Everyone knows that this has been a difficult year. But it is specifically after a year like this one that we see that the Haggadah, a text thousands of years old, remains as relevant and empowering as ever.
During the Seder, we not only talk about Pharoah and the Exodus from Egypt, but about antisemitism: antisemites always claim falsely that Jews are stealing, they say Jews don’t belong, and they are always genocidal in the end.
The Haggadah weaves it all together, making the connection between Pharoah, who taught us the antisemitic myth of the disloyal Jews who seek to take over, and Lavan, the father-in-law of Yaakov, who models projection of his own flaws upon the Jews, and accusing Jews of thievery no matter how contrary to truth.
“And this is what has stood for our forefathers and for us. For not only one rose up against us to destroy us; rather, in every generation the rise against us to destroy us. And the Holy One, Blessed be He, saves us from their hands.”
The Haggadah tells us that G-d watches over the Jewish Nation, and ensures that it survives despite thousands of years as a persecuted minority. Am Yisrael Chai, the Nation of Israel Lives, and L’Shana Ha’Bah B’irushalayim HaBenuyah, Next Year in a Rebuilt Jerusalem!
