Crack open a Haggadah. Read our origin story.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what it means to belong to an ancient people.

I'm amused by the antisemites who come to my page to negate Jewish history- from our origin and modern life.

Who blame and point fingers and literally laugh at our suffering.

Who lie and twist and leave little droplets of hate on my page.

Because their ignorance or their vileness bleeds out from their comments.

It reflects nothing on me when trolls try to shame me, erase me, and wish for my d*ath.

I'm writing for my people- the people who support us.

The people who know actual history, and what it means to be a Jew and a Zionist.

I do not write for the haters, and though I'm disgusted by their attempts- there is not a single one of them who could slow me down.

I write for my friends, family, and community.

I write for my ancestors.

I write for my heritage.

For my land.

I gave a shiur this morning in which I discussed how the Haggadah is not just a storybook of the past. It's a blueprint for how to deal with enemies and suffering that plague the Jews in every generation.

Beginning with brokenness in Ha Lachma Anya, we learn that redemption starts even before resolution.

Through Avadim Hayinu and Magid, we see that telling the story is itself part of becoming free, even while we are still in the middle of the process.

Vehi She’amda reminds us that struggle is a recurring reality, but so is our survival, while Dayenu trains us to recognize redemption in incremental steps rather than only in its final form.

The symbols of Pesach, Matzah, and Maror teach us to hold pain and hope simultaneously.

Ultimately, the Haggadah calls on us not just to remember the Exodus, but to locate ourselves within an ongoing story of redemption, one that we are still living and helping to shape.

Here we are days out from Pesach, and I write to tell the story of my people living in Israel in 2026.

I can see that story within the text of the Haggadah- our ancient text, a guide for how to deal with this wave of hatred.

A map for how we move through these days of war with our faith intact.

Realizing that redemption goes step by step.

That the path to redemption isn't always filled with light- but also contains moments of darkness.

The people who wish to eradicate us have been trying to since the beginning of time.

We experience waves of their efforts, and yet- we persist.

We survive.

We thrive and we joke and we build and we learn.

We create and dance and sing.

We comemorate and we tell our story.

We recomitt and we rebuild.

You think I'm bothered by antisemitic trolls?

You think that Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, etc etc are going to be the end of the Jews?

Crack open a Haggadah. Read our origin story.

There lies the secret to our survival. ** This extraordinary artwork was created by Bracha Lankin and is featured in the Az Nashir Haggadah: On the Path to Redemption.