Moses is the hero we need this Passover

 During the Passover Seder (dinner), a fun part is that children race through the house looking for the Afikomen - a portion of matzah. The winner gets a prize. Although, at any Seder I have been to, every child receives a gift of some sort. The Passover Seder, which is the retelling of the exodus from Egypt, along with various commandments, parables, blessings, and songs, is actually meant to be for children. However, children, under Jewish law, do not have any obligations. Adults are obligated to tell the story. The reason that it is often boring, if you do find it boring, is because the adults end up just reading it word for word, salivating at the smells of brisket and potato kugel.

In Israel this year and in the diaspora Jewish community, there is a pall on the Seder as there are possibly 25 living hostages in chains in Gaza, starving, unable to breathe, with possibly days, maybe weeks left to live. “Let my people go” is not the cry of the ancients, but rather our cry for the last five hundred and fifty three days since the horrors of October 7. Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the mother of the brutally slain American-Israeli hostage Hersch Goldberg Polin, said recently the question that we must ask at our seders is, “Why are [the hostages] still there?”

At the Passover Seder children ask the four questions and then the adults answer them with the story of the Exodus from Egypt. But the answer to Ms. Goldberg-Polin’s question begs more questions: where are the 2025 versions of Moses, Aaron and Miriam? Where are humble leaders who will risk saving the lives of their people instead of their careers? In addition, where are Mussas, Haruns and Maryams? Where are the leaders who can influence Hamas to end this war right now?

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While these questions are legitimate and important, along with others, I would argue that tonight we must focus on our own ancestral narrative heroes. There is no story like the story of the Exodus. 

And yes, that last plague, the most horrible, is one that we wince at. It’s the one that when a child asks, “Did that really happen?” we might say, “It’s a metaphor,” or something like that or “Why don’t you have some grape juice?” If you’re at a table of adults, perhaps you might want to talk about Gaza. With children, the choice is ours. 

With children, though, remember to finish the story. Leave Egypt with unleavened bread. Cross the Red Sea.

We are not our stories, but our values are defined by how we teach our children about them. We are living in difficult times. Spend tonight talking about the narrative about escaping from slavery. How you do so will shape your children much more so than your rant on instagram about the latest political mishap. (I should know!) The tragedies, inequalities, and incompetent men & women will be there after Seder. Tonight, give your children Moses: an imperfect, but humble, and dedicated leader. Give your children the belief that they too can change the world. One day, we will need them to.

Nasrallah: wafers or ice cream

This morning I woke up to the news that Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary-general of Hezbollah, was killed in Lebanon during an Israeli air strike in Beirut. Nasrallah was an avid hater of Israel and was responsible for making much of the north of Israel unlivable since October 8, 2023. He was the head of Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah, a Shia Islamic terrorist organization based in southern Lebanon. A perpetrator of misery, I certainly wasn’t mourning him. However, I was displeased getting off the exit on a beautiful Saturday morning after dropping my son off at a friend’s to see three young men handing out candy to cars, wearing Israeli flags.

Most people didn’t roll down their windows, but some did. 

I thought this behavior strange because it is Shabbat, so why would religious people be doing this on Shabbat, and it’s just not really this neighborhood’s typical behavior. Also, I know in Judaism it is forbidden to celebrate another person’s death: “When your enemy falls, do not rejoice, and when he stumbles, let your heart not exult, lest the Lord see and be displeased, and turn His wrath away from him” (Proverbs 24:17).

I dropped off some groceries and told my husband and daughter, I have to run an errand. Lior looked at me suspiciously, “Where are you going?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“Now I do want to know,” he said.

So, I told him. He rolled his eyes and asked me to please not to. But the man has been married to me long enough to know that I could not be deterred. 

“I don’t want our kids seeing people celebrating death. At least I can say I tried talking to them. I know it will do nothing,” I said. 

So, I walked to the corner, about 200 feet from our apartment. It is the same corner where there have been protests trying to save Israel’s democracy; protests begging to bring the hostages home. Now, here I was, wearing a purple “Bunny Rock Run 5K Egg Hunt” going to talk to these three guys. 

I crossed two streets to the grassy median which housed their, to my surprise, chocolate wafers, not candy, and asked the leader if I could speak to him and if he could speak in English. He was about 5”10, had blond hair and blue eyes, was shirtless, and wearing the Israeli flag as a cape.

“It’s a glorious day,” he said with a wide grin.

“I see that you think that, but I don’t agree with what you are doing,” I said politely. 

As I took out my phone to show him the Biblical verse, he said it in Hebrew at breathtaking speed. “Yes, I know, but this is not about religion, this is about my country.” 

And then I saw. He and his friends were not wearing head coverings (kippot).  They were not religious, as I had assumed. 

“But don’t you think this makes your country look ugly by celebrating death?” I asked him. 

“Listen, I have hated Nasrallah since I was a very little boy,” he said. “There is no one that I have hated more. Him being dead is the best thing that can happen. This is a glorious day. It is a day to celebrate.” 

“It’s hard for me to understand,” I said. 

His wide smile narrowed. “My father died in the Second Lebanon War. Nasrallah killed him. I’ve been waiting for this day my whole life.” 

