Exodus Re-enacted: Passover Eve Healing Ukrainian Refugees

This is Passover Eve and Jews around the world are sitting around family tables remembering the Exodus of the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt to freedom.

As we read the Haggadah, the book that helps us remember the story, we reenact a celebration of freedom. One of the central parts of the reading and singing is Ma Nishtana, “what’s different tonight,” and we find four answers to those questions.

As we are experiencing the worst humanitarian catastrophe of this century, without end in sight, I have written my personal reflection for this specific Passover Eve.

“What is different tonight from any other Passover night?”

Every Passover night, we SIT in our beloved homes. This Passover I join our medical teams at the Poland/Ukraine border in HEALING refugees.

Hadassah Clinic in Poland. Photo courtesy of Hadassah.

Every Passover night, we REMEMBER freedom. This Passover, we ACT to liberate Ukrainian refugees from suffering.

Every Passover night, we READ about struggles from the past. This Passover, we DO anything we can to help mothers, children and families escaping the brutality of Russian attacks.

Every Passover night, we CELEBRATE the freedom of our own people. This Passover, we CARE for the freedom and survival of the Ukrainian people and for humankind.

Passover is not just a remembrance of a founding moment in Jewish history. It is a story that places freedom from oppression as the core value of human existence.

As I see the tragedy of the Ukrainian people in the eyes of the refugees, I cannot visualize any other place to be on Passover Eve but with them.

Over the past several weeks, I have taken a personal commitment to do as much as I can to help those living this new Exodus, escaping the horror. I have been in Poland almost all this time, among others because I remember what I have been reading at every Seder family table since I was old enough to read: “In each generation, every person needs to see himself as if he has left Egypt.”

For me, that act of liberation, represented in the actions taken by those who chose freedom over slavery, has marked my entire life.

And in this generation, seeing myself as if I had taken that action, represents a call for action now. Because this is not a moment to simply remember; these are times to change the course of history and preserve the world as a planet of free people, free from the Pharaohs of the modern world.

Everybody can play a part in this story.

I am here, my medical colleagues are here too.

We will prevail.

The Hadassah Humanitarian Mission at the Polish Ukrainian border is a joint project of Hadassah, Hadassah International and Hadassah Medical Organization.