(RNS) — Gathering with family and friends for the Passover Seder is the most commonly celebrated of American Jewish rituals.The ritual meal, celebrated tonight (April 22) at sundown with readings recounting the story of the Exodus, articulates who Jewish people are as former slaves and their struggle for liberation.
Yet this year’s Seder may be one of the most fraught and anxiety-producing in recent memory.
The source of the tension, the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and the ongoing war in Gaza, has triggered a broad reckoning over Israel and its war of retribution on Palestinians. It has fractured the U.S. Jewish community in painful ways, especially as younger generations increasingly side with the Palestinians over Israel.
In tried and true Jewish fashion, the Israel-Hamas war has produced a plethora of “Haggadah supplements,” pithy readings, poems and commentaries, to help guide the evening as people sit around the table and consider the themes of liberation and freedom.
They range in focus from those anchored in the trauma and pain of Israelis, 1,200 of whom were killed by Hamas on Oct. 7, to those rooted in the oppression of Palestinians, some 34,000 of whom have been killed in Israel’s devastating retaliation in Gaza.
FILE – Visitors look at photos of Israeli people who were killed during the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 and those who died during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, displayed on a giant screen at the National Library in Jerusal …
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Yet this year’s Seder may be one of the most fraught and anxiety-producing in recent memory.
The source of the tension, the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and the ongoing war in Gaza, has triggered a broad reckoning over Israel and its war of retribution on Palestinians. It has fractured the U.S. Jewish community in painful ways, especially as younger generations increasingly side with the Palestinians over Israel.
In tried and true Jewish fashion, the Israel-Hamas war has produced a plethora of “Haggadah supplements,” pithy readings, poems and commentaries, to help guide the evening as people sit around the table and consider the themes of liberation and freedom.
They range in focus from those anchored in the trauma and pain of Israelis, 1,200 of whom were killed by Hamas on Oct. 7, to those rooted in the oppression of Palestinians, some 34,000 of whom have been killed in Israel’s devastating retaliation in Gaza.
FILE – Visitors look at photos of Israeli people who were killed during the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 and those who died during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, displayed on a giant screen at the National Library in Jerusal …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]