Last year on Passover, the anti-Israel group Jewish Voice for Peace staged what they called an anti-Zionist Seder at the University of Southern California.
I was bewildered at how such a Seder can even be constructed. The following serves as my open letter to JVP, going through each of the Seder’s 14 steps and demonstrating how each and every step contains a connection to the Holy Land:
Kadesh — making Kiddush over wine
According to Jewish law, the wine must be grape wine specifically, because grape vines are listed amongst the produce of the Land of Israel in Deuteronomy 8:8 – “A land of wheat and barley, grape vines and figs and pomegranates, a land of oil producing olives and honey.”
Urchatz — handwashing without a blessing
In ancient Israel, before eating foods dipped in liquids, they would ritually wash their hands so that their hands would not subsequently defile the teruma, the gift of produce to a Kohen. We wash our hands before Karpas in memory of this ancient practice. Note that the laws of teruma are only operative in the Holy Land.
Karpas — dipping the green vegetable in salt water
Karpas has many layers of meaning, but the Talmud says that the reason we must perform it is to elicit curiosity and questions from the children, in keeping with the verses in Exodus 12:25-26 – “And it shall come to pass when you enter the Land that the Lord will give you, as He spoke, that you shall observe this service. And it will come to pass if your children say to you, what is this service to you?”
Yachatz — breaking the middle matzah
The ensuing section of Maggid must be recited over a broken matzah in order to signify a sense of “poor man’s bread.” And so, we break the matzah and then immediately declare that we are considered as poor and enslaved until we all return to Eretz Yisrael; that declaration ends with: “Now we are here; next year in the land of Israel. Now – slaves; next year we shall be free.”
Maggid – telling the story of the Exodus
The entire long Maggid section dramatically concludes with the line: “It was not only our ancestors whom the Holy One redeemed; He redeemed us too along with them, as it is said: ‘He took us out of there, to bring us to the Land He promised our ancestors and to give it to us.’”
Rochtzah — washing hands with a blessing
We wash our hands with a vessel in memory of the ancient Temple practice of the Kohanim.
Motzi Matzah — blessing over the matzah
According to Jewish Law, matzah must be made from one of the five species associated with the first two grains listed as grains of Eretz Yisrael in Deuteronomy 8:8 – “A land of wheat and barley, grape vines and figs and pomegranates, a land of oil producing olives and honey.”
Marror — eating bitter herbs
The Midrash connects this practice to the verse in Lamentations 3:15: “He has filled me with bitterness; He has sated me with wormwood,” which the prophet Jeremiah uttered in lamenting the downfall of Zion.
Korech — eating the famous “Hillel Sandwich”
Hillel made Aliyah (moved from the exile to the Land of Israel) in the first century C.E.
Shulchan Orech — eating the meal
We are required to have a festive meal on all holidays, in fulfillment of the verse in Isaiah 58: 13-14: “And you shall call the Sabbath a delight, the holy (day) of the Lord honored… Then, you shall delight with the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the high places of the Land, and I will give you to eat the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Tzafun — eating the Afikomen
We make dessert over a piece of matzah in memory of Temple times, when the last thing you eat must be the Passover sacrifice. The sacrifice could only be eaten in the holy city of Jerusalem, and its meat could not be removed from the city.
Barech – reciting the grace after meals
Barech is in fulfillment of the Biblical verse in Deuteronomy 8:10 – “And you will eat and be sated, and you shall bless the Lord, your God, for the good Land that He has given you.”
Hallel — reciting Psalms
The text of Hallel is replete with references to Jerusalem.
Nirtzah — concluding the Seder
The Seder famously concludes with the lines: “Soon, lead the shoots of our stock, redeemed, into Zion with great joy! Next Year in Jerusalem!”
This should all suffice to show that a so-called anti-Zionist Seder is impossible.
I wish us all a happy Pesach.