The Jewish holiday of Pesach begins tonight and runs through April 30th. Site updates will resume on May 1st.
It hasn’t been an easy time for the Jewish people. On Simchas Torah, the culmination of the last major Jewish holiday 6 months ago, we saw the most deadly day for Jews since the Holocaust.
And before any of the 1,200+ murdered Jews were buried, virulently anti-Semitic protests popped up around the world’s major cities and college campuses. Social media trolls have continually attacked Jewish accounts from day 1. We have gone from trauma to trauma.
I would love to know if these commenters are real people or bots paid for by a foreign actor.
There were calls for a ceasefire even before Israel responded. That ignored the reality that there already had been a ceasefire on 10/6. Yes, we care about all human lives. But Israel has a sovereign obligation to eradicate such evil, the likes of which the world has never seen before, from its borders.
My youngest brother just came home from Columbia University, where he is a first year law student. You can imagine how happy he is to be away from the horrific anti-Semitic protests targeting Jewish students that have been going on there since October 7th, where Chabad had to hire security staff just to get students to and from the Passover Seders safely.
Scary times indeed.
In my Shul this past week, I spoke about the original Shabbas Hagadol, when the firstborn Egyptians fought a bloody civil war for the Jews to be released from slavery. Sure, it was for self-serving reasons, so that they wouldn’t die in a plague. But it still represented the strongest faction of one of the most corrupt societies in history taking up arms to protect Jews.
That is darkness being transformed into light.
I tied that together with the hundreds of missiles and drones fired from Iran that very same week, 99% of which were brought down by Israel and allies ranging from the US to the UK and from Jordan to Saudi Arabia.
Jordan and Saudi Arabia? Countries that fought bloody wars with Israel, were now protecting Israel by shooting down incoming fire from Iran?
Sure, it was for self-serving reasons, but it still represents an incredible darkness being transformed into light.
In another time, those missiles could have killed thousands, but not one person died. That is light in dark times.
3 weeks ago I spent several days in the Gaza Envelope cities. We heard stories from survivors of October 7th and put on tefilin with people who lined up at the site of the Nova music festival to wrap and pray in them for the first time in their lives. We saw endless rows of burned out cars and the bomb shelter where Aner Shapira threw out 7 grenades to protect dozens of people inside, before returning his soul to his creator when the 8th exploded in his hands.
We made a BBQ for soldiers who had just served, working to eradicate Hamas in Gaza and I had the merit to visit several army bases distributing tefilin to soldiers from our DansDeals tefilin campaign organized after October 7th. We also had shmura matzah as well as packages of Shabbos candles with chocolates and perfume for female soldiers. It was truly an emotional roller coaster of a trip, but speaking to soldiers who were so excited to receive their first ever pair of tefilin, to pray with daily, was incredibly uplifting.
Distributing some of the Tefilin directly to soldiers who have committed to wearing them daily at Zikim base:
At Ugdat Aza base:
And at Mishmar HaNegev base:
You can still donate to our campaigns for Tefillin for Soldiers and Tefillin for Civilians.
The most popular items that all of the soldiers wanted on every base we visited? Moshiach army patches that they could wear on their uniform. Moshiach times indeed!
Rocking the Moshiach patch while taking a breather at Tzomet Shuva:
In the bomb shelter that we visited near the Nova music festival site, Hersh Goldberg-Polin lost his arm and was taken captive to Gaza. The air inside the shelter felt so thick that it was to breath or stand in there for more than a few moments.
Hersh’s mother, Rachel, shares a D’var Torah that she heard from Dovid Bashevkin about the meaning of Karpas, when we dip a vegetable into salt water at the Passover Seder.
In short, Karpas represents the dipping of Joseph’s coat into goat’s blood, when his brothers wanted their father Jacob to think he was killed by an animal. That was the beginning of the Exodus story, and is in the beginning of the Seder. The darkest part, before the story of redemption and going free, when darkness is transformed into light.
In our conversation with Rachel Goldberg-Polin, @DBashIdeas shared a Pesach idea on Carpas.
