“Why is this night different from all other nights?” Jews ask at every Passover seder. This year, the answer is not symbolic; it is real, immediate and still unfolding. From rocket sirens over Israeli cities to dissidents imprisoned in Iran to families finally reunited after years of captivity, the Passover story of resilience and redemption is not ancient history. It is this week’s news.
For two years, Jewish families set Passover tables with empty seats—a painful, visible act of solidarity with hostages held by Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists in Gaza. This year is very different.
All 251 hostages taken during the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and two others previously seized, have been returned—168 individuals who survived unimaginable imprisonment—and 85 who did not. Families who endured years not knowing whether their loved ones were alive can finally grieve, reunite and begin to rebuild, even as daily life in Israel remains punctuated by missile warnings and security threats.
Some of the hostages who returned described observing Passover while in captivity. Agam Berger, held for 482 days by Hamas terrorists, recalled marking the holiday with fellow hostage Liri Albag in a dark, enclosed room. They improvised what they could, cried and “then sat down to eat our own ‘bread of affliction,’” similar to the matzah that the Torah describes the Israelites ate in Egypt. The ritual was no longer symbolic; it was being lived in captivity in real time.
Alon Ohel, held for 738 days, spent this year preparing Passover food packages for families in need. From captive to caretaker, it is the kind of resilience the Haggadah was written to honor.
Iran: A modern-day Pharaoh
The Haggadah warns: “In every generation, they rise up against us to destroy us.” Jews have said these words for 3,000 years. Today, the Islamic Republic of Iran is doing its best to prove them right.
In 2015, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei publicly declared that Israel would cease to exist within 25 years. Iranian state messaging routinely targets the United States and Israel as existential enemies, backed not just by words but weapons. These include ballistic missiles, attack drones, proxy armies and strikes on a host of Middle East nations and American military bases in the region.
Iran’s campaign of terror and hostage-taking is not new. In 1979, the Islamic regime took power and immediately seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, holding 66 Americans captive for 444 days. The world called it a crisis. Iran called it a revolution. Nearly half a century later, the same regime is still holding the world hostage through its proxies, its nuclear ambitions, and its relentless targeting of Jewish and American lives.
The Islamic Republic funds, arms and commands Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen. Together, these proxy forces have targeted Israeli civilians, killed American service members and blockaded global shipping lanes. This is not a regional conflict. It is a global threat with Iran at the center.
Inside Iran, the regime has murdered and imprisoned tens of thousands of its own people for daring to demand basic rights. Young women have been killed for removing their head coverings, or hijabs. Students have been shot in the streets. The regime that calls Israel a “genocidal occupier” is imprisoning, torturing and executing its own citizens. That is the enemy Israel and the free world now faces.
During this Passover, the conflict continues. Missiles and drones fired by Iran and its proxies have killed nearly two-dozen civilians and continue to force Israelis into bomb shelters. Terrorists continue to directly target Jewish life worldwide, including the attempted targeting of young children at a Michigan synagogue, the burning of ambulances outside a London synagogue and other assaults against Jews around the world. The gunman in Michigan recorded a video before the attack, saying: “I have booby-trapped the car. I will forcefully enter and start shooting them. God willing, I will kill as many of them as I possibly can.”
Ahead of Passover, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security official issued a warning: Jewish communities should be on heightened alert, forcing Jews around the world to wonder: “Is anywhere safe?”
The cost of freedom is real
The Passover seder contains a moment that is easy to miss: Jews spill drops of wine—one for each of the Ten Plagues—to acknowledge the suffering of the Egyptians. Even in triumph, the Haggadah refuses to let Jews forget that freedom has a cost.
This struggle for freedom is not Israel’s alone. American military personnel are fighting in the Middle East. Iranians are risking their lives in the streets for the right to freely exist. In Gaza, Hamas oppresses its own civilians, using them as pawns in their fight against Israel. In Europe, Ukrainians are defending their cities. The story of Passover—of slavery, resistance, liberation—is not only a Jewish story. It is the human story, now playing out.
Jews have told this story for 3,000 years—in hiding, exile, captivity and death camps. It is being retold at tables that are full again, at tables that are not and at tables set in bomb shelters. The story endures because freedom endures.
It is worth fighting for. It always has been.
Points to consider:
1. This year’s Passover seems more than symbolic than ever.
Passover commands every Jew to feel as though they personally left Egypt. This year, that is not a spiritual exercise; it is a reality. Hostages who marked Passover in underground tunnels, improvising rituals from memory, are now home. Families who left empty seats at their seder tables for two years are filling them again. And life in Israel—bomb sirens, shelters, grief and resilience—is the Passover story happening in real time. This ancient story is being retold through this week’s news.
2. Iran is not Israel’s problem; it is everyone’s problem.
The regime that has called for Israel’s destruction for 47 years is the same regime that held 66 Americans hostage in 1979, slaughters its own citizens in the streets and funds terrorist proxies across the Middle East. They target U.S. forces, shipping lanes and civilian populations. Treating this as “Israel’s war” is a fundamental misreading of who the enemies are and what they want. Iran is not fighting Israel. Iran is fighting the free world, and Israel is on the front line.
3. The fight for freedom is happening now.
The Passover message has always spoken to more other nationalities. The Exodus story inspired enslaved African-Americans who sang “Let My People Go.” It echoes today in the streets of Tehran, in the bomb shelters of Haifa and in the homes of Ukrainian families defending their country. Freedom is not a Jewish value; it is a human one. The same forces that target the Jewish state target anyone who stands in the way of tyranny. This Passover, the call to action is not just for Jews: Stand with those who are fighting for the basic right to live free.
