It isn’t a Seder if it contradicts the core narrative of the Jewish people

This article is one half of a debate. Read Why we are holding an anti-Zionist Palestine Solidarity Seder.

Calling a dinner on Pesach a Seder does not make it one. A Seder is a retelling of a very particular story.  

It is the story of the Jewish people: how we left Canaan (Israel) due to famine, were enslaved in Egypt, liberated, and ultimately returned to our homeland.

Each song, each mouthful, each sip of wine, takes us closer to our freedom, to our indigenous land, to our peoplehood.

An authentic Seder is, at least in part, about the link between the Jewish people and the land of Israel. It is dishonest to claim that what you are doing is a Seder if your purpose is antithetical to the fundamental narrative of the Pesach story.

If you are not celebrating the particularity of Jewish identity, its indigeneity to that land and its formation throughout history, then you are not celebrating Pesach.

It is even worse if the Seder not only fails to celebrate our Jewishness and our historical walk towards freedom but actively undermines it, claiming Jewish nationhood is illegitimate and arguing we should give up our hopes and dreams.  
 
This is what an anti-Zionist Seder does.  

At an authentic Seder, to be a Jew is to be a cherished and appreciated participant in the world. If the whole purpose of the anti-Zionist Seder is to deny the value of the Jewish enterprise by prioritising the position of others and to risk of our own annihilation, it is not a Seder.  

There is no problem talking about non-Jewish experiences as we move through our story. We may discuss, comparatively, the plight of other people. What is happening to the Rohingya people, for example, deserves our attention. We may learn from others, and we may empathise with them.  

But on this night, it is Jewish people who are the focus. Pesach is a specifically Jewish festival where the Children of Israel explore our origin story and the miracle of our survival. We do so unapologetically. That we are here celebrating in the Jewish year 5785 is something to be proud of. 

The Anti-Zionist Haggadah casts its net wide to include the human rights of all kinds of people: queer, migrant, refugee, and most particularly, Palestinian communities.  

Take this paragraph from the Jews for Racial and Economic Violence Haggadah: “We are compelled by our ancestors, our values, and our convictions as a people to resist the unabashed white supremacy of the current administration and its policies – the ban on immigrants and refugees from six predominantly Muslim nations, the building of a wall between US and Mexico, attacks on LGBTQ, Jewish, immigrant, refugee, Black, Muslim, Arab, worker, and poor communities (amongst others), and the systematic undermining of the safety net and democratic institutions.” 

This year the emphasis is on dead Gazan babies and the Gazan displaced. Yet there is no equivalent concern for Jewish baby hostages or displaced Jews, or even for Palestinians when their oppressor is another Arab. 

Human rights don’t differentiate between people based on religion or nationality, but an anti-Zionist Seder is not a human rights activity, it is the pursuit of a political agenda.  
 
Jews are taught that it is because we were strangers in the land of Egypt that we must treat others with dignity and respect. But we can’t know who needs support from us without intellectual engagement and wide reading. We need a deep knowledge of the history of the relationship between Jews and Arabs, before coming to conclusions about whom to condemn.  

The anti-Zionists who end their Seder with “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” apparently do not understand that they are echoing a call for genocide against the Jewish people. Perhaps because they are peddling the inauthentic use of the term “genocide” to describe the devastation of war in Gaza, they are indifferent to the call for genocide of the Jews. 

Anti-Zionists deny that the Zion referred to in the Haggadah is the forerunner of the modern Zionism they deplore. Some argue the reference to Zion, Jerusalem, the Promised Land are symbols of an ideal world that goes beyond Jewish particularity.  

To sever Judaism and Zionism is inauthentic. We are indigenous to the land of Israel, and we have one of the oldest claims in history to specific territory. Recognising and recounting this connection is key to what the Seder is all about.  

We are all confronted by our Judaism from time to time. We question what we are doing for the hostages. We are critical of Israeli politics. Those of us who are concerned with the future of two peoples in a tiny plot of land are heavily invested in the wellbeing and safety of Palestinians as well as Jews. These are all important matters to discuss. 

But now is not the time. Pesach is our time to focus on who we are as Jews; to focus on what history and indigeneity mean; to nurture our peoplehood and our family. So next year we may all be in Jerusalem. 

This article is one half of a debate. Read Why we are holding an anti-Zionist Palestine Solidarity Seder.