As a child being raised in the 1950s and '60s, at Passover we incorporated the civil rights struggle into our narrative. In the 1980s and '90s there were specific Passover narratives featuring the struggle of women, freedom movements in Central America and elsewhere. And in some Jewish homes and synagogues, Palestinians were featured as a people struggling for liberation. There is hope in remembrance applied to the present. If we are there in Egypt demanding our freedom, the Passover story accompanies us as we demand freedom now.
Freedom is interdependent, across time and community boundaries.
No one is truly free if others are not also free. Today, with Israeli gunships daily firing rockets into defenseless Palestinian towns, cities and refugee camps, it is difficult to accept the Passover narrative in its deepest implications. Most Jews will be silent about the helicopter gunships at Passover. Since the beginning of the most recent Palestinian uprising in November, Jewish organizations have placed full-page paid statements in newspapers around the country. They trumpet Israel's desire for peace, call for Jewish unity and castigate Palestinian terrorism and the deficiencies of Palestinian leadership.