Relevance and the Haggadah

JTA writes:

5 seder supplements to make your Passover relevant this year

We get it: Most Jewish families don’t yearn to make their Passover seders longer.

But there’s an entire world of seder upgrades and supplements out there providing myriad creative ways to freshen up the age-old tale of the Jews’ liberation from slavery in Egypt and — perhaps more significantly — make it relevant to our complicated, modern world.

You don’t need to be a scholar. You don’t even need to be particularly resourceful or ambitious — all you need is Internet access. Dozens of Haggadah supplements put out by Jewish organizations in recent years have addressed a variety of present-day social justice issues such as civil rights, poverty, hunger and genocide.

The article lists several supplements to help with "relevance," such as refugee crises, human trafficking, sexual assault on campus and #BlackLivesMatter.

I find it very sad that no one is trying to make the Haggadah relevant to something else that has been in the news this year: the fact that Arabs have been attacking Jews with knives, cars and other makeshift weapons, simply because they are Jews.

And that Jews were targeted this past year in major Western European countries - simply for being Jewish.

Why is there not a #JewishLivesMatter Haggadah?

Luckily, the old fashioned Haggadah manages to tackle such new, relevant themes as antisemitism. Quite explicitly, in fact.

This is what has stood by our fathers and us!

For not just one alone has risen against us to destroy us,

but in every generation they rise against us to destroy us;

and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand!

There is nothing wrong with being concerned about social justice worldwide. But this holiday isn't about those other issues. There are plenty of other days throughout the year to tackle those.

Jew-hatred hasn't disappeared. It is with us, on the streets and on the Internet. It is a current event! And the venerable, original Haggadah discusses exactly that topic. 

As Hillel said, אם אין אני לי, מי לי?  If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? No one will care about protecting Jews when Jews don't care about each other.

Passover is not only an good time to relate to the themes of irrational hate against Jews and the miracle of redemption - it is the perfect time to do so.

---

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.