nazi officer, drawing them in a
rise of German Nazism along with worldwide tongue in cheek fashion despite the painful
antisemitism in Soviet Russia, Poland, memories of their actions.
France and the United States:
Kichka’s humorous approach continues
On Passover every Jew is obligated to ask the tradition of Jewish dark humor in
him or herself: light of thousands of years of suffering.
When was I born? Where was I born? Following the October 7 attacks, Kichka
What historical memory do I carry with added a new and yet terrifyingly familiar Michel Kichka, 2024

me? image – the radical Islamic nationalist

terrorist of Hamas. Kichka was careful to
I look at my identity card and read the distinguish the Hamas fighter from the
invisible script: "My parents were born as legitimate Palestinian search for self-
slaves in Egypt when Pharoah the king of determination, portraying a made-in-Iran
Egypt ordered the first genocide in history.” missile in the hands of this paramilitary
I too was there! fighter. Himself a son of an Auschwitz
survivor, Kichka has been active in the
Tabenkin realized that the Seder is not only Peace Now movement for thirty years and is
about freedom from Egyptian slavery and a strong advocate of the two-state solution,
economic exploitation, but also about a a solution which Hamas violently opposes.
struggle to preserve Jewish national identity
in the face of genocide. Thus the Haggadah
has always reminded us that Pesach is not
only a celebration of a freedom won long
ago, but also of an ongoing threat to our
existence: In Every Generation.

22 B’KHOL DOR VADOR Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024

HALLEL What blessing does one say
when you suddenly get your
life back?
By Jacky Levy
them, Sahar and Erez, the words coursing
repeatedly in my heart are from the opening
of the Psalm recited on Passover:
concluded roaring like a lioness who had
just rescued her cubs from the teeth of the
jackals. After Hadas stretched up her arms
to the heavens (arms which I think have of

‫ַַה �ֵּל ּל‬

“Praise God! For God is good and divine late become elongated by ten centimeters),
kindness is forever!” That is what those, then she declared, “Yes, there is a God!” That
Jacky Levy is a popular Jerusalem performer and author redeemed by God from the hand of the is just an updated version of saying “Praise
of children’s stories, whose relatives, Sahar and Erez enemy, declare.” (Psalm 107:1-2). God, for God is good!”
Calderon, aged 16 and 12, were kidnapped to Gaza by
Hamas on Simhat Torah, Oct. 7, and then redeemed in a How often have I recited those well-worn
hostage exchange after 52 days in captivity. Their father, festive words in the past, but never once
Ofer, who was injured in the attack, was not redeemed in took the time to think how those redeemed
that hostage exchange. are really meant to feel. What does a human
being feel and say when granted his life
anew after having been held hostage in the
“The kids have returned!” That is all one hands of his enemy? How do the families
can mumble. While our family is usually of hostages express themselves after their
very verbal, during this long period of the loved ones who have spent days, weeks or
children in captivity, everything had shrunk months in a place where their lives are not
to a few isolated words of hope: “They will worth a cent, are released and suddenly the
come back!” For two months our deficiency time for a hug arrives – the very opposite of
in words has thrown us into the arms of both the clutches of “the enemy’s hands.” Then
old songs and Biblical verses, the Israeli apparently, one says: “Praise God! For God Jacky Levy and Noam Dan campaigning for the return
musical feed and the childhood heritage is good and divine kindness is forever!” of the hostages, including their brother-in-law Erez
of our Judaism. When we have nothing to Kalderon, outside Israel’s Ministry of Defense, 29.10.2023.
say, we try to rely on a good quote. Then Even though in my otherwise left-wing
every classic line, every verse and every Zionist family of kibbutzniks, I am almost
word reveals itself anew. Suddenly they the only one who prays and feels at home
were charged with relevance as if they had among these ancient verses, something like
been written just for this moment. “Praise God!” is exactly what the children’s
mother, Hadas, said. She said these words
Ever since we finally saw the faces of these after they announced to her that her two
children of Kibbutz Nir Oz and among children had been liberated and after she