“I am very sorry for the loss of your father,” I said. “That must have been very hard.” 

“Thank you,” he said. “I was told he was a good man.” 

With those words, I looked down at the ground. I saw that there was a lot of trash from their boxes of wafers. 

“Do you want me to throw those away for you?” I asked.

“No, you don’t have to,” he said. “The police took my ID number. They told me if there is even one piece of garbage I will be fined.” 

I picked up the garbage and put it in the plastic bag that they had there and went on my way. I stuffed it in the garbage can next to where the protests will be tonight to bring the hostages home. 

I should have recycled the empty wafer boxes, but I didn’t feel like it. 

A few hours later, I brought my daughter to pick up my son. When we returned they were still out there handing out wafers.

My friend came right up to the car. 

The kids became excited seeing the wafers. 

I smiled and waved at him, but did not roll down the windows. 

We do not celebrate another man’s death, and besides, we have ice cream at home.

Cherry picking from sacred texts will leave you bloodied

In the recent marches against Israel, one of the chants heard is "“Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews, the army of Mohammed will return."

I'm in the middle of my Islam unit, and I know the context of this line from the Koran, and these protestors are ignorant and antisemitic.

The prophet Muhammed was cool with the Jews, except for a group that betrayed him. He was also cool with Arabs, except ones that betrayed him. It wasn't about their religion, it was about their betrayal.

The way you deal with betrayal in the 7th century, whether you were Christian, Muslim, or any religion, is to kill your betrayers. Religion had nothing to do with it.

It would be great if they tried chanting this: "Whoever does not judge by what God has sent down (including the Torah), they are indeed unbelievers" (Koran 5:44).

I guess it's not as catchy.

Prime Minister Netanyahu also did some bad cherry picking.

On October 28, he quoted "Remember what Amalek did to you" (Deuteronomy 25:17).

For those schooled in the the Hebrew Bible, Jews are commanded not to just fight Amalek, but to wipe out Amalek, which would mean to wipe out the Palestinians, not Hamas. You can say a lot of things about Netanyahu, but he's not stupid. He had to know the meaning of the quote and its significance. There are many, many better Biblical quotes that he could have used like:

“Don’t give me over to the desires of my enemies, because false witnesses and violent accusers have taken their stand against me” (Psalm 27:12) or "Be strong and of a good courage be not afraid neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest" (Joshua 1:9).

During these difficult times, the words and images that are chosen by leaders, by media, and by protestors carry great weight.

This post is dedicated to Shani Louk, who just wanted to dance on October 7, 2023 May her memory be for a blessing.

Response to David Harris Gershon's "For a Moral World to exist, Israel must kill innocent Palestinians"

David, I just wanted to include this in the comments section, but the comments section of your article was closed.  I encourage everyone to read the article. It's very thoughtful and well written. David makes excellent points. My takeaway from it is that there is really never a moral war when civilians are killed. 

But there are details of your article that I just couldn't get on board with 100 percent. I'm having trouble getting on board with anything, honestly. I find myself responding emotionally to everything and very stressed about teaching my course "Middle East History" to Jews, Muslims, Bahai, Christians, Hindus from all over the world first semester. 

So, I turned to my Israeli husband, who I would describe as amazingly smart, thoughtful, liberal and perhaps most importantly, reasonable. I interviewed him about your article. He had read it before I did, not knowing it was you who wrote it.

This is written in the spirit of conversation and friendship, not as an attack on your ideas. I also don't agree with everything my husband says in this interview, but he makes good points. My thoughts are in red. 

I hope one day that we can all get together and watch The Daily Show. We've watched the clip from yesterday 10 times.
Air Strike after Unity Government was Announced

Gaza

Israel took over the Gaza strip during the 1967 Six Day War. In 2005, Israel withdrew from the area. In 2006, the Palestinians living in Gaza elected Hamas leaders to lead the country. Hamas does not recognize the state of Israel and is considered to be a terrorist organization by most of the Western world.
Since Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, Hamas has launched rocket attacks against Southern Israel. For years, Israel response to the attacks was extremely limited, to the anger of Israelis in the South who asked what would the government do if Quassam rockets were being fired into Tel Aviv. In December 2008, after the Hamas attacks increased, Israel began a brutal bombing campaign on Gaza.

Less than a year later, the Goldstone Report has emerged accusing Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The UN Council on Human Rights (which is comprised of countries like Saudi Arabia, China and Russia) has condemned Israel’s war on Gaza?

How do you defend your country against a terrorist government that rules over a densely populated people, uses them as shields, hides in mosques and schools without inflicting disproportionate damage, as Israel has been accused of? What was Israel supposed to do?

Today in Gaza, the humanitarian state is not as bad as it was in January, but the people are still suffering. In Southern Israel, rockets are still being fired from Hamas, although not nearly at the rate before the war.

Israel leaves Gaza 2005

Hamas wins elections in Gaza

Daily Show View of Hamas Election

Rocket attacks in Israel

Map of attacks

Rocket attacks in Southern Israel

Massive Israeli raids in Gaza

Hamas and Israel response during the war

Final Death Toll

Today on the border of Gaza