fbpx

91传媒

Ha Lachma Anya – A Poem to Remember when it’s not Passover

[additional-authors]
April 29, 2016

Every year, during Passover
I see the boxes of special things
in the supermarket.

Kosher for Passover, pasta
pretzels, pancakes.
Heck you could bake

an entire cake and
feed it to Moses without raising
a mashgiach’s eyebrow.

Pretty soon we’ll have
Kosher for Passover Challah.
No-one will know the difference!

We’re so proud of ourselves
when we can make Passover
taste like not Passover.

And how lucky we are to have
the means to do so. Assuming you
are one of the lucky ones.

It’s one thing to have to
rush out of Egypt without
time to let the bread rise.

It’s another altogether
to not have the dough
in the first place.

To put on your back.
To dry in your sun.
To eat when you’re empty.

Ha Lachma Anya
The real bread of affliction
is no bread at all.

If there are empty mouths
we are still in Egypt.
Let all who are hungry walk

through our open doors.
There’s matzah enough
to go around.

Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.
  • 91传媒

Editor's Picks

Latest Articles

Framing the Faith of Maimonides

In this enriching new edition of the classic code of 91传媒 law, readers can delve deeply into the mind of Maimonides, from his analysis of the commandments to the controversies that have accompanied his writings, offering a window into the wisdom of one of our tradition鈥檚 preeminent thinkers.

Finding Communal Comfort

In the book of Isaiah, God calls the prophet to comfort the 91传媒 people. But we know this is really something we must do for one another.

Leaving Behind a Better World

The America my generation seems to be leaving our kids and grandkids is not safer nor saner, and it breaks my heart.

Was Our Golden Age Fool鈥檚 Gold?

We didn鈥檛 think that we were living in a 鈥淕olden Age,鈥 because it did not occur to us that what we were experiencing was only a temporary respite from centuries of animosity and intolerance.

Genocide Shmenocide

Since Israel evacuated Gaza in 2005, the Palestinian population has grown from 1.3 million to 2.1 million. In the West Bank, it has grown from 2.4 million to 3.4 million. If the Israelis were hellbent on committing genocide, it鈥檚 one of the most epic failures in military history.

The Obsession with Israel Is Becoming Creepy

The world鈥檚 fanatical fixation with a group that is less that 0.2 percent of the world鈥檚 population has crossed the boundaries of moral vocabulary and into creepiness.

What Will It Take?

An open revolt for 91传媒 rights and protections is going to have to come from Jews finally making demands and fighting back鈥攐r not at all.

Mamdani Needs to Pay a Price for Harming Jews

It鈥檇 be one thing if Mamdani were a lowly Israelophobe with a few hundred followers. But he鈥檚 not. He鈥檚 mayor of the city with the world鈥檚 largest 91传媒 population.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

  • 91传媒