The Bidens' powerful Passover message - Jennifer Rubin
Wednesday at sundown, Jews around the world will celebrate Passover, the story of Jews’ deliverance from Egypt. It is an at-home holiday, celebrated primarily at Seder tables with friends and family. For many Jews, it is their most cherished holiday, filled with emotional memories of family traditions and favorite foods. This year’s celebration, of course, is unique in our lifetimes. We will celebrate apart and, in some cases, alone — without the embrace of loved ones and in a time of anxiety, fear and sadness. The Seder tables will be quieter, smaller and more subdued.
Most politicians are savvy enough to release a statement acknowledging the Jewish holiday, but few really have a “feel” for the celebration and its centrality in the collective experience of Jews. But the Bidens, who are Catholic, are not an ordinary political family. They have a decades-long relationship with the Jewish community in Delaware and, moreover, a unique ability to express empathy with others.
In that vein, they issued a remarkably sensitive statement for the holiday. The message should be read in full, but several passages struck me as remarkably attuned to the bittersweet mood of this year’s celebration. “Jill and I know how hard it is for so many families, friends, and communities to not be physically together at Passover this year,” they write. “The thought of all those grandchildren and grandparents, siblings and cousins, neighbors, and strangers in need who will mark their Passover seders alone this year tears at our hearts. But we also know that you are still together in the senses of the word that matter most; blocks away or miles apart, across virtual connections and the connection of common faith, you nevertheless celebrate as one.”
The Bidens plainly understand the religious underpinnings of the occasion. “If Passover teaches us anything, it’s that a united and open-hearted people can come through any challenge and emerge stronger on the other side,” they write. “The American people and the people of all nations are facing down a new challenge today — a treacherous journey across unfamiliar terrain. And like the heroes of the Passover story, we will survive that journey by calling upon the values that define us: our caring for strangers, our strength in unity, and our faith in better days.”
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The Bidens’ written and verbal remarks were a powerful reminder of their innate decency, but also of the void that has been left in our public life for over three years. Before the current Oval Office occupant, Americans had enjoyed presidents who at least aspired to be empathetic, thoughtful, knowledgeable and considerate of others. I suspect many Americans, especially in a time of national tragedy, when family traditions are out of sync and familiar activities are off limits, pine for such a president again.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/07/bidens-powerful-passover-message
The Bidens' message
https://www.democraticunderground.com/12238097
