As we gather this year for the Seder, we face challenges that are all too familiar if we consider our history but unfamiliar for so many of us today. 

Here in America and throughout the world, we face growing anti-Semitism which has left us questioning our security as communities and as individuals.

In Israel, our brothers and sisters are experiencing harrowing days as warnings send them hurrying to shelters and safe rooms. Our thoughts are with them as they face this horribly difficult daily challenge. We pray for their safety, and the safety of all who are caught in the crossfire and we pray for lasting peace for the region.

So, when we say the words: Mah Nishtana!. How is this night different from all other nights, we will not only be thinking about how every Pesach night is different from all other nights but how this Pesach is different from all other holidays we have experienced. 

And it is different. 

However, I hope that we can find a way to allow the customs and traditions of the Seder to give us comfort during these difficult times. 

In Exodus 12:42, we read that the night of the Exodus was a layl shimurim, a night of watching, a night of vigil and it will be so in every generation. 

There are many ways to understand the phrase: “a night of watching”. One way that our ancestors understood the phrase was that during the night of the Exodus, God was watching over us even more directly than on other days and nights. On the night of the Exodus from Egypt, our people felt more directly than any other time, God’s protective care.

At the Seder, we don’t observe the anniversary of the Exodus, but we step out of our time and experience that night itself, as “in every generation”, we experience a night of watching, a night of God’s protection. 

I hope that at the Seder this year, each of us can find a way to feel that sense of God’s protection and care. If the idea of divine protection doesn’t resonate with you, then you can think of the sense of comfort and security that our rituals can provide for us. You can think of the support of those of past generations who lived through difficult times and allow their courage to give us strength as we face our own troubled days. You can realize the blessing of community joining together at a table to support each other.

It will be tempting this year to focus our Seders only on the challenges we face. I hope, however, that we will balance that with a sense of the security we can find in our faith and in our commitment to our traditions and in the presence of family and friends around the Seder table. 

I wish all a peaceful, secure and hopeful holiday. May the Seder inspire us to not surrender to sadness but to continue to believe that there will be better days ahead.