The Daily Signal - This Passover, as Middle East Tensions Rise, Jews Remember ‘God Saves Us’

Episode Date: April 22, 2024

During the first night of Passover, Jewish homes gather around a Seder meal and remember how God delivered the Jewish people from Egypt, and that God has always rescued His people, author and lecturer Rabbi Pinchas Taylor explains.  “We say that we recognize that in every generation, there are nations that have come against us, that seek to destroy us, and that each and every generation, God saves us from their plot,” the rabbi says.  Passover begins at sundown on Monday night, and following Hamas’ attack on Israel in October, and this month's attack by Iran, the reminder that God saves His people, “that's going to be something that resonates quite a bit extra this year,” Taylor says. (Passover runs through sundown on April 30.) Taylor joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” as Passover begins to explain safety concerns in the Jewish community amid a rise in antisemitism after Oct. 7, and to discuss how Americans can support the Jewish people right now.  Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Daily Signal podcast. It's Monday, April 22nd. I'm Virginia Allen. Passover begins at sundown tonight. And as Jewish families gather to celebrate the celebration, well, it might look a little bit different this year. The Jewish community is, of course, thinking about those lost on October 7th and all that has happened in the nation of Israel over the past seven months. Today, I'm sitting down with Rabbi Pinhaus Taylor to both talk about. the importance and the celebration of Passover, but also how the Jewish community is doing in light of growing conflict in the Middle East. Stay tuned for our conversation after this. For over 35 years, the Heritage Foundation Job Bank has been helping conservatives at all

professional levels find employment in key positions in Washington, D.C. and across the country. We can help you connect with positions in the administration on Capitol Hill, in public policy organizations and in the private sector. To learn more about the Heritage Foundation Job Bank, go to heritage.org slash job dash bank. It is my pleasure to welcome back to the Daily Signal podcast, bestselling author, lecturer, and Jewish faith leader, Rabbi Pinhaus Taylor. Rabbi Taylor, welcome back to the show. It's always a great pleasure to be with all of you. Well, this is the third time that we are having you on, and we had you on as well. last year to discuss Passover. And Passover, actually, it begins on Monday night at sundown.

And I'm thinking back to last year on the conversation that we had and how much has changed since Passover 2023. Is the celebration going to be different for the Jewish community this year after October 7th, after Iran's attack on Israel? What's changing? Yeah, it does seem like a little bit of a different. different world in some ways. One of the things that I think may have extra relevance this year, there's a line in the Haggada. The Haggada is the small booklet that the Jewish community uses around their Seder table. So the Seder takes place on the evening of the first night of Passover and the first two nights of Passover outside of the land of Israel. And,

during those during that evening aside from the symbolic foods that we eat we retell the story and in many ways try to re-experience and relive the exodus from egypt not only as as an event that took place 3 000 years ago but as an event that's that's happening right now and there's a a a line that is uttered as almost as a as a reflection but also a prayer and we lift up our glass of wine and we say the following words we say behisheamda we that we recognize that in every generation there are nations that have come against us, that seek to destroy us, and that each and every generation,

God saves us from their plot, from their schemes. And there's a haggata that I have that's really for my kids, illustrated version, but it kind of has pictures of really all of the civilization that were trying to come against us over these centuries. And there's a lot of them, unfortunately.

But whatever manifestation it comes, we see it. And we know that they always try to come against us. There's always a group out there, a nation, a civilization out there that's trying to do us harm. But in each and every generation, each and every time, God saves us from their hands. And I think in a post-October 7th world, the first Passover since October 7th, for many Jews around the world, that's going to be something that resonates quite a bit extra this year. Yeah, absolutely. You referenced it briefly, but just explain a little bit further, if you would, what the Jewish people are celebrating on Passover. Sure. The Passover, the Seder itself celebrates and again tries to not only commemorate something that happened 3,000 years ago, but to have it to take place in our lives now. We're celebrating the freedom, the liberation of the Israelites from their oppressors in Egypt.

So the Jewish people were enslaved in the land of Egypt 3,000 years ago, 3,300 years ago. And through the 10 plagues and Moses as the emissary, the Jewish people were freed from their oppression. And then God took them out. He eventually gives them the Torah. And they become his people with a mission to bring light, the light of the Torah. to the world. And we certainly believe that the Christian world and the Muslim world play a role in that through over the course of history because what I like to call our sister faiths, the Christian world and the Muslim world have in many ways disseminated a lot of the ideas, concepts of the Torah,

to the larger world. That there's hardly a place on planet Earth that you can go that hasn't heard of the concept of one God, that the world has a purpose, that human being is created in the image of God, that the world has a shared destiny and it's going to be redemption, that there's free will, that there's right and wrong, that we have the capacity to make moral choices, that there is reward and punishment based on the actions that you choose. And that really, that all begins at the exodus. had the Exodus not happened, Christianity and Islam don't happen either. And so it's a time for the Jewish community of reliving that initial enslavement and redemption

and commemorating it in our own lives as well every single year. Absolutely beautiful. Such a powerful reminder. Rabbi, given that this is the first Passover since October 7th, is there concerned that that enemies of Israel, of the Jewish people might use this Passover as an opportunity for attack? Is there fear about that? Well, certainly, and it seems to be the trend in our, in modern times, the attacks seem to, they seem to be attracted to the Jewish holidays as like an opportune time where our guard is perhaps a bit more down.