23 HALLEL Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024

 SHFOKH A Vow
by Avraham Shlonsky
before Yom Kippur. In this case, the vow is
a response to the Holocaust, however, the
poet refuses to be absolved of his vow to

HAMATKHA
By my eyes which witnessed the remember. Instead, he pledges his eternal
slaughter righteous indignation lest we forget and
By my heart that was weighed down by lest we learn nothing from our experience
cries for justice with genocide.
By my compassion that taught me to
Shlonsky’s poem is quoted in the Kibbutz

ְ‫� ְְשׁפ ֹֹוְך‬

pardon
Until the days came that were too Haggadah of Nahal Oz from 1956 immediately
terrible to forgive, after the traditional text, “Pour Out Your
I have sworn: To remember it all, Wrath.” Next to the poem is a handmade

ָ ‫ֲחָמְָתְ ָך‬ ֲ
To remember – nothing to forget!
Forget not one thing to the last
generation
Until my indignation shall be
drawing of an olive branch and a sword. 67
years later on October 7, 2023, many of the
kibbutz members, including several of the
original founders, now quite elderly, were
extinguished murdered, while many others were abducted
When the staff of my moral rebuke shall to Gaza as hostages by Hamas.
have struck until exhausted.
A vow: Lest for nothing shall the night Do Not Drink from the Cup of
“Pour out Your Wrath on of terror have passed. Bitterness
those who consume the A vow: Lest for nothing shall I return to by Dr. Martin Luther King, jr
people of Israel” my wont
Without having learned anything, even I must say to my people who stand on
this time. the warm threshold which leads into the
and “Pour out Your Love on palace of justice. In the process of gaining
the Righteous Gentiles who The Israeli poet Avraham Shlonsky our rightful place we must not be guilty of
composed “A Vow” for Pesach 1943 after wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy
rescue the Jewish people” reading early reports about the Nazi our thirst for freedom by drinking from the
extermination of European Jewry. Its cup of bitterness and hatred.
Hebrew name, “Neder” refers traditionally
to the Kol Nidrei ceremony promulgating
the official forgiveness of all unfulfilled vows

24 SHFOCH HAMATCHA Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024

Hatred is Easy So here I live. In a different universe than all One thing gave me a whisper of hope from
by Rachel Goldberg of you. You are right here. We seem like we all the horror on October 7th. One of the
live in the same place. But I, like all of the witnesses with whom I spoke told me that
Rachel is the mother of Hersch Goldberg-Polin, a mothers, and all of the fathers, and wives, when the rocket fire first began, and all those
wounded hostage kidnapped by Hamas to Gaza from the and husbands, and children, and brothers, young music loving hippies went running
Nova Nature Music Festival at Kibbutz Reim. Selections and sisters and loved ones of the stolen - we into the bomb shelter, a Bedouin man who
from her speech given at the UN Headquarters in New all actually live on a different planet. Our was a guard at the kibbutz across the street
York, October 25, 2023. planet of no sleep, our planet of despair, our also ran inside for cover. As Hamas closed in
planet of tears. on the bomb shelter this man told the young
people, "Stay quiet and let me go out to talk
And the hatred being showered on Israel to them." He went out and in Arabic said, ›› Link to the speech
now... I keep being asked about that. First, "I'm a Muslim. Everyone inside is my family,
in an article I read by Nicholas Kristof it we are Muslim. You don't have to search in
was so eloquently stated that if you only there." He tried to save them. He could have
get outraged when one side's babies are just said, "I am a Muslim." And just saved
killed, then your moral compass is broken. himself. But he tried to do the right thing
And your humanity is broken. And therefore EVEN though it was terrifying and EVEN
in your quiet moments alone, all of us, though it required unimaginable courage.
everywhere on planet earth need to really He was brutally beaten, and the witnesses
ask ourselves, “Do I aspire to be human, or do not know what his fate was. But I take
am I swept up in the enticing and delicious comfort even for a fleeting moment knowing
world of hatred?” there was someone trying to do the right
thing, even when everything in the universe
This is not a phenomenon unique to Israel had turned upside down. We human beings
or Gaza, this is everywhere on our planet. have been blessed with the gift of intellect,
I understand that hatred of "the other" - creativity, insight and perception. WHY are
whoever we decide that "other" to be - is we not using it to solve global conflicts all
seductive, sensuous and most importantly, over our world?
hatred is EASY. But hatred is not actually
helpful nor is it constructive. Because doing this is hard and it takes
fortitude, imagination, grit, risk and hope.
In a competition of pain there is never a So instead, we opt for hatred because it's so
winner. comfortable, familiar and it’s so very, very EASY.

