Passover is celebrated with empty seats for captives in war-torn Israel

Beginning on Monday, Jews celebrate Passover, a time of liberation. In Israel, many holiday tables will be devoid of seats in remembrance of the hostages who are still being held prisoner in Gaza.

The Jewish celebration, which lasts for a week and is called the “holiday of freedom” in Hebrew, commemorates the Bible’s account of the Israelites’ release from Egyptian slavery.

Families gather for a holiday meal called a seder to commemorate Passover, during which they recite passages from the Haggadah and consume symbolic delicacies.

The more than a millennium-old document describes the Jewish people’s links to the Holy Land, their Exodus, and their desire to return there.

Many people this year will experience agony and absence at Passover, especially the families of the hostages, the bereaved, and the more than 120,000 Israelis who have been forced from their homes in the north and south of the nation due to the conflict in the Gaza Strip.

“This year, every symbolic action we do during the seder will have a deeper and more profound meaning,” said Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose son Hersh is among the captives.

“The bread of affliction, the bitter herbs, the saltwater that represents the tears of the Jewish people when they were in captivity, in slavery.”

Israeli Jews have been preparing for the festival for the previous several days by meticulously cleaning their homes, burning leavened foods that are avoided during Passover, and doing a lot of food shopping.

“How can we rejoice?”

However, almost six months of fighting in Gaza have soured the festive spirit, with many Israelis serving overseas in the armed forces.

Above all, Passover has been clouded by the ongoing captivity of 129 hostages who were kidnapped by Palestinian extremists on October 7.

That day, 1,170 people, largely civilians, lost their lives in an unprecedented onslaught on southern Israel by terrorists based in Gaza, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli numbers.

Approximately 250 individuals were kidnapped by militants during the assault.

The health ministry of the Hamas-run region reports that 34,097 individuals have died as a result of Israel’s military assault of the Gaza Strip, the majority of them were women and children.

Thus far, efforts to free the other captives have included both military action and indirect talks with Hamas.

“There is a deadlock and no one knows how to move forward, both on our side and the Hamas side,” said Israeli activist Gershon Baskin, who has been mediating hostage situations between Israel and Hamas in Gaza for more than ten years.

“We’re held hostage by our government and held hostage by Hamas,” he said. “There is no freedom this year.”

Many of the detainees’ family won’t be celebrating Passover with pleasure this year.

“How can we celebrate such a holiday while … people are still without their freedom, still waiting to be liberated?” Mai Albini said. On October 7, his grandpa Chaim Peri was kidnapped.

Haggadahs are all sold out.

Families have been advised by President Isaac Herzog, the captive and Missing Family Forum, and the religious organization Tzohar to place a photo of a captive on an empty chair at their seder table.

David Stav, the chief rabbi of Tzohar, said that “there is great hardship” this Passover.

“Even at the most traditional seder night, the practice is that we also mention that which is missing and difficult.”

A unique Haggadah version that “integrates new hopes, and introduces inspiring messages of contemporary spirit” was released by the Hostage and Missing Family Forum.

It has contributions from Rita, a well-known Iranian-Israeli singer, the family of the captives, and a former head rabbi of Israel.

More than 250,000 copies have been sold both in Israel and outside, according to Itay Shenberger, the project manager for the Haggadah.

“It’s basically all the stock we had,” he said. The money raised supports the forum’s efforts to obtain the release of the hostages.

“Explore the desert”

Due to conflict between Israel and terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah, which has left border villages in the north and south abandoned, many families will celebrate Passover away from their homes.

Official data indicate that around 60,000 Israelis from northern Israel and almost an equal number from southern Israel are still internally displaced.

Over 26,000 displaced people are still staying in hotels; many of them will host seders there.

The Tel Aviv square, which has emerged as the focal point of the hostage demonstrations, will host a community seder for Kibbutz Beeri, one of the hardest-hit villages in the October 7 assault.

From the Kfar Giladi kibbutz, which is close to the Lebanese border, Nisan Zeevi, an entrepreneur, said that his family has been “uprooted from our homes” for more than six months.

He said that political figures have not indicated to them when they would make a comeback.

“We’re not celebrating Passover in a normal way,” Zeevi said. They will “wander in the desert” this year, he said, much as the historical Israelites did.