PRAYER FOR REFUGEES AT PESACH

Eternal God, our Creator and Liberator, as we celebrate together at our seder and rejoice in our many blessings, we pause to remember those across the world whose lives are blighted by the curses of poverty and persecution. We think of the many millions in flight from tyranny, violence and destitution, risking their lives as they make their escape in the hope of finding refuge and security elsewhere.

Eternal Teacher of Your people Israel, as the children and grandchildren and descendants of refugees, aware of Your teachings of justice and our sacred obligations towards the stranger, we express our commitment before You now to open our hearts and our hands and our communities to welcome those in need of refuge, and to do what we can to contribute to the alleviation of their suffering. And let us say: Amen.            

SHOELACES

The shoelaces on the seder plate remind us of all those in flight from persecution and destitution, tyranny and war across the world today.

Let us take a moment now to think of them.

BEETROOT

The beetroot on the seder plate is a reminder of Putin’s brutal war against Ukraine and Ukrainian sovereignty. Ukraine’s most famous national food is borscht, for which the main ingredient is beetroot. Rabbi Igor Zinkov of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, who is Co-Chair of the World Union/European Union of Progressive Judaism Ukraine Emergency Support Fund, writes:

“The story of Pesach is the story of freedom – and we will all be praying for those in Ukraine to be free this Passover. Many of us feel helpless in the face of what is happening, but all of us placing a beetroot on the sederplate is a powerful symbol of solidarity.

The Hebrew for beetroot is selek (סלק), which resembles the word for retreat, yistalku (יסתלקו).

At our seder, we will eat the beetroot after the bitter herbs are consumed and say the following prayer: May it be Your will, Eternal God, that all the enemies who might beat us will retreat (yistalku), and we will beat a path to freedom.”

SUNFLOWER SEEDS

The sunflower seeds on the seder plate are another way of expressing our solidarity with the Ukrainian people. Ukraine is a major grower of sunflowers, exporting sunflower oil around the world. Russia’s war against Ukraine has had a devastating impact on people and homes, on cities, towns and villages, on utilities and the economy, including, agriculture.

 

A RED CHILLI

The red chilli on the seder plate is a reminder of the burning world and of the catastrophic effects of climate change. As we pause to reflect on our impact as human beings on the planet, and to think of melting ice caps and the destruction caused by fires and floods over the past year, let us resolve to take responsibility for doing what we can to repair the earth, our only home.

AN ONION

The onion on the seder plate is a reminder of all those who are enslaved across the globe today.

Nicky Lachs writes: “It is not enough that the symbols on the seder plate just remind us that we were once slaves. We should also have something symbolising the fact that people are enslaved around the world today. I chose the onion for several reasons – but the main one is just that the onion is a basic but non-noticed ingredient of many food-stuffs, just as those who are exploited/ abused/enslaved are the ones who hold up the economy, but remain unseen…”                                         

AN ORANGE

The orange on the seder plate is a reminder of all those who feel excluded from Jewish life.

Dr Susannah Heschel tells the story of the genesis of this ritual in the 2003 book, The Women’s Passover Companion (JPL). It began with a story about a young girl who asks a Rebbe what room there is in Judaism for a lesbian. The Rebbe rises in anger and shouts: “There’s as much room for a lesbian in Judaism as there is for a crust of bread on the seder plate.” 

Besides the fact that a piece of bread would make everything un-kosher for Pesach, a piece of bread on the sederplate would carry a message that lesbians were a violation of Judaism itself, that they were infecting the community with something impure. So, the next year, Heschel put an orange on the seder plate “because it suggests the fruitfulness for all Jews when lesbians and gay men are contributing and active members of Jewish life.” The symbolism grew to include people who feel marginalised from the Jewish community, in particular LGBTQ+ people. The orange is a beacon of justice, equality and human rights.

OLIVES

The olives on the seder plate remind us that we cannot celebrate our ancestors’ liberation from slavery in Egypt without acknowledging that today the Palestinian people are not yet free.

The Torah narrates that when Noah sent out a dove from the Ark in search of dry land, she returned with a freshly plucked olive leaf in her mouth (Genesis 8:10-11). Since that time, the olive tree has been a symbol of hope and peace.

Sadly, in recent years, the destruction of Palestinian olive trees by Israeli settlers has been destroying the hope of a just peace between two peoples whose roots in the land that divides them are deeper even than those of the most ancient olive tree.

As we eat the olives tonight at our sacred seder, let us commit ourselves to supporting those courageous individuals and groups amongst the Israelis and the Palestinians who are working for peace and justice, dignity and security for both peoples. Thinking in particular of the people of Gaza, whose lives have been devastated by the war between Israel and Hamas following the depraved Hamas atrocities of October 7 2023, let us also recommit ourselves to a nonviolent resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

 

SPACE ON THE SEDER PLATE

Tonight, as we reflect on the meaning of all these symbols on the seder plate, we also leave a space to acknowledge other injustices that blight our world (an invitation to share).