Latest news with #Pesach
News24
28-04-2025
- Politics
- News24
Silence is not neutrality, it is complicity
The executive of the Jewish Democratic Initiative highlights the moral and ethical crossroads Jewish institutions face for their silence and inaction amid the policies of Israel's extremist government. Recently the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Phil Rosenberg, wrote: "The Board of Deputies is a democratic organisation. It is a broad tent, containing 300 representatives from all denominations of Judaism and spanning a wide range of political opinion. Deputies regularly speak out in public on a range of issues and often take positions which are at odds with the official policy of the Board itself." A tolerant organisation. But not too tolerant. A few days later, Rosenberg initiated disciplinary proceedings against 36 deputies who had written a letter of dissent to the Financial Times, suspending two of the most senior members. The Financial Times letter, written during Pesach "as we mark the festival of freedom" was couched in the mildest language: "We write out of love of Israel and deep concern for its future", it began and often repeated. The emphasis was on a mainstream Jewish issue: the collapse of the agreement to free the hostages. But the letter touched a raw nerve, best summed up by its last paragraph: We stand against war. We acknowledge and mourn the loss of Palestinian life. We yearn for the day after this conflict when reconciliation can start. Should we in South Africa care about this long-distant kerfuffle? We should, because the letter and the high-handed response raise an issue that affects us too: the refusal of our major Jewish institutions to utter a word of criticism against what the letter correctly described as "the most extremist of Israeli governments". Jewish leadership in the diaspora remain largely supplicant, even though in Israel itself, hundreds of thousands, including prominent retired political and military figures, have demonstrated against that government for months. Discreet silence Our own Board of Deputies is among those who have chosen discreet silence. Which raises the question: Is there a red line somewhere that the government of Israel would have to cross before our board would speak up? Or is there no government action, neither word nor deed, too heinous to break the pact of silence? The return to hostilities after the ceasefire, as the Financial Times letter points out, was a cynical ploy to end a viable and carefully brokered pact and to bring the warmongering Itamar Ben Gvir faction back into government to pass a budget and avoid defeat in new elections. "Since then," says the letter, "no hostages have been returned. Hundreds and hundreds more Palestinians have been killed; food, fuel and medical supplies have once again been blocked from entering Gaza; and we are back in a brutal war where the killing of 15 paramedics and their burial in a mass grave is again possible and risks being normal … this most extremist of Israeli governments is openly encouraging violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, strangling the Palestinian economy and building more settlements than ever. This extremism also targets Israeli democracy, with the independence of the judicial system again under fierce attack, the police increasingly resembling a militia, and repressive laws are being advanced as provocative partisan populism is bitterly dividing Israeli society." As the letter continues, silence is not neutrality. It has become complicity. The inclination to avert our eyes is strong … Israel's soul is being ripped out … Silence is seen as support for policies that run contrary to our Jewish values … As we mark the festival of freedom with so many hostages still in captivity, it is our duty as Jews to speak out. Our own Board of Deputies is well aware of its awkward silence during the apartheid era, and has apologised for failing to speak out on behalf of Jewish values. Today, the Board is at a similar crossroads, and history will judge it. Is the board on the side of Jewish values? Will it join hundreds of thousands of Israelis calling for the release of the hostages? Or will it continue to remain on the side of the "most extremist government in Israel's history"?? - The executive of the Jewish Democratic Initiative.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
As an Israeli hostage turns 48, his wife waits for blue ticks on her messages
When Omri Miran finally opens his WhatsApp account, he's going to receive a torrent of messages. Photos of his daughters. Late night musings from his wife, Lishay, as she lies in bed. Snapshots from an Israeli family life that's gone on for 18 painful months without him. Lishay started sending the messages three weeks after Hamas gunmen violently snatched Omri from their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, on 7 October 2023. She calls the chat Notes to Omri. She's lost count of the number of messages she's sent. "My love, there are so many people you'll need to meet when you come back," she wrote at the end of October 2023. "Amazing people who are helping me. Strangers who have become as close as can be." Three-and-a-half months later, she posted a message from the couple's eldest daughter. "Roni just said goodnight to you at the window like every night. She says you don't hear her and she doesn't see you… You're really missing from her life and it's getting harder for her to deal with your absence." Friday was Omri's birthday. His second in captivity. As he turns 48, somewhere in the tunnels of Gaza, Lishay will be writing again, with tales of two daughters who were still babies when he last saw them. Released hostages say Omri was seen alive last July. Lishay's belief in her husband's survival seems unshakeable, but this is the toughest time of the year. Not just Omri's birthday, but also the eve of Pesach (Passover), when Jews celebrate the Biblical story of Exodus, in which Moses led their ancestors out of slavery in Egypt. "You know, Pesach is the holiday of freedom," Lishay says when we meet in a park near Tel Aviv's Hostages Square. "I don't feel free. I don't think anyone in Israel can feel free." In the square itself, Omri's birthday was marked on Friday. The posters calling for his release once listed the hostage's age as 46. Then 47. Danny, Omri's father, crossed out both, and wrote 48. Nearby, preparations were well under way for a symbolic Passover Seder, or ritual feast. A long table was being set, with places for each of the remaining 59 hostages still in Gaza (of whom 24 are believed to be alive). The square is full of symbols: a mock-up