Dear Friends,

Passover is filled with vital messages for vital moments. Thankfully!

Unfortunately, however, we are not lacking in such critical moments. Take your pick among what is pressing these days and what Passover may have to say about them, especially on this week’s Shabbat Pesach:

• Militaristic attacks on refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants – No image is more striking than our Jewish trek from oppression to freedom, to relocate to a place of hope as we departed slavery and violence.  America was built on that model of giving shelter and hope to those seeking a haven, as Lady Liberty announces, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
• Hostility towards the press and free speech – Passover is predicated on Moses’ capacity to enter the presence of the oppressive Pharaoh and announce, “Let My People Go.”  Today, press organizations and journalists are disallowed from White House press briefings, and newspapers are pressured to present only authorized reports. 
• Unwarranted attacks on illustrious universities – From Columbia to Northwestern, Harvard to Stanford, our greatest universities are threatened with defunding, ostensibly due to their failure to police antisemitism, even when they have taken great strides to safeguard students of all religions.  This is a thinly disguised attack on pro-Palestinian students, and it undermines generations of interfaith work we have undertaken towards building Jewish-Muslim relations, on and off-campus, even when Israeli politics make matters difficult.  A Midrash teaches that God hushed the ancient Israelites who rejoiced when the Egyptian charioteers perished as the sea’s split waters closed upon them; “Those are my people, too,” God declared.
• Economic peril due to contrived emergencies and tariffs – Trillions of dollars in savings and retirement accounts, as well as personal, corporate, and civic funds, vanished as unnecessary tariffs were capriciously levied on American consumers, ostensibly to level the playing field of trade imbalances.  When our Israelite forebears departed Egypt, her economy tanked, and the Egyptian dynasty collapsed.  National economies are fragile, irrespective of how they are constructed.  And, invariably, the common people suffer economic hardship the most.  
• Health emergencies ignored or exacerbated – Measles incidents are increasing, and unvaccinated children have died, but the new administration is continuing its anti-vaccination policies and canards.  Passover is the paradigmatic example of a people seeking safety from threats and arguing for truth in the face of falsehood.  

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And the list could keep going.  Passover addresses every aspect of life.  

Let’s pause between matza pizza to ponder the situation and then light Shabbat candles to close another trying week!

Shabbat Shalom and Hag Sameach,

Rabbi Douglas Kohn