Listen to Rachel share what it means for their Seder pic.twitter.com/tK6mfHMcZE
— 18Forty (@18_forty) April 22, 2024
Jacob would never be consoled, because consolation is only for those who mourn the dead, not for those alive. Let us pray that Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s parents can’t be consoled and have been incredible advocates for him because he too is still alive and will be reunited with them very soon, along with all of the other hostages.
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Pesach is traditionally associated with celebrating our freedom along with family and guests, and I’m thrilled to be back to hosting some 2 dozen people for the Seder tonight.
We visited Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, with its endless empty seats at a Shabbos table for the hostages. I broke down crying upon seeing the high chairs for the Bibas kids. But as said by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who would have turned 122 earlier this week, the point of the Seder is to bring another guest to your Seder and not just have an extra empty chair. So find someone you can invite to your Seder and share the light!
Or in his sage words,
Whether you’re enjoying Pesach at home, with family, or at a Pesach program, may it be meaningful and joyous. I know I’m looking forward to eating Shmura Matzah, drinking cups of fine wine, and spending lots of quality offline time with friends and family.
But at the same time, let us keep Eretz Yisroel and its inhabitants in our prayers, and may all of the hostages be freed, during this Festival of our Freedom, and may it be the ultimate and final Festival of our Freedom, when we will have true peace on Earth.
With prayers for a kosher, happy, healthy, and safe Pesach, and happy holidays to all.
-Dan and JJ
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23 Comments On "[Vacation Notice] Spread Light In Dark Times And Have A Happy And Meaningful Passover!"
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Happy Passover
Thank you!
Thanks for all what Dan and jj does for am yisroel. Gut Yom tov and to only hear good news and simchos and yeshous by all
Amen!
Thanks Dan and JJ for all you do. Chag kasher v’sameach.
Thanks, to you as well!
Thanx Dan & JJ for enhancing the beauty of our chag. You have helped us bring family together and visit our children/grandchildren! Continued haltzlacha in all the chessed you do!
Thanks for sharing, good yom tov!
May the festival of freedom herald the speedy coming of the ultimate redemption.
Amen!
Great Post! May we all get the beat deal this year with the freedom of the hostages. A kosher and Freilechen Pesach to all
Amen, good yom tov!
Thank you. Am Israel Chai!
So beautiful Dan! You inspire us! Chag Kosher Vesomeach!
You know Dan I’ve been a dd fan for years. I’m a Muslim, but most importantly I’m a human. I wanna know where your allegiances lie. Are you a human or an Israeli or Zionist.?? For decades the idf has abused and killed Palestinians (settlers included) but it doesn’t get reported on the news because the Israeli government has such a stronghold on media. Cheers to al Jazeera and democracy now for reporting truth without bias. We see the maimed and dismembered Palestinian children orphans and civilians. 35k dead now is it? I hate that these hamas trash killed 1k civilians and gloat on it. But bibi never wanted to return the hostages he is a warlord politician keen on keeping himself in power. I ask you Dan as a HUMAN, do you support bibi and the likud party and Zionism? ( Thanks again for posting this) Love to Israel ( not bibi or likud or ultra orthodox) and the Palestine people.♥️
Hi and thanks for being a fan and commenting!
I am neither Israeli nor a zionist, so first and foremost a human is an easy one. What I witnessed on October 7th was inhumane barbarism. I have met many Muslims during my travels and I don’t believe any would support that in the name of religion.
I believe any country has the obligation to protect its citizens from such barbarism. There is no country in the world that wouldn’t respond to such attacks with force.
I mourn for every dead civilian, but I blame Hamas for those deaths. Their strategy is to operate from hospitals and hide behind civilians. They build shelters for Hamas use only.
I don’t know the real numbers, but 35K appears to be an exaggeration:
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2024/04/09/hamas-run-gaza-health-ministry-admits-to-flaws-in-casualty-data/
It also includes more than 13,000 terrorists as well as natural deaths since 10/7.
