Let’s begin with the undeniable.
The Seder ritual on the first night of Passover is constructed around the historical memory of the Jewish people as a nation. It is not solely a religious performance, nor is it a folk custom. It is more than a community engagement.
Moreover, it not only recalls memories of the past but seeks to reinforce the Jewish people with a vibrant present and a hoped-for future, as a people. The location of that future, as we read at the beginning of the Haggadah, is in a very specific homeland: “This year [we are] here; next year in the land of Israel.”
That memory is not only of a happy time but is sublimated with a certain darkness when we fearlessly declare, toward an open door: “For not just one alone has risen against us to destroy us, but in every generation they rise against us to destroy us.”
That place in the future is explicit, for example, in the “Dayenu” ditty: “If He had given us the Torah, and had not brought us into the land of Israel – Dayenu, it would have sufficed us!” It continues, with explicit identification: “If He had brought us into the land of Israel, and had not built for us the Beit Habechirah (the Temple) Dayenu, it would have sufficed us!”
And the memory of a past place and ancient ceremony is in the Korech, the Hillel sandwich consisting of matzah, maror, and charoset. As explained in the text, it is what was practiced “at the time of the Temple.” The grace after the meal, as well, includes the line, “Rebuild Jerusalem, the holy city speedily in our days.”
Following the last, fourth cup of wine, the blessing said includes, “Have mercy, God, on Israel your people, on Jerusalem your city, on Zion the abode of your glory, on your altar and on your Temple. Rebuild Jerusalem, the holy city, speedily in our days.”
And what is declared at the Seder’s conclusion? “Next Year In Jerusalem!”
When memory collides with modern denial
How Jews – from liberal columnist Peter Beinart to Yaakov Shapira, a self-described “anti-Zionist public intellectual” proponent of the Satmar ideology, and from the IfNotNow crowd to the Jewish progressives, members of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration – deny the national land-linked character of Judaism, is a conundrum of unfathomable complexity. It simply contradicts all known sources.
In past centuries, the Passover period was viewed with anxiety and unease as blood libels spread – either the kidnapping and blood-draining of a Christian child, or the poisoning of a well – all lies that nevertheless prompted pogroms against the Jews. This year, we are seeing a new form of anti-Jewish disinformation.
On March 4, Tucker Carlson declared that Jews would like to “begin the process of tearing down the Dome of the Rock, tearing down al-Aqsa Mosque and rebuilding the Third Temple.” On March 17, Candace Owens posted on her Twitter/X account that Americans have been manipulated into “Bibi’s Red Heifer War” to rebuild the Third Temple in Jerusalem. She instructed her followers, “Goyim, stand down.”
The image of the “Jew as a threat to non-Jews” has been revived.
This isn’t a new accusation. In August 2023, Sheik Ikhrama Sabri, head of the Supreme Islamic Council in Jerusalem, attacked the intentions of “extremist settlers” to slaughter and burn the red heifer. He was confounded as he claimed that “there has been no archaeological evidence showing that any Jewish Temples stood on the Temple Mount.”
Sabri repeated this on April 7, 2024, but did note that a very small group of people were involved. Nevertheless, he added, “The issue of the red heifer is their myths, we have nothing to do with it… Let them take their cow wherever they want… it has no connection to the blessed al-Aqsa.”
But in the Quran, Sura 2 is titled “The Heifer,” and verse 67 mentions a heifer that is to be sacrificed in the desert. Perhaps these Muslim clerics are alarmed at the theological implications? Indeed, Catholic traditionalists, in parallel theology, believe Jesus “put an end to Jewish sacrifices,” based on Hebrews 10:10-12.
When we sit at the Seder table, our Jewish identity and memory come alive. With or without a red heifer, let us enjoy the moment.
The writer is a researcher, analyst, and commentator on political, cultural, and media issues.