TORONTO, Passover, the annual Jewish recounting of the Jews’ exodus from Egypt, commences Friday night at sunset with Jews around the world commemorating their ancestors’ exile from slavery in ancient Egypt to a national and religious rebirth in the Land of Israel.
“Passover is not merely a time of retrospection when we recall the Jewish people’s departure from bondage to freedom. We also reflect upon the current challenges facing the Jewish people and the Jewish State,” said Frank Dimant, CEO of B’nai Brith Canada. “The desire for the annihilation of the Jewish people at the hands of its enemies did not end at the Red Sea.
“As was foretold in the redactor of the Haggadah, ‘In every generation they will rise against us (the Jewish people) in order to destroy us,’ we have experienced foes who sought nothing short of the complete eradication of the Jews for centuries. Today, those who echo this goal are recruiting on a global scale and are more determined than ever to eliminate the Jewish people and their state. This year, Passover coincides with the tenth anniversary of the horrific Passover bombing of the Park Hotel in Netanya. As we remember the victims of this terrorist attack, we must recognize that Radical Islamist terror continues to endanger Israel and indeed the entire Western world.
“This Passover seder, we also remind ourselves with great sadness that four seats will remain empty in Toulouse, France as a result of yet another manifestation of hate and its intersection with Islamist terror.
“As we celebrate the tremendous will and determination of Jewish survival, we must continue to stand firm against all forms of intimidation by those who seek our demise and remind ourselves that the future of the Jewish people, and especially the Jewish State, remains in our hands.”
