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Searching for meaning in a post-Oct. 7 Pesach

Let us rediscover clarity, understanding, moral vision and spiritual memory.

Israeli Defense
An Israeli air-defense battery fires interceptors at missiles fired from Iran, as seen from Jerusalem, April 14, 2024. Photo by Jamal Awad/Flash90.
Rabbi Warren Goldstein is the chief rabbi of South Africa and the founder of the International Shabbat Project.

As the night sky of the Middle East lit up with a deadly barrage of drones and missiles being shot down on the night of April 13-14—halting Iran’s genocidal intent in its tracks—it was clear to all that this war has never been about Gaza or the Palestinian cause. There is something much bigger at play.

In this video, I explain how the Passover seder provides a frame of reference for understanding Iran’s recent attack, the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7 and the vicious antisemitism that has awoken across the globe—unlocking the mystery of Jewish history and the secret of Jewish identity.

Pesach is the key to making sense of our world amid the utter bewilderment and shock Jews have experienced since Oct. 7. The barbaric attacks themselves. The Iranian bombardment. The massive surge in global antisemitism. Israel’s ongoing demonization. The global obsession with the Jewish state.

I hope to offer a framework of the meaning of the turbulent times we live in, and to give Jews in Israel and the Diaspora a sense of purpose and direction amid the chaos and uncertainty—a theory of Jewish identity that informs Israel’s national security, but also explains Jewish destiny and identity to a new generation of Jews asking burning questions.

Let this Pesach be a watershed moment for all of us. Let us rediscover the clarity, understanding, moral vision and spiritual memory that we need to navigate this post-Oct. 7 world.

The online “peace and justice” conversation is to focus on “U.S. militarism and racism” and is listed on the official website of the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs.
“Today, six young Israeli children lost their father to heinous terrorism,” the Israeli government stated. “May his memory be a blessing.”
“He literally just was one of the guys,” YU head coach Elliot Steinmetz told the New York Post.
“We already have demonstrated that hate and hateful acts are not going to be tolerated, and so if we could even take it a step further to define antisemitism and what that is like, then I want to be able to take that,” Jeannette Sánchez-Palacios told JNS.