War is horrible. The average civilian to combatant death ratio in war is 3:1, so however you count the numbers of civilians, it seems that Israel is doing a good job of keeping the death ratio much lower than in a conventional war, which is impressive given the Hamas human shield strategy, tunnels, and the number of hostages taken.
I long for a day when the UAE and KSA will administer Gaza instead of Hamas. Gaza is a naturally beautiful seaside land. I long for the day when it can shine once again and be a thriving place to live, but it will require removing Hamas to get there.
I am curious what you have against ultra-Orthodox Jews though? Typically, ultra-Orthodox Jews are anti-zionist and don’t traditionally serve in the IDF.
That being said while I’m not a zionist, I do believe every country must keep its civilians safe, so I do believe this is a just war, even if I don’t agree with every aspect of Israeli society and politics.
The ceasefire now arguments don’t hold water given that:
-There was a ceasefire on 10/6
-There are over 100 hostages still in Gaza.
-Hamas has said they will do this again and again. Regime change is needed in order for both Gaza and Israel to have peace. And that is a good thing for Gazans and Israelis.
Inshallah, I pray for the day when we will all live in true peace and prosperity.
Best part of the post!
Respect Dan! I think your an Orthodox Jew, and I salute it, as a child reared in a strict Muslim household. I think we share similar world views especially those concerning piety, family and virtue.
I learned I think in 2007 or the 2010 one of the times this flareup happened again that the American media will not report the war fairly. I remember watching CNN global disgusted on the 1yr anniversary of a war when I remember 1100-1300 Palestinians killed ( mostly civilian) and 11 Israelis killed ( mostly soldiers). And their news piece to commemorate the 1yr old ceasefire was to show a story of an Israeli 9 yr old girl going to a therapist for PTSD!!! Are u kidding me?! It’s as if Palestinians aren’t endowed with any rights whatsoever but to willfully die as dogs in Asia.
Do you know that Israel has final approval over any media that comes out it’s territories? If it doesn’t like it, it will seize a reporters camera. Smartphones and minor news organizations have allowed us to see the human and structural devastation the IOF applies. Israel even went as far as trying to censure a 60 minutes piece a decade ago!!
Ok… Calm… I went off on a tangent. Ask me about The house of saud sometime, those worthless pigs. I understand this is not the place for these thoughts. But when u post pictures in support of the IOF on one of my most frequented websites, I have thoughts and feelings Thanks again for posting and humoring me.
So to answer ur questions:
– I dislike the ultra orthodox because they are extremists. I saw this within my own religion when the salafists took control of power and their ideology was kill those who aren’t us. They think black and white PERIOD. When most of the world is gray. That demon ben-gvir is a fine example of this. He just like hamas, thinks the other side is cockroaches needed to be exterminated. Racist puck! I’m sure the hamas leadership ( don’t know who they are) feels the same way about ALL Israelis. It will never end with this mindset from both sides. People who only see wrong and right in life are very dangerous. We have those people in all religions. Those “Muslim” pucks are responsible for more muslim death than non-muslims, I’ve seen it, I’ve lived thru it.
-any hostages hamas had are now dead. With Israel bombing on bombing how could you think otherwise?! Do u think hamas is gonna feed them and protect them 7 Months in when their ratholes are destroyed? Do u think bibi ever cared about bring home the hostages with that level of bombing and complete destruction? Come on be real. This bibi used oct 7 as a way to deflect judicial prosecution and maintain power. There arent anymore hostages, all you can hope for is that they had a swift and painless death.
– your never getting rid of hamas. Point blank period. It’s an ideology just like Nazism or socialism or Zionism/salafism. Ideas don’t die unfortunately. So for bibi to continue this charde for 7 months is for nothing more than optics and self preservation.
