Notes from Nina: Passover – Freedom and Social Justice

The celebration of Passover begins this weekend. I love charoset (a mixture of sweet wine, nuts, apples, honey, and cinnamon) which is served at the Passover Sedar and represents the mortar used by the Jews in Egypt. I generally don’t really like a lot of what is considered Jewish food, except for a good everything bagel with lox and/or sable (also known as NY food which can not be eaten during Passover). I also like matzo ball soup and roast chicken and potatoes and macaroons so this is a good food holiday for me (and this is food I know how to make). 

Passover commemorates the biblical story in which God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. One of the concepts of Passover is Freedom and Social Justice. Each year we read from the Haggadah to hear and remember the story and the importance of freedom, redemption and hope. It is said that we retell the story of our own enslavement to have compassion and understanding of others who are persecuted.

Compassion and understanding is what we all need now in this world. There is too much hate, crime, and killings in this country based on people’s race and cultural backgrounds. This is unacceptable. We are all part of the human race and need to support, honor, and treasure each other. Love each other. The anti-Asian racism and hate that is increasing must stop. We must not let a group of people be treated this way because of how they look. 

Gratitude is another concept of Passover. One thing I am grateful for is the members of the TADA! Ensemble who are here for each other. These are youth and teens from all over New York City who stand up for each other, question each other, who grow together, learn together, create together, and perform together. We care about our Asian members as we care about our Black members and Latinx members and White members and those that are made up of various different combinations of different races. We’re not TADA! without all our members. I am also grateful for theater. Theater is where stories are told and shared. Where hearts are filled and minds are challenged and changed. Theater is a place where people come together to be compassionate and understanding. 

I encourage you – whether you celebrate Passover or not – to embrace compassion of others, to speak out to support others, to reach out and do what you can to stop the hate and prejudice and racism. We must work together to make sure everyone feels safe and free. Over the past 10 days there have been at least 7 mass shootings. I believe that there needs to be gun reform to make this possible. I am not saying to take away citizens’ Second Amendment Rights but change is needed so that there is a better process to obtain a gun. If you’re interested to learn more about what you can do, please click here. 

To learn more about Passover for kids, click here. To learn how you can take action today to Stop AAPI Hate, click here.