On Jewish Pride – Why Is This Passover Different?
This Passover season is a difficult and anxious one for many of us, in Israel and around the world. Still, we are commanded to celebrate and commemorate our seasons of joy, and to reflect on the meaning of freedom. I’d like to add some happy memories to help us remember who we really are.
In light of the war in the Mideast and particularly the terrorist attacks faced by our friends in Israel, the Tzohar organization and Israeli rabbinate issued new religious guidelines for conducting the search for leaven and the Passover Seder, in recognition of the extraordinary circumstances we are facing, in which families could suddenly be called down to their shelters and safe rooms.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/424830
We are taught that whoever adds to the telling of the Passover story is granted much merit, but I presume that the direction is toward more compressed and abbreviated Seders that comply with religious guidelines while protecting the safety of those celebrating.
This is also somewhat the case in Canada. Police riot squads in tactical gear with long rifles have been deployed to key synagogues and Jewish sites in Toronto to protect our Jewish community at risk.
This is a sight many of us never thought we would ever see in Canada, but it is sadly necessary. Some rabbis have already expressed the concern that some may be afraid to attend synagogue services, while others and their congregants have expressed their determination to celebrate their Judaism proudly and are more motivated to attend services than ever before.
https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/passover-patrols-ramped-up-across-gta
https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/anti-israel-protester-charged-public-incitement-hatred-passover-north-york
In every generation, we are taught to regard ourselves as among those who participated in the Exodus from Egypt. Every Jewish holiday and Sabbath celebration commemorates the Exodus, and this is one of the Six Remembrances that we as Jews are commanded to commemorate every day and every night of our lives. Why? Because without this freedom and formation as a people to worship God and to live lawfully, nothing else would be possible.
Even illustrious legal theorists like Drucilla Cornell have suggested that law makes freedom possible. This is counterintuitive to many of us, especially those of the Baby Boom 'Do Your Own Thing' Generation and their children, who often regard freedom as the right to do as one likes, regardless of the consequences. It is heartening to see some degree of law enforcement against anti-semitic incitement of hatred in Toronto, after so long without it.
The absence of law enforcement led many to believe that anti-semitic abuse is permissible. It has been too often excused as 'free speech' and 'right to protest'. No other ethnic group in Canada has been subjected to such sustained derision and abuse and harassment and has endured it so stoically and lawfully. Still, we remember these abuses, and those responsible can and will be held legally accountable for reparations to us in the future.
We are Canadian citizens too, with all the rights and benefits of citizenship, including equality under the law. It's past time for our Jewish leaders and communities to recognize this and use this knowledge. Think class actions and Nuremberg reparations. Stop being deferential. But stay lawful, not awful.
Our Canadian society has become increasingly tolerant of anti-semitic harassment, hate crimes and ideological extremism marginalizing Jews unlawfully from their participation in our civil society, schools, universities and workplaces. We pay taxes too. Our adversaries infiltrated tax funded institutions. Their offenses will be repaid to to us one day in tax funded reparations at the expense of all Canadians. Anti-semitism doesn't pay. Pass it on.
Like light and darkness, day and night, law is the gravity which balances our flights into freedom. One cannot have one without the other. Our civil society demands it.
In the Jewish tradition, we are taught that the home is a Mikdash Me'at, or Small Sanctuary, that balances the Large Sanctuary of the Synagogue, or the Jerusalem Temple in olden times, whose Western Wall is still regarded as one of the most sacred sites in Judaism. Sadly, public safety concerns have led to prohibitions and limitations of worship at the Western Wall in Jerusalem and other holy sites for the duration of the war.
Even amid all of these challenges and anxieties, we can look within ourselves and draw strength from our Jewish tradition and our life experiences and family legacies and histories in celebrating the holiday and draw new insights from them.
My grandparents lived in the midtown Toronto neighborhood that has been regularly victimized by antisemitic hate crimes and anti-Israel protests intimidating local residents. When I think of the intimidation of these Jewish neighborhoods today, I am filled with pain and rage for the desecration of this landscape and memory of these kind and gentle people and the holidays we celebrated there.
When I was little, we celebrated our Passover Seders with my grandparents, complete with Bubbie's homemade gefilte fish and legendary chicken soup with matzo balls, and Zeyde's Yiddish inflected recitation of the Seder. He always hid the Afikomen under his plate at the dining room table, and somehow he always fooled us and we never saw him hide it!
As the precocious first grandchild, I had the privilege of spending Passover Break from our Hebrew school with my grandparents, and still remember these bonding times very fondly. Bubbie and Zeyde would bribe me with Kosher for Passover gum and candies from the Jewish shops on Bathurst Street, and make a point of taking me for walks in the neighborhood to show me off to their friends and associates. I also learned to bake Passover Sponge Cake with Bubbie, who amazed me by beating the dough by hand with a wisk!
I learned to say, "Good Yontif" and picked up a little Yiddish. When my grandfather tried to sing 'Chad Gadyo' like Cantor Moishe Oysher, I corrected him with my Hebrew day-school melody. He was delighted.
My younger brother was sure that someone drank from the cup of wine left for Elijah at the Seder, and we believed it was possible! There was an aura of holiness and mystery about the Seder and a wholesome feeling of love and warmth about the place.
