Why was this Pesach different?

By Rabbi Debra Smith

On the surface, this Pesach was wonderful! One of our daughters flew in from Baltimore to spend the week with us in Florida. For the first time in many years, I was not leading a community Seder, but rather was a guest at two very different Seders, one hosted by family and the other hosted by friends. Both were lively, and the food at both was wonderful.

I felt such comfort and well-being celebrating with my husband and daughter of beloved family and dear friends.

But in my heart, I felt tugging of sadness, a sense of incompleteness. My soul felt in prison in a tight and narrow Mitzrayim as we celebrated and rejoiced at our liberation from Egyptian slavery and our renewal as a people.

I asked myself: Why was this Pesach different from other Pesachs?

And I answered myself:
On other  Pesachs in my lifetime, Israel was not at war.

On other Pesachs in my lifetime, our fellow Jews were not being held hostage by a terrorist organization that wanted to wipe every one of us off the face of the earth.

On other Pesachs in my lifetime, anti-Semitic incidents were not up 600% and I felt safe as a Jew in America – something I do not feel with certainty today.

On all other Pesachs, college campuses were not protesting against Israel as perpetrating genocidal crimes against the Palestinians, nor was Israel being called an apartheid state being widely accused of war crimes.

Our plagues as Jews have multiplied many-fold. Dayenu! Enough! When and how will this end?

May the coming months bring peace in the Middle East and a release of the hostages.