Passover means liberation for all!

PLEASE FORWARD! TAKE THIS TO YOUR SEDER!

Dear friends,
I'm writing tonight with great joy after helping to organize and participating in a protest seder today outside the offices of major Jewish institutions in Boston. Our group came together quite organically specifically to try to break open the false idea of "consensus" in the Jewish community when it comes to support of Israeli policy. Read our press release below, take a look at the beautiful photographs that a friend took, and most importantly - PRINT OUT THE ATTACHED HAGGADAH SUPPLEMENT to use at a seder if you're planning to hold or attend one. Or if not, please forward to everyone you know who is. The first seder is Wednesday night, so you don't have much time! :)
(A note about the attachment - it's formatted for legal-size paper, so make sure you fit it to page if you're not printing on legal-size paper. If you want the text from me in a different form, please let me know.)
Love and liberation,
Hannah

Young Boston Jews support Palestinian rights, challenge AIPAC and JCRC by holding seder outside their offices

Photographs available at
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Passover_Means_Liberation_For_All_2006

On Tuesday, April 11, at 5:00 pm, 20 young Jewish people gathered for a seder (traditional celebration of Passover) outside 126 High Street in Boston, the building that houses the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Boston's Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC). The group expressed their support for Palestinian human rights and opposition to AIPAC’s and JCRC’s unquestioning support for Israel and its governmental policies. With a banner that read “Passover means liberation for all. Justice for Palestine,” they conveyed the message to the organizations inside and to the media that AIPAC and JCRC do not speak for all Jews.

The group set up a seder table and recited Passover's traditional four questions, with newly written answers that included facts about Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes, confiscation and destruction of Palestine's land resources for the expansion of settlements and the Separation Wall, and malnutrition and poverty in Palestine caused by Israeli closure and movement restrictions. (supplement attached)

According to Marjorie Kent, one of the organizers of the seder “During Passover, every generation of Jewish people is commanded to remember that we were slaves and to tell the story of the Exodus so that we can recognize oppression that happens today and work to stop it. Today we committed ourselves to this task.”

AIPAC pushes the US government to support Israeli policies which result in the brutal oppression of Palestinian people and denial of their internationally recognized human rights. JCRC, while claiming to speak for all Jews, invests enormous time and energy suppressing any voice of opposition to Israeli policies, especially Jewish voices. "Our generation has had enough of AIPAC’s and JCRC's complicity in Israel's human rights abuses of Palestinians," said Hannah Mermelstein, another seder organizer. “Their support of these policies betray the libratory message of Passover.”

The group called on people leaving the building to take the message of “liberation for all” home with them this Passover. They handed out supplements for people to add to their traditional Passover seders. The text of the supplement follows.

As the group left, the police arrived with specific instructions to arrest them.

Passover Means Liberation for All
Haggadah Supplement
Passover 5766/2006

INTRODUCTION:

Avadot hayinu. We were slaves. As Jewish people, our tradition calls us to remember that we were slaves. Each year on Passover, we retell the story of Exodus. We recall that our ancestors were held captive. We remember their courage in resisting; we retell the story of their flight to freedom.

But we must not simply remember this story. We are called to identify with our history of enslavement, and with the struggle for liberation. It is written in the Haggadah that: In every generation each person is obligated to see himself or herself as though he or she personally came forth from Mitzrayim. To fulfill this obligation—to stay true to the spirit of Passover—we must stand in solidarity with those who are oppressed now. However, inside this building are Jewish organizations that take part in the oppression of the Palestinian people. We gather today outside the offices of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Jewish Community Relations Council. As young Jewish people, we call on these groups to end their betrayal of the true meaning of Passover. We call on them to end their support for policies that violate Palestinians’ human rights.

This Passover, it is time for each of us to make a choice, to decide where we stand. We hope that this Seder will help our community return to the side of justice, loving-kindness, and tikkun olam. All of us must work harder to live up to the words of the Rabbi Hillel, who said: That which is hateful to you, do not do unto others.