My brother and I enjoyed the large park in their neighborhood behind the cluster of postwar low-rise apartment buildings, which I swear is called Elijah Park now! No joke! Look it up on Google Maps. It's just west of Baycrest Geriatric Centre and Shaarei Tefillah Synagogue and Associated Hebrew School Posluns Campus on Bathurst Street at Neptune Drive.
https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/parks-recreation/places-spaces/parks-and-recreation-facilities/location/?id=2550&title=Elijah-Park
Our family was of modest means, Yiddish speaking immigrants and Holocaust survivors and their children. We were still very old-world at home, although I made a point of calling my Bubbie 'Grandma' in the park in front of non-Jewish kids so as not to stand out.
In my grandparents' neighborhood in Toronto, there were kosher grocery stores and Judaica shops and bookstores, and there still are. There were Yiddish newspapers, and people speaking Yiddish and listening to the Jewish radio show. There was the Hebrew day-school down the street that was much like our own in Hamilton, the kosher butcher, the Jewish seniors' home, the synagogue.
It was a heavily Jewish area, with many observant Jews. It often felt more authentically Jewish than our small suburban Jewish community in Hamilton, and it drew me in. I still have Jewish books from the Jewish bookstores in the neighborhood, where I browsed and looked at their ritual objects with awe and wonder. Everything we love we love for very good reasons.
There have been sociological studies of the types of Judaica people own, items which are required for ritual purposes and those which are permitted or optional, but not religiously mandated. Those who are more observant generally might be expected to have more religious ritual objects, but even those who are secularized often celebrate their Jewish identities through Jewish art or jewelry.
We are often encouraged to 'beautify a mitzvah' (Hiddur Mitzvah) by using the most luxurious objects we can afford. Our family was elegant but practical. I still have my parents' and grandparents' wine goblets and treasure them.
Our family was not fussy. We used regular crystal and glass wineglasses for kiddush, and regular china plates for the seder plate. We had a selection of mismatched Orthodox Haggadahs (all with the same text) we had accumulated over the years, from the Streit's Matzo Company, Maxwell House Coffee, Kedem Wines, and our regulation large print Hebrew School Haggadahs with the red and yellow covers, edited by Rabbi Nathan Goldberg.
Many were wine stained or had residual matzo crumbs from frequent use. This made them even more valuable and cherished, at least from our perspective. Some were Bar Mitzvah gifts. Some were early 20th century editions our friends loaned us for Seder night. The story was the same, but I always loved looking at the illustrations and editions. Now I have the scholarly editions with footnotes and extensive commentary. I usually read them AFTER the Seder.
This year in Canada, amid our trade disputes with the US, Manischewitz wine has been harder to come by in our local liquor stores. Many are choosing Israeli wines instead. For the wine aficionados among us, in my opinion sweet Concord kosher sacramental wine is best for Passover. I recommend Carmel wines from Israel!
There is no point in wasting a fine dry wine at the Passover Seder. It simply will not hold up against the horseradish and gefilte fish. Trust me. You will need the sweetness of a Concord grape to balance the flavors.
Trade war meets tradition: Canadian Jews confront a Manischewitz-free Passover
This year, I decided to recreate our mismatched Passover Haggadah collection, and just found the 90th Anniversary 2026 Edition of the Maxwell House Coffee Haggadah. These are still available FREE at this link, with modest charges for postage. I find the historic images charming and inspiring. They evoke so many memories for me and my family. I shared copies with my family members.
And not to brag, but when I was young enough to sing the Ma Nishtana (ahead of my younger brother and sister) I actually looked like the little girl in the school jumper pictured in the Maxwell House Coffee Haggadah! Here's the link:
https://www.josephjacobsadvertising.com/maxwell-house-haggadah
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_House_Haggadah
This Haggadah is legendary! It has been used in Passover Seders by US Servicemen and even at the White House!
It is reported that as a result of this Haggadah, Maxwell House became the most popular coffee in many Jewish homes in North America. It was in our house. I drink it too, just like my Mom! It brings back so many warm memories of my family and our holiday celebrations.
For me, the Maxwell House Haggadah also reminds me of the key Passover teaching, "Whoever is hungry, come and eat", not just physically but also spiritually. Let us take pride and strength in our history, culture and heritage, and above all in ourselves. Like Gershwin sang, "You can't take that away from me!" Let's not let our current challenges distract us from our deepest values.
Please support a food bank or meal program this Passover Season, and at every holiday and Yizkor / Remembrance Service and every Yahrzeit / Memorial Anniversary. That's my spiritual practice, and I hope you will make it yours.
And now, as a little travelling music, please join me in celebrating Cantor Moishe Oysher's very jaunty rendition of Ki Lo Nueh. This one is much better than the melody we learned at Hebrew school. I'd love to do it this way at my Seders, but it's hard to fit a full klezmer band and choir into my small dining room.
And, in memory of my beloved parents and grandparents, Cantor Moishe Oysher's Chad Gadyo. Some interpret this song as an allegory of history. We will prevail. With God's help. Remember this.
Chag Pesach Sameach. Stay well and strong. Am Yisrael Chai. We send our love from Canada.
