Prayers for a somber Passover

 

Passover began Monday night (April 22, 2024), and with war raging in the Middle East, it hasn’t been a typical Passover. There is much trouble accompanying this holiday, and antisemitism is at an all-time high.
In this column, published in the April 20-21 Weekend edition of The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA, I shared my prayers for this Passover season.
The link to the column, as it appears on the newspaper’s website is:   https://www.thesunchronicle.com/opinion/columns/larry-kessler-a-passover-like-no-other/article_f002c65f-a5fc-5711-b6ac-a7ca5c623fb3.html
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Passover, the eight-day Jewish Festival of Freedom, will arrive later than usual --- the holiday will begin the evening of Monday, April 22 with the first of two ceremonial meals called Seders --- because the current Hebrew calendar year of 5784 is a leap year.
It's no secret that the holiday hasn’t been normal since 2019. First came the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, followed by an improved, but cautious, year of 2022. Although the pandemic was a fading memory by last Passover, the sharp rise in antisemitism cast a pall over the holiday.
But this year may be the worst year in decades to celebrate Passover, or Pesach, as it’s called in Hebrew, because of Israel’s never-ending war against Hamas, which has divided loyalties at home and abroad like never before as the death toll mounts to unimaginable heights in Gaza.
That’s why it appears that the theme of Passover will be one of tsoris (Yiddish for trouble, heartache and distress) due to the serious challenges that the Jewish people are facing.
Given that harsh reality, I thought it’d be appropriate to suggest several things that I'll be praying for during this Passover holiday --- which is still my favorite Jewish holiday because of the treasure-trove of family memories that the holiday conjures up. 
As the holiday approaches, I’ll be praying:
*For a long-term, enduring cease-fire that leads to a permanent truce and lasting peace in Israel and the Middle East.
The extent of the destruction in Gaza, which followed Hamas' brutal attack on Israel and hostage-taking on Oct 7, should give all peace-loving American and Israeli Jews multiple reasons to pause.
The civilian casualties in Gaza have been especially shocking and frightening, and any attempt to rationalize the carnage by invoking the Biblical "eye-for-an-eye" argument seems way out of line.
In addition, the devastating humanitarian toll on the vast majority of innocent people living in Gaza, who are desperately in need of medical and food supplies, is needlessly punishing those victims of this horrendous war. All of that --- plus the women and children who have been killed or horribly maimed in both Gaza and Israel since the war began --- should be ample reason for Jews to pray for an immediate end to all hostilities.
The hard truth is that what's been happening in Gaza is only going to further fracture relationships between Jews and the Arab and Palestinian peoples. In addition, it will make it easier for those embracing antisemitic tropes to spew forth their hatred against Jews now and for decades to come, which brings me to my next prayer …
* For a reduction in, if not the outright eradication of, antisemitism in the region, country and world. That includes the alarming rise in antisemitism on campuses at U.S. colleges, where far too many students say they’re living in fear.
Although antisemitism had been sharply increasing the last couple of years, according to statistics by the Anti-Defamation League and other sources, it has unfortunately skyrocketed out of control since the Oct. 7 attack and Israel’s over-the-top response to it. Israel’s right-wing government is sorely out of touch with the majority of Jews in the United States and Israel. As a result, the war has unfortunately enabled antisemites to not only intensify their ugly hatred, but to make it acceptable --- a terrifying outcome for Jews, including many in Israel who have been protesting the government’s war policies, who have no connections to the Israeli government.
* For an end to the disdain and contempt directed against all minorities and those with opposing political viewpoints that has been poisoning our national discourse. Intolerance, anger and irrational hatred have sadly replaced compassion, compromise and any desire or willingness to work together --- and that doesn’t bode well for the future of the United States. 
*That the leaders in both major American political parties will put the national interest ahead of partisan politics and get serious about tackling the immigration issue that has plagued us for decades. In late February, a bipartisan agreement had been reached in the U.S. Senate before it fell apart after first House Republicans and then most of the GOP members in both houses of Congress decided to put their prospects of winning in November ahead of passing legislation to improve the border situation. Which leads to my next prayer …
* That politicians and far too many Americans will stop demonizing immigrants, who have historically had a positive impact on the American economy. Smearing all immigrants as evil and making them the scapegoats for what's wrong with the country is not only inaccurate, but it's also disingenuous and plays into all of the stereotypes used to foment hatred instead of attacking the problem of overhauling the nation's immigration policies.
Plus, it ignores the history of the United States as a haven for immigrants, which we all were at some point. This prayer is especially fitting for Passover, which relates the story of the Israelites, who were immigrants in Egypt, leaving slavery there to emigrate to a new nation.
* That the two-plus-year-old war in Ukraine will come to an end, and that America’s leaders will be united behind the need to stop Vladimir Putin’s desire to take over that country.
These are tough times, but if we vow to work together, we will have the potential to narrow some of our differences and solve some of our problems. But if we continue to stake out extreme views --- and support extreme leaders --- then we will doom ourselves to being a dangerously polarizing country, which will adversely affect the nation’s standing in the world.
Larry Kessler, a retired Sun Chronicle local news editor, can be reached at larrythek65@gmail.com. He blogs at larrytheklineup.blogspot.com