everything from the Yom Kippur War, which was already a generation ago, which is attacking us on our holiest day to October 7th, which was the end of the holiday of Sukkot, the holiday of Sinatra, the one of the happiest days of the year to use when we're sort of not on guard for these sorts of things, that's when the attack came. So I think there is a bit more of a, I guess, apprehension. I don't know what's going on in the inner workings of geopolitics, but we saw just this past Saturday, just this past Shabbat, the Iranian attack that happened in Israel. So Passover's not that far from now, and we don't know what's going to be, but I think it's definitely on people's radar.

that something might be going down. But I think equally as well, given that line from the Haggaza, that with the assurance that although there are people that are going to come after us in every generation, each and every time we have that reassurance that God continues to save us from their hands. So it's a wonderful thing. Although, again, although the challenge is certainly a real one, and it's certainly something that is bewildering to a lot of people that in a modern world, in a modern society,

that this should still be even a concern that modern people are having. That nonetheless, we are assured that we will get through it and that God will ultimately protect us from all of our oppressors. Mm-hmm. And here in America, we have seen a rise of anti-Semitism, specifically since October 7th. And I know that you travel across America. You speak with many Jewish communities. Are Jews specifically in America concerned for their safety? I think one of the surprising things, for most Jews in America, I think the very surprising thing after October 7th was the amount of sort of sympathy or endorsing in America that campuses and a lot of folks that

are, you know, would call themselves anti-Israel, but really are also showing clear displays of being anti-Jewish, that that was something that erupted in America following October 7th. Like, there's always going to be people, there's always going to be situations going on in Israel. And we tend to think that when you're attacked, that there's at least a certain degree of solidarity that you show with the victims of the attack. And it didn't take very long for people to jump on the bandwagon and side with Hamas, the side with the terrorists. That's a terrible thing. And I think that for many Americans was something very surprising and in some ways as as painful as watching the attacks that went on in Israel.

There was like one layer was the attacks themselves, which was terrible in every way. And then the other layer to that was that you had these people in the United States, in a civilized country. Right? A westernized country, a modern country who were not, oh, we need to show solidarity with the victims of this attack. It's, yeah, they deserved it. Yeah, I hope it happens again. You know, from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free, eradicate the Jews. I mean, that was a very unexpected reaction to a lot of folks in the American Jewish community. Yeah. Well, certainly was a surprise to myself in the Christian community, just watching that across

America to see that. I think so many people were surprised by that response. When you're talking with folks across America, whether Jewish or not, about that instance, you reference the chant from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. What's the appropriate response? For those, whether Jewish or not, who stand with Israel, who back Israel, how do we respond to that kind of thing, both maybe verbally or just in our hearts? Well, I believe truly as any good human being would want, is that I believe that the people,

the civilians in those areas should be free. And part of that freedom comes from not being under the rule of Hamas. And so like the sort of gut reaction is to say like, yes, free them from Hamas, free them from these bad people who are not allowing them to live a free life, to lead a civil lives and happy life. They're not happy there. And that's not because of Israel. That's because of Hamas. And so I think our hopes always have to be that people should be able to live in freedom,

be able to worship the way that they would like to be able to live the lives that they'd like to. And unfortunately, these people have been used as pawns of oppressive governments for quite some time and not able to experience a good life as well. I pray every single day that this situation finish itself up, that Israel finished the job that needs to be done over there and eradicates Hamas and completely debilitates them from having any sort of power in that region and any sort and be able to afflict any sort of pain and destruction upon anybody. And unfortunately, you know, there's going to be other groups that are probably going to fill that void and they're going to be in that same category

and same ideology. They may call themselves something different. But I think all people of goodwill just need to stand against bad people doing bad things. It really, it sounds so simple and so, like, cliche, but like, that's really, and we have to also break out of this bizarre notion that, And this is something that is very much part of like the modern woke view of the world. The woke view of the world sees anybody who has any sort of success that they must have gotten that success by victimizing others. And so if there is a country like Israel that is successful and has a strong economy and that is a strong social structure and is a strong social structure and is, good technologically. All of these things are success. It must have been that they did it, that they did it through oppressing others. That's why the same people that are hating Israel hate America,

because America, if America is also a leader in the world, and it has a great economy and great technologically and a great moral voice in the world, obviously they must have done it through victimizing others. And we need to take down America. We need to take down Israel in order to restore the world to what it should be. Well, that's that's that's insanity. I'm sorry, but that's that's just insanity. It can be it can be that people, people succeed and they did it through earning it. And America is a great place and Israel is a great place. And that's why they should continue to be allies together, that we share a similar value and similar view of how the world should work. And we facilitate freedom for all of those that live within our confines.

