For many Israelis this Passover, celebrating the Festival of Freedom feels impossible

• Published date: 20 April 2024
• Author: DEBORAH DANAN/JTA
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Moshit is the daughter of the oldest Israeli hostage held by Hamas - Shlomo Mansour, 86

"It's going to be less of a celebration and more of marking the holiday," Safir, 20, told reporters in a video call this week.

It's a sentiment that is widely shared this year by families of the hostages and the millions of Jews in Israel and around the world who have mounted a sweeping advocacy campaign pressing for their release. The Passover holiday begins on Monday, when Jews are traditionally read through the haggadah, which recounts the story of the Israelites' freedom from slavery and exodus from Egypt.

"I don't even want to be a part of it," Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose son Hersh, 23, remains a hostage in Gaza, told the Times of Israel on Friday. "There's something perverse about even going through the motions of celebrating a holiday of freedom from captivity when our only son is not free and is in the worst form of captivity that any of us can imagine. It feels completely inappropriate."

For Mai Albini-Peri, 29, from Jerusalem, whose grandfather Chaim Peri was also kidnapped and taken to Gaza during the October 7 attack, the Passover rituals feel almost impossible to carry out. "How can we celebrate such a holiday while 133 people are still without their freedom, still waiting to be liberated?" he asked.

Empty seats and prayers

On October 7, Peri hid his wife in the safe room and went out to fight the invading terrorists. "My grandpa sacrificed his freedom to save his wife," Albini-Peri said. He went on to note that his grandfather, who marked his 80th birthday last week in captivity, was a peace activist who drove sick children from Gaza to Israeli hospitals. "He dedicated his life to liberating oppressed people wherever," he said.

Safir said her family will leave an empty seat at the seder table for Mansour. Jews in other parts of the world, including London and Los Angeles, have been asked to do the same in honor of the 134 hostages still in captivity.

Some families will be using a haggadah sold by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum and produced by the print shop at Kibbutz Beeri, where 90 residents were murdered and 20 taken hostage on October 7. The haggadah features an essay by Goldberg-Polin and her husband, Jon, that adds a fifth question to the holiday's traditional four: "Why are our loved ones not sitting at the table with us?"

In Israel, the head of the Tzohar rabbinical organization, Rabbi David Stav, said it was "impossible to celebrate...