of a Gaza tunnel, tents to represent the Nova music festival where hundreds were killed. Along with a merchandise stall to support the families and a "virtual reality hostage experience", it's all part of a collective effort to keep the plight of the missing in the public eye and maintain political pressure on the Israeli government. Lishay and her daughters have yet to return to the house where family life was blown apart in a few traumatic hours, 18 months ago. But Lishay says she goes back to Nahal Oz from time to time to commune with her husband. The kibbutz is just 700m from the border with Gaza. It's as close as she can get to Omri. "I can feel him over there," she says. "I can speak with him." After a ceasefire came into effect in mid-January, the border was quiet. Lishay allowed herself to hope, even though she knew Omri's age meant that he would not be among the first to be freed. But the ceasefire ended after just two months. Now the border area - which Israelis call "the Gaza pocket" - echoes once more to the sounds of war, reigniting the deepest fears of all hostage families. "I was terrified," she says of her most recent trip. Lishay is careful not to condemn her government, as some hostage families have. But she says that when she realised the war had resumed, she was "really angry". When Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Hungary's Viktor Orban last week, he posted that the two men had discussed "the Hungarian hostage", a reference to Omri's dual Israel-Hungarian citizenship. For Lishay, it stung. "I was really, really hard to see this," she says. "Omri has a name. He's not just a hostage." In a Passover message delivered on Friday, Netanyahu once again promised the families that hostages would return and Israel's enemies would be defeated. Recent days have seen talk of another ceasefire deal, but it doesn't feel imminent. "The last time that it happened," Lishay says, referring to the first ceasefire deal in November 2023, "we waited more than a year for another agreement. So now we are going to wait one year more? They can't survive over there." For now, it seems her WhatsApp messages to Omri are destined to remain unopened. But that doesn't stop her looking for the grey ticks to turn blue. "I know someday it'll happen."
BBC News
11-04-2025
- General
- BBC News
As an Israeli hostage turns 48, his wife waits for blue ticks on her messages
When Omri Miran finally opens his WhatsApp account, he's going to receive a torrent of of his daughters. Late night musings from his wife, Lishay, as she lies in bed. Snapshots from an Israeli family life that's gone on for 18 painful months without started sending the messages three weeks after Hamas gunmen violently snatched Omri from their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, on 7 October calls the chat Notes to Omri. She's lost count of the number of messages she's sent."My love, there are so many people you'll need to meet when you come back," she wrote at the end of October 2023."Amazing people who are helping me. Strangers who have become as close as can be."Three-and-a-half months later, she posted a message from the couple's eldest daughter."Roni just said goodnight to you at the window like every night. She says you don't hear her and she doesn't see you… You're really missing from her life and it's getting harder for her to deal with your absence." Friday was Omri's birthday. His second in captivity. As he turns 48, somewhere in the tunnels of Gaza, Lishay will be writing again, with tales of two daughters who were still babies when he last saw hostages say Omri was seen alive last July. Lishay's belief in her husband's survival seems unshakeable, but this is the toughest time of the year. Not just Omri's birthday, but also the eve of Pesach (Passover), when Jews celebrate the Biblical story of Exodus, in which Moses led their ancestors out of slavery in Egypt."You know, Pesach is the holiday of freedom," Lishay says when we meet in a park near Tel Aviv's Hostages Square."I don't feel free. I don't think anyone in Israel can feel free."In the square itself, Omri's birthday was marked on posters calling for his release once listed the hostage's age as 46. Then Omri's father, crossed out both, and wrote preparations were well under way for a symbolic Passover Seder, or ritual feast.A long table was being set, with places for each of the remaining 59 hostages still in Gaza (of whom 24 are believed to be alive).The square is full of symbols: a mock-up of a Gaza tunnel, tents to represent the Nova music festival where hundreds were with a merchandise stall to support the families and a "virtual reality hostage experience", it's all part of a collective effort to keep the plight of the missing in the public eye and maintain political pressure on the Israeli and her daughters have yet to return to the house where family life was blown apart in a few traumatic hours, 18 months ago. But Lishay says she goes back to Nahal Oz from time to time to commune with her kibbutz is just 700m from the border with Gaza. It's as close as she can get to Omri."I can feel him over there," she says. "I can speak with him."After a ceasefire came into effect in mid-January, the border was quiet. Lishay allowed herself to hope, even though she knew Omri's age meant that he would not be among the first to be the ceasefire ended after just two months. Now the border area - which Israelis call "the Gaza pocket" - echoes once more to the sounds of war, reigniting the deepest fears of all hostage families."I was terrified," she says of her most recent trip. Lishay is careful not to condemn her government, as some hostage families have. But she says that when she realised the war had resumed, she was "really angry".When Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Hungary's Viktor Orban last week, he posted that the two men had discussed "the Hungarian hostage", a reference to Omri's dual Israel-Hungarian Lishay, it stung."I was really, really hard to see this," she says. "Omri has a name. He's not just a hostage."In a Passover message delivered on Friday, Netanyahu once again promised the families that hostages would return and Israel's enemies would be days have seen talk of another ceasefire deal, but it doesn't feel imminent."The last time that it happened," Lishay says, referring to the first ceasefire deal in November 2023, "we waited more than a year for another agreement. So now we are going to wait one year more? They can't survive over there."For now, it seems her WhatsApp messages to Omri are destined to remain that doesn't stop her looking for the grey ticks to turn blue."I know someday it'll happen."
