More Jews attend a Passover Seder than participate in any other ritual. The themes of Passover resonate deeply within the Jewish soul and are designed to make us uncomfortable with the status quo. This year, we at JSPAN have four questions that we hope you will intersperse in the discussions at your Seder. Please click the comment button below to let us know what kind of reaction they draw.

“For you were strangers in the land of Egypt”
Last Friday, efforts to reach a compromise immigration bill collapsed in the Senate, leaving 11 million illegal immigrants with less hope than ever that they will be able to become United States citizens. Studies show that illegal immigrants commit fewer crimes than the average American, perhaps out of fear of deportation if they get caught, and that immigration is a net plus for the American economy. As a law-abiding people who remind ourselves constantly of what it feels like to be strangers in the land, what should Jews be telling our elected officials to do about immigration reform?

“Let all who are hungry come and eat”
Six million children in the world under the age of five die every year as a result of hunger. Here, in the richest country in the world, 36 million Americans are “food insecure,” meaning that members of the household have no food and cannot afford to buy any, adults in the household skipped meals or ate less because there was not enough money for food, or the family worried that the food on hand would run out before there was money to buy more. Yet, 40% of those eligible for the Food Stamp Program are not receiving benefits. Besides making an individual contribution to Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger, what can we do after we leave the Seder to address this issue?

“They made life bitter for them with harsh labor”
The history of slavery in Egypt is reflected in numerous Biblical references to the importance of economic justice, including the treatment of employees and the payment of wages. Today, the federal minimum wage stands at $5.15 an hour, or less than $11,000 a year for someone who works full time and takes no vacation. Over 7 million Americans work for less than $6.65 an hour, over one-fourth of whom are married family heads or spouses. This puts them below the poverty level. Proposals exist in Congress and in various state legislatures to raise the minimum wage to $7.15 over time. Critics say that this will hurt employers and cause them to cut jobs. How should we respond?

“And you shall tell your child on that day”
The Seder represents perhaps the most powerful intergenerational tool for transmitting to our children the values of who we are and what we believe in as a people. Each year we leave the Seder feeling as if we had been personally redeemed from the narrow place of bondage in Egypt. As we move from darkness to light, slavery to freedom, and sorrow to happiness, we commit ourselves anew to work, speak out, strive and fight for the redemption of all people. What actions will each of us commit to take to repair the world in the days and weeks ahead?

We wish you a sweet Pesach!

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