Passover & Peace

The holiday of Passover commemorates the redemption of Jews after years of slavery in the land of Egypt some 3,000 years ago. On this night families gather together and observe the holiday by reciting the story of Jewish hardships, living in bondage and slavery, from a book called, The Hagaddah.

The meal is replete with many symbols. The wine represents wealth and happiness. The herbs represent the bitterness of slavery and the unleavened bread represents bread baked hurriedly by Jews before their departure from Egypt.

Passover is an eight-day Jewish holiday of biblical origin. It marks the birth of the Jews as a people and their emergence as a unique nation devoted to G‑d's will, under the leadership of Moses, who is considered the greatest Jewish prophet in history. The Jewish nation wandered forty years in the desert culminating with the arrival in the land of Israel.

For thousands of years the Jewish people have been dispersed in countries throughout the world. The wandering Jew, as he is so often called, has touched the soil of every country. In 1947 the Jewish nation obtained its opportunity to rebuild its homeland. Modern day Israel represents the eternity of the Jewish people.

Therefore, during Passover Jews remember the great miracles that G‑d performed for them in delivering them from Egypt. The exodus from Egypt was the greatest miracle that happened to the Jewish people, for it formulated a nation.

Now, 3000 years later, Israel, once again, is faced with slavery and bondage. The slavery is different from that in the days of the Egyptian bondage because Israel is now under siege from its own people. Never in history has there been a time when Jewish people were undecided as to the direction of their country. Recent events in Hebron and the banning of extremists show us the unrest that Israel is incurring. Radicalism is suffering on both sides. Some want more settlements to expand and they flex their power by not allowing Arabs through their towns. Others in the Peace Now Movement wish to have all the settlements closed and removed and, as a bonus, give the Palestinians the new villages that the settlers built.

A few months ago Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister Rabin met in Washington to declare peace accords. At that time an agreement was drawn up and deadlines were set. However, since then more deaths have occurred and the deadlines have been broken.

Neither Jew nor Arab is happy with the turn of events. Yasser Arafat cannot control the Palestinian movement and, for that matter, Prime Minister Rabin seems to be having the same problem with the Israelis. In these times Israel needs a miracle, a miracle resembling the one that helped form them as a nation 3,000 years ago, something that would supersede normal events.

When we speak about miracles, we wonder if miracles have happened in our lifetime. Just thinking for a moment or two about the Desert Storm War and the victory in the Gulf, it is a miracle of the triumph over tyranny. The thousands of people who are being helped now in Bosnia and Herzkovena by the United Nations is something of a miracle. Regardless of the Somalian inter-fighting, millions of Somalians are being saved by the food delivered by friendly countries.

However, when we speak of miracles, sometimes we need to personalize miracles. By recognizing personal miracles, then we can aspire for bigger miracles. During the holiday of Passover as a chaplain I visit many different hospitals and those in old-age retirement homes. I bring some hand-made matzoh, unleavened bread, from Israel and remind those in the hospitals that they have not been forgotten for, indeed, the miracle of the Exodus is an on-going miracle for all people at all times.

Recently the following miracle took place. I was visiting an older person who had been in the hospital with a chronic disease. In the past few years he had been in the hospital for many months at a time. Once, very isolated after a long illness, he felt hopeless thinking that nobody really cared. Being religious he knew that G‑d was looking out for him. But, after so many months in the hospital his faith began to weaken. Waking up one night he said, "If there truly is a G‑d who cares about me, I wish to see a miracle take place." As sick as he was, he gave G‑d a deadline that within the next twenty-four hours G‑d would have to produce a miracle for him or he would become an atheist.

It was midnight, one, then two o'clock in the morning. The man woke up worrying that maybe he had made the wrong kind of deal. Maybe he wasn't worthy of a miracle. As he lay in bed he was scared that soon the sun would come up and he would have to keep his side of the bargain in giving up faith in G‑d.

Around 5:30 in the morning one of the rabbis from a different area popped into his room with the announcement, "I am a Rabbi visiting the patients. Here is a matzoh for the holiday of Passover." The sick man got so excited that he literally jumped out of his bed, ran to the rabbi and said to him, "You are not a rabbi! You must be Elijah the prophet, the bearer of good news!"

"No," said the rabbi, "I was just doing my rounds and I decided to pick this hospital this year in order to share matzoh with some Jew who would not be able to attend a family seder." The man's faith was renewed and he was back on the road to recovery.

In the state of Israel today there are tens of thousands of people waiting for a miracle. They need a good prophet to come and bring them the news that there will be peace in the state of Israel, that the Arabs and the Jews will live and co-exist for the next thousand years in peace. Israel prays for a miracle to be liberated from its own internal bickering and fighting over that which is right and that which is wrong. Arabs pray for the miracle that their own people be understanding and accepting of the road towards friendly co-existence with Israelites.

What a wonderful Passover miracle and gift it would be for all of us. As the old Jewish prayer says, "Next year in Jerusalem," however, peace now!