Freedom From Fear This Passover

March 26, 2026 in Israel, Scroll

By Larry Sidman

The dominant theme of Passover is freedom. In the Haggadah, we celebrate the liberation of the Jewish people who had been enslaved in Egypt by pharaohs “who knew not Joseph.” We describe the physical and emotional pain of slavery. We recite the ten plagues that Egypt suffered, underscoring that freedom is not gained lightly. We express gratitude for all that God did for us, as we joyously chant “Dayeinu.” We conclude the seder with a hopeful rendition of L’Shanah Haba’ah B’Yerushalyim, “Next Year in Jerusalem.”

Freedom from slavery is an achievement, but the Haggadah teaches that it is a process that continues from ancient times to the precious moments of our seders. Thus, we are reminded grimly that “in each generation, they rise to destroy us, but God saves us from their hands.” This warning, tragically reflecting thousands of years of Jewish history, underscores the constant work needed to sustain freedom. To assist us in perpetuating, and, if necessary, fighting for freedom, we are commanded to imagine ourselves as if we experienced the exodus from Egypt and the sweetness and redemptive power of freedom.

Freedom also is a core American value. The American Revolution threw off the yoke of colonial rule by the British monarchy in favor of the freedom of “government of, by and for the people.” The First Amendment to the United States Constitution seeks to preserve freedom of religion, the press, speech, assembly, and the right to petition the government. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stressed the importance of freedom in his famous “Four Freedoms” address to the Congress on January 6, 1941 when Europe already had been overrun by the Nazis. In that speech, Roosevelt framed his vision of American ideals as freedom of speech and worship and freedom from want and fear.

Fear is one of most powerful emotions and a catalyst for human behavior individually and collectively. We respond to fear in a vast variety of ways. For some, fear is paralytic, causing us to retreat from reality and seek refuge at almost any cost. For others, fear triggers the “fight” reaction, striking those perceived to be the oppressors. At the communal and even the national level, fear is one of the most utilized and effective tools to influence elections.

This Passover, we do not need our imagination to grasp the relevance of fear to the lives of Jews, wherever they reside.

Our Israeli brothers and sisters rightly fear for their lives, especially when the repeated vows of Iranian leaders to destroy Israel and all the inhabitants thereof are coupled with missiles compelling them to seek shelter in their safe houses multiple times each day. Israeli lives have been at risk for the entirety of the existence of the modern State of Israel, no more so than in the last several years, as horrifically demonstrated by Hamas’ October 7 massacre and hostage taking. Several weeks ago, in his webinar as part of Beth El’s Scolnic Institute, noted progressive Israeli journalist, Amir Tibon, described the state of physical and emotional exhaustion of Israel’s population.

In the United States, antisemitism, masquerading as antizionism or unmasked as neo-nazism, has surged to a level that few American Jews could have thought possible in our lifetimes. Major Jewish organizations such as the ADL and the American Jewish Committee have provided the statistical evidence, with over 55 percent of Jewish Americans experiencing some form of antisemitism in the past year. Over 50 percent of Jewish Americans are worried about their personal safety because they are Jewish. The list of attacks on synagogues, commencing with the Tree of Life attack in 2018, has grown dramatically, the most recent only several weeks ago at Temple Israel outside Detroit where a mass scale tragedy that could have killed 140 children was miraculously avoided. The anti-Jew animosity manifested on college campuses has seeped down to high schools and middle schools.

This Passover let us consider sharpening our discussion about freedom by focusing on how the American and Israeli Jewish communities can unite in their shared quest for freedom from fear. How do we gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the responses of each community to those who seek our destruction or those who mouth platitudes deploring antisemitism, but vote to deny weapons to Israel necessary for its survival? What behaviors and strategies can be modeled to mitigate our fears? What roles do commitment, courage, faith and resilience play in seeking and hopefully attaining Jewish freedom from fear?