Each year, Passover brings with it fond memories of attending the Seder at my grandparents’ home in Atlanta.
Like many Jewish Americans of his generation, my grandfather was both a child of immigrants and a veteran. His parents came to the U.S. from Eastern Europe early in the 20th century.
In 1944, he fought in the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, where he was shot in the head by German snipers. Thankfully, he survived, recovered and ultimately received a Purple Heart.
Those complementary experiences — benefiting from the blessings of American democracy and risking his life defending it — made Grandpa a lifelong champion of freedom and equality for all. That’s why, for him, Passover wasn’t just any other holiday. Rather, it represented the essence of what it meant to be Jewish.
As he led our Seder, he would emphasize that we, as Jews, annually commemorate the ancient Exodus not simply to celebrate our own freedom but also to recommit ourselves to the work of liberating all who are oppressed.
Last month, I carried Grandpa’s memory with me to our nation’s capital. I was part of a group of rabbis from across the country convened by American Jewish World Service (AJWS), a grantmaking organization inspired by Jewish values that champions human rights around the globe. Our delegation gathered in Washington, D.C., to speak with congressional leaders and administration officials, in part, about the collapse of civil society in Haiti.
In recent months, the island nation has descended into violent chaos. Millions of innocents are caught in the crossfire of gangs and cartels, desperately yearning for a free and democratic future. I was honored to share Grandpa’s story, and his message, in the corridors of American power.
Of course, it was not lost on us, or on the leaders with whom we met, that as we discussed these issues, another crisis was raging in the Middle East. As rabbis, this subject certainly weighed on our hearts. Yet while we believe it important for Jewish Americans to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with our elected officials, we were animated by a conviction that we, as Jews, are called to think bigger and to hold more expansive concerns than those that directly impact our own community.
Judaism is ultimately about more than just the Jewish people and Jewish affairs, narrowly defined. To put it another way, a humanitarian disaster in Haiti and the oppression of marginalized peoples everywhere are also Jewish concerns; for none are free unless all are free.
Consider this: the Seder is divided into two parts: the pre-dinner portion, which focuses on the story of the ancient Exodus from Egypt; and the post- dinner portion, which, by contrast, is decidedly forward-facing. We open the door for Elijah the Prophet and pray for him to arrive, ushering in the messianic era. And at the Seder’s conclusion, we exclaim “Next year in Jerusalem!” affirming our hope that the coming year will herald a repaired and perfected world.
Taken as a whole, the Seder is telling us that while our ancestors were redeemed from enslavement in Egypt, we still live in a broken world, filled with violence, hatred, oppression, poverty and injustice. The goal of the Seder, then, is to inspire us to help build a world where all are truly free.
The thing is, when we expand our field of moral vision and fight not just for ourselves, we can have an extraordinary impact. In our meetings in Washington, I was repeatedly struck by how the expansiveness of our concerns visibly moved high-ranking government officials.
For example, our delegation was fortunate to meet with senior members of President Joe Biden’s National Security Council (NSC) at the White House. During our conversation, these seasoned foreign policy experts shared that they wanted to speak to grass-roots civil society groups in Haiti but were finding it difficult to identify and connect with them in this moment of crisis.
It so happens that building, maintaining and strengthening relationships with activist groups is one of the things AJWS does best. So right then and there, we were able to organize a conference call between NSC officials and AJWS’ partners working to solve the crisis in Haiti. That’s the kind of difference we can make when we commit to caring across boundaries and beyond borders.
In this perilous moment, in which our world feels as far from perfect as many of us have experienced in our lifetimes, it is tempting to retreat inward, circle the wagons and care exclusively for our own. But Passover reminds us that we perfect the world by opening up and reaching out; for none are free unless all are free.
This article was originally published by the Richmond Times-Dispatch: https://richmond.com/zzstyling/view-oped-sig/passover-compassion-must-cross-all-borders/article_442ba57e-fce8-11ee-9592-47db514d4bb4.html
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