JERUSALEM (RNS) — For Passover, Tsiyona Sharvit, an Israeli woman who lives on a kibbutz in a West Bank settlement, plans to join the holiday meal of the family of her daughter’s partner. It’s the first time she’ll be meeting them, which should be an exciting time for her, but Sharvit admits she’s worried about what to do if political talk breaks out at the Seder table.An observant Jew, Sharvit normally looks forward to the holiday and its celebration of Jews’ delivery from Egyptian slavery. This year, though, it’s felt overshadowed by unrest in her country, as tens of thousands of people in Israel have gathered to protest efforts by Israel’s right-wing coalition government to overhaul the country’s judicial system. Sharvit, who said she leans conservative politically, has participated in protests. And although her family has not experienced division around politics, she can’t say the same for many of her friends.
“I have friends who have asked me to spend Passover with them because they aren’t speaking to their families,” she said. “They’re really angry.”
One friend, she said, canceled plans with her sister to celebrate the holiday after an argument over the protests. They had spent almost every Passover of their lives together.
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Amid Israel protests, ‘Passover table is the new Thanksgiving table’