Absolutely. Absolutely. We have just passed the six-month mark since Hamas' attack on Israel. From what you've seen is the perspective of the war shifting at all within the Jewish community? I think people are, I think people want it to finish as soon as possible. I mean, the ceasefire now crowd, they want that should just stop with no, just unilaterally stop. And Israel should just stop what they're doing because there's been in their minds too many people that have been killed. And even if the job is not done, then they'll just give them some time to rebuild. it doesn't matter. Stop, stop the war. Stop fixing the problem. And I agree that this should be that this should finish as soon as possible. Everyone, I think, all good people with goodwill

want this to finish as soon as possible with as obviously as least amount of civilian casualties as is possible. At the same time, we can't stop prematurely. And just let the problem, you know, if you have a cancer, you got to eradicate the cancer completely. You can't leave a little bit and then let it just grow in the right time. You have to eradicate a disease in total before you stop treatments. So, yeah, the Jewish community, I believe, is ready for it to end, but end. in a completely victorious way where these types of groups are not a threat to the people that are living there, and quite frankly, not a threat to those Jews abroad as well.

What is the most helpful way for non-Jewish Americans to support the Jewish community right now, do you think? Number one is prayer. All people of goodwill are charged to pray to God that, that God's glory is protected and that his people are washed over. The Christian community in particular overall has shown very strong support for the people in Israel and the Jewish people abroad. I have many friends that are leaders of many various Christian groups and communities, and the amount of just love and even emotional support is very appreciated. When you live in a world where the loudest voices are the ones that are against you,

it's always good and comforting to know that you have friends and support that are not even of your faith. So prayer to God is one, just articulating to your Jewish friends and community members, that you stand with them, that you support them, that, you share their pain, and any support that you can be to them on that level is going to certainly be very comforting to people as individuals. There are people that also want to get involved in other ways. There are different groups and organizations that are helping, whether it's people that are displaced from the war, helping the military get supplies that they need.

Stepping up in that sort of way as well is certainly appreciated. But the main thing is to just be as much as possible, try to put yourself in the shoes of the worldwide Jewish community that is even out, again, maybe not. facing the same clear and present danger as the Jews seem to be under in the land of Israel. But abroad, that anti-Semitism is on the rise. You see all of these incidents in quote unquote civilized countries where people, the children are young kids, teens are getting harassed in their college campuses. Like who would have thought that in Ivy League schools and all the best schools around the country,

You're going to have students that are not only being attacked for their Jewishness, but then having the administration seemingly be pretty complacent with that, pretty much going along with it. That itself should be called out. And any support from the non-Jewish world in validating that support, and recognizing being reassuring in those times is so appreciative. it. Rabbi, for those who would be curious to keep following your work, to keep reading what you write and hearing what you have to say on this issue, how can they do that? Yeah, I'd be happy for

anyone who would like to follow along to check out Pinschastaylor.com. That's P-I-N-N-N- as-N-N-N-N-S-S-S-S-S-N-S-N-S-N-S-N-S-N-S-N-L-E-T-L-L-R-T-L-R. There's a lot of information on there and ways that we can connect and study and love to hear from anybody who'd like to be in touch. Rabbi Taylor, thank you so much for your time today. Again, for anyone who wants to follow your work, the website is pinhast-Taylor. And also want to encourage folks to pick up a copy of one of your books, either a Jewish guide to the mysterious or pillars of the faith. Both of those books can be found on Rabbi Pinhaus's Taylor website. Again, that's pinhaustay.com.

Rabbi, thank you so much. Sure. Thanks so much, Virginia, for having me. And I look forward to some great discussions in the future as well. Well, thank you again for being with us today. We're going to leave it right there for our Jewish community. We hope you have a wonderful and blessed Passover. Make sure that you hit that subscribe button so you never miss out on the Daily Signal shows,

whether our morning shows like this one or our evening Top News editions. We'll see you right back here around 5 p.m. for Top News. The Daily Signal podcast is made possible because of listeners like you. Executive producers are Rob Blewey and Kate Trinko. Hosts are Virginia Allen, Brian Gottstein, Mary Margaret O'Lehlehain, and Tyler O'Lehauer. Neil. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geine, and John Pop. To learn more or support our work, please visit DailySignal.com.