25 SHFOCH HAMATCHA Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024

Next Year in
Jerusalem
‫לשנה הבאה‬
‫בירושלים‬
Since October 7, many Israelis
have greeted each other not with
the usual “shalom” or “lhitraot”,
but the traditional good wishes
associated with Elijah the prophet:
“besorot tovot” – May there be
good news!

26 NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALIM Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024

May We No Longer Be in exile, the hope of one day being able to Prayer: To hold on to hope The Chutzpah of Faith
Extraordinary live in their own country. It was a hope that without letting go by Irving Greenberg, The Jewish Way
by David Grossman, novelist often kept them alive. by Rabbi Oded Mazor
“Where does Israel get the strength, the
I wish that we Israelis will be able - perhaps Hope is a noun, but it contains a verb that “For everything there is a season… chutzpah, to go on believing in redemption
for the first time in our history - to stop propels it into the future, always to the under Heaven…. A time for weeping and a in a world that knows mass hunger and
being a story constantly at the center of the future, always with forward motion. One time for laughing, A time for mourning and a political exile and boat people? How can
world's attention, the center of international could look at hope as a sort of anchor cast time for dancing… A time for war and a time Jews testify to hope and human value when
agendas; that finally we'll cease being a from a stifled, desperate existence towards for peace. " (Ecclesiastes 3: 1,4,8) they have been continuously persecuted,
larger-than-life story, as we've been since a better, freer future. Towards a reality that hated, dispelled, destroyed? [Because they
the dawn of time, and start being just does yet exist, which is made up mostly of In those days when each time collapses into draw their strength and hope from] the
another story among the stories of the other wishes, of imagination. When the anchor is the next We have no choice but to cry and memories of the Exodus! "
nations; a special story, of course, a gripping cast, it holds on to the future, and human to laugh with the same eyes To mourn and
and moving and multi-layered story, but, for beings, and sometimes an entire society, to dance at the same time And the long arc
God's sake - not a larger-than-life story - just begin to pull themselves towards it. of history is compressed into one day and
another story of life one hour.
It is an act of optimism. When we cast this
Death as a Way of Life, 2003 imaginary anchor beyond the concrete, We ask for the strength to contain
David Grossman, Israeli novelist and peace activist, father arbitrary circumstances. When we dare The intensity of our bursting hearts,
of a fallen soldier killed in the war with Hezbollah in to hope, we are proving that there is still To rejoice with those who are fortunate
Lebanon in 2006 one place in our soul where we are free. A to embrace today, To enfold all of those
place that no one has been able to suppress. withdrawing into their longing, their souls
Tikvah/Hope: The Enclave of And thanks to this anchor of fearlessness, trembling, To hold on to hope without
Freedom in the Human Soul of freedom, in the souls of those who have letting go, And to leave some quiet space for
by David Grossman hope, they know what the reality of freedom a silent scream. Please, grant us the room
looks like. They also know how crucial it is to shatter into pieces, And the spirit to be
Hope, I thought, over and over again trying to fight for it. rebuilt, anew.
to awaken it inside me. I called to it, out
loud, in Hebrew even, perhaps it speaks David Grossman, Speech at the Frankfurt International Rabbi Oded Mazor, Rabbi of Kol Haneshama, a Reform
Hebrew: “Tikvah! Tikvah!” I thought about Book Fair, 2020, during the Covid 19 Pandemic synagogue in Jerusalem, and recited at the demonstration
Israel’s national anthem which is called for the release of captives, Jerusalem, 2023
“HaTikvah,” “The Hope,” and speaks of the Translated by Rabbi Ayelet Cohen, adapted by Noam Zion
hope held by Jews for two thousand years

