The fifth question: Where are our loved ones this seder?

• Published date: 22 April 2024
• Author: RACHEL GOLDBERG-POLIN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Upon writing this, we, as a nation, find ourselves enslaved once again

On October 7, 2023, an atrocity, the likes of which we have not seen since the end of the Holocaust, befell our people. And now, our grandfathers, spouses, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters are, shockingly, still being held captive in tormented slavery.

Normally, we ask four questions at the Seder. This year we must shout a fifth: "Why are our loved ones not sitting at the table with us?"

This year, more than ever in our lifetimes, when we eat the bread of affliction, taste the bitter herbs, or envision what it feels like to be enslaved, each act will take on a deeper, a more profound, intensity than we have ever experienced.

Do any of us actually need salt-water this year to remind us of the tears the Jewish people felt during their captivity as slaves in Egypt? After daily tears for 199 days, I think not. This year, every one of those experiences is real for too many of our brothers and sisters.

The Seder is designed to elicit and encourage questions. Now, more than ever, all we have are questions. Where better to hash out our most weighty and painful queries than at the Seder table?

It has been said that the proverbial "Four Sons" are actually four different personality types of people who may be attending the Seder. They could be curious, contrary, simple or passive.

But this year there is a fifth person we should be thinking about. It is a hostage who may have one of those...