Passover always brings back memories of my childhood in Canada, where I grew up, so we would always remember the Jews around the world who are not yet free.
In those days, the intention was mainly for Jews in the USSR, who were denied the right to immigrate to Israel as well as the freedom to practice their Jewish faith freely. As they.
The axiom that accompanied us then as today, was that attacking one Jew is the same as attacking all Jews.
The logic behind this assumption is simple: when a Jew is attacked because of his immensity as a Jew, each of us immediately feels "if I were there, I could absorb as well."
Since the victim was attacked not as an individual, but as one who represents all the Jews, it is the whole nation that is attacked.
Of course, this reality does not belong only to the Jews.
When a person who shares an identity and faith with me is attacked, and I can say with all my heart that if I were there it could have been me, I become a victim as well.
This is the litmus test of collective sacrifice.
In recent years there has been a dramatic increase in the persecution of Christians.
According to Open Doors (a non-profit organization that monitors the persecution of Christians around the world), 360 million Christians experienced high-level persecution in 2021 - an increase of 20 million compared to 2020, which was a record in itself.
Mass murder in Nigeria, church burning in Afghanistan, laws restricting the Christian faith in North Korea, incarceration in labor camps in China are just some of the realities that have become routine for Christians around the world.
And this is also a Jewish problem.
According to the test of the collective sacrifice, the inevitable conclusion is that in today's world, an attack on Christians is an attack on Jews.
Is there any doubt that those who murdered Christians because of their faith will kill any Jew they can get their hands on?
Is it really possible to think that countries that prevent or restrict public expressions of Christian faith accept Judaism in peace?
Although it is difficult for Jews to accept this, given the history of Christian relations with our people for centuries, the reality is that today instead of anti-Semitism growing from the Christian world, the roots of anti-Semitism in the world are also anti-Christian.
Therefore, we are wrong to think whether we treat anti-Semitism as a separate phenomenon from the persecution of Christians and its motives.
The Bible is part of the Bible, for Jews and Christians alike, and the basic values contained in it are the foundation on which our world and our faith are built, of all of us. On Christians are attacks on Jews.
Let us not allow the dark past of the Church to obscure this vision of reality.
Christians no longer persecute Jews anywhere in the world, and Christian doctrines regarding Jews and Judaism have evolved and are marching forward toward fuller acceptance and reconciliation, in most streams of Christianity.
Israel has quickly become the only society in the Middle East where Christians have no reason to fear being Christians;
History, it turns out, creates surprising alliances.
When the children of Israel were about to enter the Promised Land they were commanded: "And you loved Hagar because you lived in the land of Egypt" (Deuteronomy 10:19).
Even in these days, when the people of Israel are once again free and strong in their homeland, this historical imperative should arouse in us the concern and empathy for those who are not members of our nation, who need support and salvation from a world of persecution and oppression.
This is the lesson, which was enacted in us in the days of Egypt, and it is also our answer to modern anti-Semitism in our time.
Were we wrong?
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