27 NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALIM Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024

 Tomorrow's Jerusalem: Revised
and Revisited
illustration by Michel Kichka
text by Noam Zion

Two messianic political leaders are

represented: Atop the gate is a bearded
Theodore Herzl, founder of the Zionist
movement in 1896, together with Noah's
dove of peace. With furrowed brow, he
compares the Israeli reality below with his
vision of the New Zion in his utopia, The
Jewish State. Atop the white donkey sits
the messianic descendant of King David.

The handsome biblical David was ruddy in

complexion and now his seed has produced
a red-haired hippy with sunglasses. A more
mundane dream is expressed by the Israeli
taxi driver who reads in his newspaper:
"Israel has won the Soccer World Cup!"
Can you find all the traditional enemies now
shaking hands? (For example, the rival red
and yellow clad soccer players play for teams
established by the competing left and right
wing political parties – Labor and Likud).

28 NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALIM Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024

How will we A Guide for Parents and
Families
by Dasee Berkowitz
might also seek to focus on what unites us,
avoiding the conversations that divide us.

celebrate
While on other seder nights, the promise
Each year the youngest present at the seder of Spring and its renewal uplifts us, on this
asks, “How is this night different from all seder night we come to the table with mixed
other nights?” This seder night, following feelings. Some of us place an empty chair

Passover this the events of October 7th, the Hamas-

Israel war, and a steep rise in anti-Semitism
worldwide, many of us are wondering, “How
at our table to remember those still held
hostage by Hamas. Others feel the painful
absence of soldiers killed in combat. Many

Year?
will this seder night be different from all feel the ache for all those who have been
other seder nights?” killed, Jew and Muslim, and are suffering
due to the conflict. Longing and heartbreak
While on other seder nights, we retell the accompany us this seder night.
ancient story of our people’s liberation from
Egyptian bondage; on this seder night, we are For everyone hosting a seder, you are in a
keenly aware we are actors in Jewish history as unique position. You have the opportunity
it is unfolding. We may feel extra responsibility to invite your guests to become active
to make this Passover meaningful. participants in an ancient ritual that holds
the potential for healing, healthy discussion,
While on other seder nights, we welcome and hope. The seder table is the stage upon
different generations to attend our seders, which the ancient rite of retelling takes
m’kol dor va’dor (from generation to place. Friends, family, and guests are the
generation), on this seder night, we know actors. The Haggadah is our script. As you
that strong political differences can map prepare the stage for seder night, I invite you
onto generational divides. On this holiday to consider four conceptual frameworks to
of redemption, we may feel nervous about guide your preparation.
the differences in perspectives that feel
unredeemable.

While on other seder nights, we seek to

design a seder experience that is relevant,
engaging, and real, on this seder night we