QUESTION 1

Question: On all other nights we eat leavened bread and matzah. Why on this night only matzah?

Answer: Avadot hayinu. We were slaves. In their flight from bondage in Mitzrayim, our mothers did not have time to let the dough rise. The hot sun baked the dough they carried into the flat unleavened bread we call matzah. Eating only matzah reminds us of the struggle of our ancestors. It also reminds us of the hunger faced today by Palestinian families. This hunger is caused not by natural disasters, but by the policies of the Israeli government. In recent months, residents of Gaza have faced rationing, bread lines, and hunger. This misery has been caused by the Israeli government’s prolonged closure of the Karni checkpoint. In 2003, a study funded by US A.I.D. found that more than 85 percent of four-year-olds in the West Bank and Gaza were not getting enough food. When we eat matzah, we think of this hunger and we dedicate ourselves to ending it.

QUESTION 2:

Question: On all other nights we eat all kinds of vegetables. Why on this night do we make certain to eat bitter herbs?

Answer: Avadot hayinu. We were slaves. We eat maror to remind us how bitter our ancestors’ lives were made by their enslavement. And we eat maror to remind us of the bitterness faced by those who are still not free. We think of the bitterness felt by Palestinian people who are forced to wait for hours at military checkpoints. We think of people who face intimidation, pain, and ridicule every time they travel to work, go to school, seek medical care, or visit loved ones. We think of the bitterness caused by Israeli-only bypass roads that cut through Palestinians’ land. And we think of the bitterness of 6 million Palestinian refugees who cannot return to their homes. When we eat maror, we think of the bitter suffering faced by Palestinians and we dedicate ourselves to ending it.

QUESTION 3:

Question: On all other nights we do not usually dip food once. Why on this night do we dip twice?

Answer: Avadot hayinu. We were slaves. The first time we dip our greens into salt water to taste the tears of enslavement. We think of the sadness of our ancestors. And today we also think of the tears of Palestinian families whose homes are demolished by the Israeli army, without warning and in violation of international law. The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions reports that since 1967, Israeli authorities have destroyed over twelve thousand Palestinian homes in the Occupied Territories. When we taste salt water, we think of these ruined homes and we dedicate ourselves to stopping the destruction. We also think of the tears of families who mourn daughters and sons lost to violence. Both Jewish people in Israel, and the far greater number of Palestinians killed by policies of the Israeli government. We dedicate ourselves to ending this violence, for the sake of all.

The greens that we dip into the water also remind us of life and growth. Even in a time of sadness, there is hope for rebirth. We hope for peace in the Middle East. But we know that peace will not come without justice. We dedicate ourselves to working for both.

The second time, we dip the maror into the charoset. The charoset reminds us of the mortar that our ancestors mixed as slaves in Mitzrayim. Today, it also reminds us of the concrete used to build the separation wall. We think of the division caused by the wall: the Palestinians separated from their land, the families separated from each other, the farmers separated from their olive trees. We think of the Israeli settlements, which violate the Geneva Conventions. We remember that settlements continued to grow even during the peace process. We know that despite the Gaza withdrawal, hundreds of thousands of settlers remain in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. We remember that settlements steal water, steal land, and create terror for Palestinian people. We think of separation and terror, and we dedicate ourselves to overcoming them.

QUESTION 4:

Question: On Passover, we usually sit on soft chairs. Why do we stand at this Seder?

Answer: Avadot hayinu. We were slaves. Because this year, it is time for each of us to make a choice. Do we stand for justice? Or do we sit and do nothing as others are oppressed in our name? Do we stand against the oppression of our Palestinian sisters and brothers? Or do we sit and allow AIPAC, JCRC, and others to betray our traditions? Do we act in the true spirit of Passover, or do we allow this holiday to become a meaningless ritual? Do we sit silently and betray the meaning of our sacred tradition? Or do we stand up and speak out?

Today, we choose to stand!