I think that’s it Dan… Again thanks for engaging. While you and I have a lot in common when we sift thru the details. But superficially we’re supposed to hate one another…. But one thing is for sure, I’ll see you at the flea market and will fight you to the ground for that item on sale
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Ben-Gvir is far right politically, but he isn’t ultra-orthodox. I think you need to read up on the long history of the complicated relationship between Haredim and the state of Israel. As a so-called ultra-orthodox Jew, I certainly don’t see the world as black and white, so it’s an unhelpful generalization to say that. So-called Ultra-orthodox Jews are also typically anti-violence and anti-proselyting, so comparisons to Salafists aren’t useful.
Our tefilin campaign is a spiritual one to help people pray to G-d, and allows people to choose between a campaign to help buy tefilin for civilians and IDF soldiers. Prayer isn’t political.
They’re not all dead, Hamas continues to post them in propaganda videos and they’re worth more to Hamas’ goals if they’re alive.
Focusing on Bibi misses the point. There’s not much that the US (or any other country) would do differently if Mexico invaded Texas, killed 1,200, and took back hundreds of hostages. Actions like that will inevitably have a big reaction. Just look at how many Japanese died after Pearl Harbor (over 2M) and how many Afghanis and Iraqis died (~500K) after 9/11. And they weren’t even living within thousands of miles of the US border.
Ideologies can’t be destroyed, true. But military arms of those ideologies can be destroyed. The world wouldn’t stand for Nazis to militarize. At some point, I’d hope there are local leaders that can convince people that it’s better off to take the billions the world is going to donate to Gaza and use those funds to build something positive rather than continuing to cause pain and suffering by trying to destroy others.
There is NO reason that Gaza can’t become the next Abu Dhabi or Dubai in a generation. It has 25 miles of prime waterfront real estate. The weather is actually much better than in the UAE. The world will even pay for it to happen! There just have to be local leaders to help make that happen and learn to live in peace and prosper. I’m fairly certain those people exist, but are scared to say that, in fear of being killed by Hamas.
Or continue to turn donated building materials into tunnels and rocket launchers and perpetuate the endless cycles of pointless violence. I pray a different path can be found and we will all live in peace.
Dan I was ready to be done with this conversation but your delusional assertion that Gaza could become the next oil rich state for tourists to visit is flagrant. Come on brother!! Gaza doesn’t have resources, they have been bombed back to Bethlehem, the world’s largest open air prison (pre-war), they’ve been eating animal feed for months to survive while civilian settlers and IOF block foreign aid into them. You can’t be serious. This is Zionism Dan!! Retain the “holyland” by any means necessary..
All due respect brother, Gaza will never be a place you get to visit based off of your credit card reward miles. While those kids are bombed and die sleeping… I’m sorry… Your view is one of a colonizer. (Let’s take this land and remake it for the beneficence of the rich). It’s exactly Zionist in nature and planned war procedure.
Side note:
How many journalists and healthcare workers have been killed ON PURPOSE! Those angels of the Jose Andres Food Program really shook it up for once. Those angels are truly unbiased, I regret them being there, (may they rest a level above us, they knew the risk). But finally that caught the world’s (only USA)attention. Please be fair, please post this Dan. I personally will always support Israel’s existence based on the fact that it is the oldest Monotheist religion and predecessor to Christianity and Islam . And the world has enough Christian and Muslim countries. Can’t we just have one Jewish state/country?!!?
So Frustrated! How to convince the humanity of it all??
Also Dan, let’s not EVER categorize criticism of the israeli govt as antisemitism. I criticize all governments those of my country included
during Obama, Bush, Trump or Biden….. Or the Saud government. Or the Iranian govt. Or the communist China. Let’s keep it fair, and not label a person’s views as a racist in order to discredit their positions. Thanks for posting this!
DDFan, I want to ask you with all respect and maturity. Why would one support a ceasefire if there are hostages (at this very moment in time) being abused, raped, starved, and tortured. Does the ceasefire mean we just push those hostages underneath the rug and make believe that they don’t exist? There’s not one reputable source that says that the moment a ceasefire occurs, all hostages will be returned alive. So, again what happens to those hostages as a result of a ceasefire? I certainly don’t support any ceasefire until every single hostage is safely returned. Seems simple to me, unfortunately not a simple concept for antisemites.
#Legend