Passover in a Broken World

The Fellowship  |  April 12, 2017

Writing at The Times of Israel, Yael Eckstein shares how recent tragedies around the world impacted her family’s Passover seder this year – and how faithful Fellowship friends are responding to these huge needs.

So at this year’s Passover seder, as my family dipped the potato into the salt water to remember the tears of the Jews enslaved in Egypt, we also prayed for the children in Syria whose tears are still falling.

As we ate the bitter herbs to remember the bitter life of Jews enslaved in Egypt under Pharaoh, we also prayed for Coptic Christians in Egypt – and all of the Christians being persecuted throughout the Middle East – who are living with the bitter reality of terror, persecution, and genocide.

And when we ate the celebratory meal with meat and chicken in honor of our freedom, we prayed for Holocaust survivors in Ukraine who are poverty-stricken and hungry.

We must act when there is an opportunity to help people in need, and indeed I have seen The Fellowship‘s 1.6 million Jewish and Christian donors come together in an instant to help others. When hundreds of Syrian refugees were going hungry in Jordan, Fellowship donors immediately acted to provide food aid for a year. When Jews from eastern Ukraine had to leave their homes and belongings after war broke out and threatened their lives, we set up refugee camps and brought them home to Israel. And when Chabad houses in Thailand, South America, and throughout the Middle East urgently needed security systems, within hours we provided them.

But every problem doesn’t always come with a quick solution.

And that’s why we have prayer.

Join us in praying for the security, well-being, and protection of Israel, the Jewish people, and the world when you sign up for the Fellowship Prayer Team.