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A Thought For Passover
“And it is this that has stood by our ancestors and us. For not just one enemy has stood against us to destroy us. But in every generation, there have been those who have stood against us to wipe us out, and the Holy One, Blessed Be He, saves us from their hands.”
-From the Hagaddah
We sing this prayer just before we begin to retell the story of how the Israelites found themselves in Egypt and the hopelessness of their situation there.
As we recite those words, we raise a cup of wine.
But we do not drink.
That is because as hatred against the Jewish people grows, each generation asks the same question as we witness the tragic unfolding narrative of our people:
How will we ever survive this latest threat to our existence?
So many enemies have tried to destroy us.
In every generation.
We raise a cup of wine but are afraid to drink.
Yet, the miraculous story of the Jewish people will remind us again of the glorious epilogue of every generation.
We will raise another cup before the meal begins, drink and rejoice after the story has been told.
The Jewish people will always survive.
“And it is this that has stood by us.”
“This”?
That promise.
It has been true since the tyrant Pharoah.
We will survive.
Many of us today feel we are once again facing great challenges to our people.
The frightening rise of Anti-semitism around the world.
The deepening hatred for Israel and threats to her existence.
Serious concerns that the cancer of Jew-hatred is now finding a foothold even in this country.
It is easy to lose hope.
To lift a cup of wine and be reluctant to drink.
But on Passover, we are reminded of a promise.
“It is this that has stood by us.”
A promise that we will survive these times.
The promise of Passover.
Hag Pesach Sameach.
-Rabbi Victor Urecki
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