29 A Guide for Parents and Familiess Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024
Framework 1: Framework 2: Framework 3: Learning how to ask generous questions
Set Intentions: Enable freedom within Tales of Resilience: Make space for elders Redemptive Questioning: Practice asking is a skill we can invite our seder-goers to
boundaries and their stories better questions practice. Encourage people to ask open-
ended questions like, “Who do you look up
As the convener you set the tone for the On all other nights we frontend seder Passover is the festival of questions. Slaves to? What inspires you about them?”, “What
evening. This takes place from the moment experiences that engage the children. and those in bondage can’t ask questions. brought you to that way of thinking?” or
you extend the invitation. By articulating your This seder night our path toward freedom Questions are the medium by which we “What is a different way of understanding
intentions for the evening you put your family is paved by a resilient spirit. Lessons in know we are a free people. Freedom carries this?” Learning to ask better questions can
and other guests at ease. The journey toward resilience are most readily learned from with it great responsibility. So many of us are help build a bridge with people around the
freedom invites full participation when there our elders. We need their voices and their not careful with how we speak, and what we table who feel hard to reach.
is structure. Just as children can express stories of how they have come out of Egypt ask. We may ask combative questions that
themselves freely when the boundaries over and over again. Draw out the lessons can put others on the defensive (e.g. “what
are clear, your guests will feel comfortable they learned from enduring adversity. Ask were you thinking?”) As journalist and radio
sharing openly when boundaries are set and the children to be the bridge to the elders personality Krista Tippett once wrote:
intentions are articulated. and have them ask the following questions
Toward the beginning of the seder share a or generate your own: “Questions elicit answers in their
few intentions (or in Hebrew, kavanot) to likeness…It’s hard to transcend a
encourage participation, questions, and ◊ Share a political or historical challenge combative question. But it’s hard to resist
mutual respect. To get the maximum amount you or your family has faced a generous question. We all have it in us
of buy-in, you can set two intentions and ask ◊ How did you overcome or deal with to formulate questions that invite honesty,
folks to share a third. Consider choosing an these challenges? dignity, and revelation. There is something
intention from this list, or choose one that is ◊ What is a lesson you have learned about redemptive and life-giving about asking a
more suitable to your setting. resilience that you wish you knew when better question.” (Krista Tippett, Becoming
you were young? Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art
◊ Speak in the first person about your of Living, pg. 30)
experiences and opinions
◊ Share from a place of authenticity - what
causes you pain and what brings you joy
◊ Agree to be awkward and know that your
contributions will be received with care
◊ Give everyone at the table the benefit
of the doubt
◊ Approach each other with curiosity

30 A Guide for Parents and Familiesys Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024
Framework 4: marked by discomfort. As you go through Our families, friends, and communities are Dasee Berkowitz is an executive facilitator, educator,
Celebrate Life: Elevate gratitude seder night, invite your guests to ask the contexts in which we work out our ideas and coach. She is also the author of Becoming a Soulful
questions about the texts in the supplement and ideals. Each person gathered around Parent: A path to the wisdom within. She can be reached
One of the hallmarks of resilient people and to bring their own perspectives. If your table is meant to be there. We need at daseeberkowitz.com
and the Jewish people as Resilient People, arguments start to brew, welcome them. everyone - young, old, opinionated, and
is a habit of gratitude. Gratitude can hold As the convener, if you find that a few passive alike. In a world of so much strife
space for loss even as we celebrate life. people are dominating the conversation, and division, you are a gatherer. Inclusivity,
The structure of the Haggadah, with the invite other people to join the discussion patience, and love will pave your way
placement of a short Hallel selection (or by saying, “I wonder if there are other forward.
psalms of gratitude) in the Magid (the perspectives...” Remember your role on
main section of the Haggadah) reflects the seder night is not to achieve world peace.
sensitivity that words of praise and gratitude Instead, it is to create an environment in
are always possible, even before we reach a which everyone can have an experience
redemptive ending. To paraphrase resilience that will soon turn into a memory. Ensure
researcher, Dr. Lucy Hone, that everyone around the table feels like
they are valued and belong.
“Don’t lose what you have to what you have
lost” (Dr. Lucy Hone, “The Three Secrets
of Resilient People,” TEDxChristchurch,
August 2019).

Take a moment at the beginning of the seder

to have your guests look around the room to
appreciate everyone who is there. At the end
of the seder, ask everyone present to share
a word of personal gratitude they have for
the evening. Gratitude for what is present
in our lives is that much more important in
times when we know there is so much that
is not yet redeemed.

Family relationships and friendships are

long journeys of discovery, sometimes

31 A Guide for Parents and Familiess Zion Solidarity Seder Supplement - Passover 2024