This is Gaza's Passover. As Jews approach the great festival days of liberation, I promise you we are all thinking about Israel and Palestine in the wake of the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian children. Some of these thoughts are crazy and chiliastic (in a word, neocon). Some of these thoughts are crazy and religious (this Haaretz piece adapting the Passover ritual of spilling drops of wine/blood over "the necessary loss of Gazan life 3 months ago.").
And some of these thoughts are inspiring and humanistic–and say there's light at the end of this tunnel of belligerence. Adam Horowitz, writing today in my old paper, the Philadelphia Daily News:
THROUGH the ritual of the Seder, Passover tells the story of the
Pharaoh's oppression of the Jews in ancient Egypt and their eventual
emancipation from slavery. It's a time of reflection, and after the
recent war in Gaza, many Jews are asking: Who are the slaves and who is
the Pharaoh?The war saw more than 1,417 Palestinians killed, more than 900 of them
civilians, as opposed to 13 Israelis. The war was not only a
devastating event for Palestinians but also the moral challenge of our
time to the American Jewish community whose communal leadership
supported the onslaught publicly and loudly. This year, Passover gives
us a chance to reflect on this war, our history and our responsibility.This year, by coincidence, the start of Passover also falls near an
important anniversary, Deir Yassin Day. Deir Yassin was a Palestinian
village destroyed by Zionist militias on April 9, 1948.More than 100 men, women and children were killed. As word of the
massacre, and others like it, spread through Palestine, many residents
fled, expecting they'd be able to return after the fighting subsided.
Within a year, Deir Yassin, emptied of Palestinians, was repopulated
with Jewish immigrants and its name was erased from the map.The Passover Seder is about learning and teaching – using the stories
of the past to understand our place in the world today. The story of
Egypt is told and remembered through ritual, questioning and
storytelling.This year, a group of Jewish activists in Philadelphia are using the
Seder ritual to wrestle with the Jewish history of being both slave and
Pharaoh.Today and tomorrow, Philadelphia Jews for a Just Peace are holding
"From Deir Yassin to Gaza: an 18-hour Passover Vigil" outside the
Israeli Consulate (at 19th and JFK Blvd). This event will combine a memorial to Deir Yassin, a
Passover ritual remembering the past as well as a teach-in and
discussion.We are holding this event to understand the past and take responsibility for its legacies in the present.
