Week of Pesach 2025
My sedarim were wonderful: meaningful, challenging and of course delicious – expert catering by Ian and Ruthie Gaskin and their cre
w at the communal seder for 80 and my own for the first night, where our lingering conversations – from Empathy, to the Prince of Egypt, to Passovers past – served only to make the cooking chickens more tender. We made every word of the Haggadah speak to us personally, bringing sensitivity to our story as Jews from Egyptian bondage, through Roman occupation, to the European pogroms and crusades, to the inquisitions, then through to the Holocaust and now into this aching moment of history. Throughout this, the quest has been for freedom for all. ‘Unless all are free, no-one is free,’ were our closing words. What a hope. What a prayer. We have scars for our trauma, clear battle marks of it all.
We also know that personal liberation must precede every communal one, that freedom always begins with us, in our hearts.
Min hameitzar karati yah v’anani v’merchav yah.
From narrow straits I called to you and You answered me in wide expansiveness.
This verse of Hallel, Psalm 118, is the heart of Pesach for me: it is an invitation and encouragement to notice where you are, to observe that the bars that surround you may come from your own habits, choices and fear, then to seek to move beyond them and then to free yourself – even partially.
This moment of Hallel, this moment of reaching for personal release, is the hidden gift of Passover. It speaks of relief from illness, from the awful paralysis of grief, from struggle and disappointment into a wider expansive existence not confined by the narrow straits in which we have been held. We may not be cured of our afflictions or our situations but somehow, we may be looser and easier with them.
This personal idea of freedom, which is deeply compelling to me, is right there.
We can seek this opening for ourselves and interrogate what a freer, more expansive existence might look like. In the opening lines of her poem, Ruth Brin, poet and liturgist, suggests this so gently:
No one ever told me the coming of the Messiah
Could be an inward thing.
No one ever told me a change of heart
Might be as quiet as new-fallen snow…
I hope you find a little change, newness, courage this Passover.
Below is a reminder of all the things going on for which we need your support and engagement.
Yom Hashoah next Wednesday evening. 23rd April Ella Ebner Garai (child of FPS members Mark Ebner and Janine Garai will speak about her grandfather at a G2G Yom Hashoah event. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/27/holocaust-grandpa-experiences-survivor-testimony.
At our seder one of our story tellers shared this-the young become older and the old become younger, and we take it seriously in our remembering.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca
Israel
When I was there in February we met Rabbi Gilad Kariv MK (first ever Reform Rabbi) who critiqued eloquently the current government and the situation pre October 2023 and since. When we asked what we could do he begged us to vote in the World Zionist Elections. This is why we are urging you with the help of our Voting Captain and Rep David Rigal to register and be ready to vote and ensure a progressive voice (Maasorti, Liberal and Reform UK) are represented. Progressive Judaism and our vision of Israel as a democratic, pluralistic state face historic challenges. Ultra-Orthodox rabbis and extreme politicians control key levers of power and aim to relegate non-Orthodox Jews, women, LGBTQ+ Israelis, and ethnic minorities to secondary status. All FPS members will be entitled to have a vote that directly impacts resources and funding for Israeli Reform synagogues, rabbis, values, and advocacy.
What is it? Founded by Theodor Herzl in 1897, the World Zionist Congress election happens every 5 years. This year in the UK it is coming down to a real electronic vote.
How urgent is it? 8 April – 13 May, is the registration period. Anyone who is going to vote has to register at this time. This is how you register: Click Home | Arzenu UK and just follow the Register to Vote procedure. It will cost you £1 which is a token amount to help to underwrite the cost of the election and to make sure that automated ‘bots’ do not undermine the voting. In the process you will be asked to accept the ‘Jerusalem Programme’ of the World Zionist Congress. If you click The Jerusalem Program Explained – ARZA then you can find an explanation of how this document came about and Reform Jewish reactions to it. The vote itself is 9-16 of June but it will be won or lost in the 8 April – 13 May registration period.
Why is it important? Progressive Judaism in Israel, Pluralism, Democracy, Equity, Security, Justice, a path to Peace, with billions of dollars in the balance. If we don’t take our rightful share of the votes and resources, they will go to those who actively work to oppose our members’ rights, our movement’s presence, and the values that animate many of our Zionism. Our people on the ground need our support and our votes.
Yom Ha’Atzma’ut
On Wednesday 30th April we join with four other synagogues, in a very special initiative will share Israel’s Independence Day Yom Ha’Atzma’ut in a service together and with several learning sessions structured around the Declaration of Independence and the core founding principles of values. We will end with eating together . The evening will ensure there is something for everybody; whatever your feelings about the state. A chance to explore hope and empathy and raise up the voices of those working hard for democracy there, as well as dance and poetry and Israel’s history. Please book for food prep.
It has been a heartbreaking year and this Pesach we feel it deeply.
Whilst in Israel I met with the most extraordinary rabbis and educators and those working for shared hope. Many of them work on and encouraged us to attend this service. Tuesday 29th April will be the 20th shared Israeli-Palestinian Memorial service of Yom HaZikaron organised by the Israeli and Palestinian Bereaved Families for Peace and Combatants for Peace. I hope to arrange a virtual watching group and would ask you to let me know if you would like to join me.
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