Axios
11-04-2025
- General
- Axios
Where to find Jewish food in New Orleans
The Jewish holiday of Passover starts this weekend, and several New Orleans restaurants have food for your gatherings. The big picture: During Passover, which is sundown Saturday to sundown April 20 this year, observers eat matzo and other unleavened breads as a way to remember that the Jews fled Egypt so fast that their dough didn't have time to rise. Zoom in: Kosher Cajun Deli in Metairie has been open for more than 30 years and is one of the oldest Jewish delis in south Louisiana. It's half restaurant and half market. You can get dine in with matzo ball soup and deli sandwiches. Plus, you can also get kosher grocery items and deli offerings, like fresh pickles and sliced meat. The deli also flies in bagels from New York. Zoom out: Other places you can get Jewish food in town: What is Passover? State of play: The holiday, also called Pesach in Hebrew, is observed for eight days in the U.S. It commemorates the biblical story of the Jewish people's escape from slavery in ancient Egypt. The seder is the main Passover ritual and is a holiday meal that includes the re-telling of the story of the exodus from Egypt. Seder feasts are held on the first two nights of the holiday in the U.S. After lighting candles, it's a 15-step feast, according to Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center. The service uses Haggadah prayer books and includes drinking four cups of wine. Good to know: You can wish someone a "Happy Passover," Chabad notes. Other holiday sayings include have a "kosher and joyous Passover" and "chag Pesach" in Hebrew. It is not appropriate to say "Happy Yom Kippur" during the fall Jewish holiday, which marks the day of atonement. Passover food rules Dig in: Passover observers eat matzo, an unleavened bread, which is a flat crisp bread like a cracker. People who observe the holiday try to avoid food with grains, known as "chametz," like breads, pastas, pizza and beer. Between the lines: Lots of matzo can back you up. "Matzo can have an extremely binding effect," says dietitian and author Tamara Duker Freuman, who's Jewish. "Its ingredient list essentially reads the same as a can of Play-Doh." A sheet of matzo is "equivalent to two slices of bread, flour-wise," she says, and people tend to eat multiple sheets, without getting enough fluids.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Should you plan an outdoor Easter egg hunt? See long-range Florida forecast
If your Easter plans include an egg hunt, you'll probably be OK to schedule it outside in Florida. Of course, Florida being the state it is, you'd better have an indoor contingency plan, just in case. ➤ Weather alerts via text: Sign up to get updates about current storms and weather events by location Long-range forecasts call for plenty of heat and no rain across the state for the period including Easter on April 20. Here are the predictions: NOAA's Climate Prediction Center predicted temperatures will be above normal for April 12-25. Easter Sunday is April 20. Chances for rain are below normal for the entire state, except the western Panhandle. "For Easter, we are leaning toward mainly dry for the state," according to Paul Pastelok, AccuWeather lead long-range forecaster. "There can be a couple of showers near the Keys. "Temperatures will average above, but not quite as hot as this week. Confidence is low to moderate from this far out." The U.S. spring outlook released by the Old Farmer's Almanac predicted warm, wet conditions across the Panhandle and North Florida and cool, dry conditions along the east coast, South and Southwest Florida. If the predictions for dry weather continue in the spring as predicted, Florida's hardest hit regions will continue to experience drought conditions. Passover will be observed starting at sundown on April 12. Easter in 2025 will be observed on Sunday, April 20. It marks the last day of the eight-day Pesach — or Passover — Jewish holiday. Easter is a 'movable feast,' so it doesn't happen on the same date from year to year, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac. In the Gregorian calendar, it is always observed on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25. "Over a 500-year period (from 1600 to 2099 AD), Easter will most often be celebrated on either March 31 or April 16. "Easter Sunday always occurs on the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon, which is the first full moon that occurs on or after the March or spring equinox," according to the Old Farmer's Almanac. The 2025 spring equinox fell on March 20 this year. The next full moon will arrive Saturday, April 12. We will continue to update our weather coverage as conditions warrant. Download your local site's app to ensure you're always connected to the news. And look for our special subscription offers here. This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Florida Easter 2025 weather forecast: Predictions for holiday
