The Hostages Living the Passover Story - WSJ
A Passover Seder can be a long, dry affair. Reading through the Haggadah, which sets forth the order of the Seder dinner, takes several hours, and the story and customs remain unchanged year after year. It’s a methodical event, and like so many rituals, it can be broken down by numbers.
I counted them each Passover as a child: One empty chair for the prophet, Elijah. Two hand-washing rituals. Four glasses of wine sipped throughout the evening, and the “Four Questions” sung by the youngest member of the family. Six foods that symbolize the journey of the Jews out of slavery in ancient Egypt. Eight days over which we eat matzo rather than leavened bread. Ten plagues that passed over the Israelites, a dot of wine for each one on the rim of our dinner plates.
Last year as I sat at my family’s Passover table, I added a new number to this list—130, the number of hostages that remained in Gazan tunnels, starved and abused. This year, with the holiday just over a week away, I had the privilege of meeting former hostages Keith and Aviva Siegel at the Journal’s New York offices. As they recounted stories of their time in Hamas captivity, they shared another meaningful numerical list.
For Keith, 484 days in captivity. Thirty-three relocations throughout Gazan tunnels and apartments. One hundred-eighty days in complete solitude, in a room with no windows. For Aviva, 51 days in captivity. Thirteen relocations. Three days on which she was allowed to brush her teeth. And for the couple, 41 years spent living in peace at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, just over a mile from Gaza. Sixty-four neighbors murdered on Oct. 7, 2023.
Next week, Jews will sit around the Seder table and tell the story of our ancestors’ journey out of Egypt. Our ritual will include the same numbers I’ve counted since childhood. But this year, Jews will incorporate new figures into the list, and these numbers won’t be ancient history. We will remember the 59 hostages who remain in the shadows of Gaza, starved and abused. We will count the 553 days throughout which they’ve been isolated underground.
Together, Jews around the world will share the Passover story and remember the words that God spoke through Moses to Pharaoh. And for the second year in a row, this familiar, poignant phrase won’t merely refer to our ancient story: Let my people go.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-hostages-living-the-passover-story-keith-and-aviva-siegel-israel-gaza-708b78bd?st=vYeRoU&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
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