PASSOVER SEDER READINGS AND PRAYERS FOR THE HOSTAGES IN GAZA

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The Empty Chair

A contemporary Seder customs custom has arisen that is especially appropriate this year to incorporate into our Seders – a time when we celebrate our freedom from bondage – our thoughts and prayers for the hostages in the current Israel-Hamas war and their families. For a number of years, some families have adopted the custom of placing an empty chair at the Seder table to symbolize those missing from our Seder tables – victims of the Holocaust, Israeli POWs and MIAs, the victims of Palestinian violence and terrorism in Israel, and those with empty chairs at their dinner tables on both sides of the violence in Israel. This year, it’s particularly important to have an empty chair by the Seder table to represent the hostages taken into Gaza and all those killed in Israel on October 7, 2023.

Below are special prayers and readings for the hostages – those still being held (to pray for their safe release), those already released (to pray for their full recovery), and those who died or were murdered in captivity (to pray for their souls) – and for all their families (to pray for their hope, comforting, solace, and healing).

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After reading the passage in the Haggadah that begins “Rabban Gamliel used to say,” explaining the meaning of the three main ceremonial Seder items -- pesach (shankbone), matzah, and maror (bitter herbs) -- the Seder leader or a participant reads:

???? Tonight, we also have at our Seder table a new symbol, an empty chair to symbolize the hostages taken in the barbaric attack on Israel on October 7th and their brutal captivity – those who were murdered, abused, and tortured, those who are still in captivity in horrific conditions, and even those who have been released but suffer the aftermath of their cruel imprisonment. This chair increases our awareness of the many people who are missing tonight from their families’ Seder tables, and that while the hostages are imprisoned, we are all imprisoned.

The Seder Leader or one or more participants then reads one of the following prayers.

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1. Acheinu

Recite together the “Acheinu” (“Our Brothers and Sisters”), the traditional Jewish prayer for the release of captives that Jews have recited since the Middle Ages as part of the Torah service liturgy:

Our brothers, our sisters, the entire family of Israel, all who are in distress or taken into captivity – whether on the sea or on dry land – may the Omnipresent have mercy upon them and bring them out from suffering to relief, from darkness to light, from subjugation to redemption, now, swiftly, and soon! And let us say:?Amen.

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Acheinu kol beit yisrael, han’nutunim b’tzara uvashivyah, haomdim bein bayam uvein bayabasha. Hamakom Y’racheim Aleihem v’yotziem mitzra lirvacha um’afaila l’orah umishiabud lig’ulah, hashta ba’agala uvizman kariv. V’nomar: Amen.

2. Have one participant recite or all recite together:

May we be given the gift of hope. ?Whether we pray to God, to a Presence, to the universe, to the infinite, or to a?brilliant patchwork of stars stretching over us?all, we pray that our leaders and our people can see the importance of hope. We pray that the hostages and their families can feel it and get it back. We pray for everyone to get it back. We pray for healing for hostages who have been released. We pray that we will be whole again. We pray that we’re not destined to forever be the people of the missing people. Because until they come home, we are all hostages.

?- Adapted from the Jewish Book Council

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3. Song: “Am Yisrael Chai”

Sing the popular and spirited song “Am Yisrael Chai” (“The People of Israel Live”) by Shlomo Carlebach which has become a solidarity anthem celebrating the unity of the Jewish nation, Jewish survival, support and solidarity with Israel,?and an affirmation of?Jewish identity. It has been called “the anthem of American Jewry.” To learn the melody, there are numerous videos of it being sung on YouTube.

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The people of Israel live! (Repeat 3x)

Our Father still lives! (Repeat 3x)

Am yisrael chai! (Repeat 3x)

Od avinu chai (Repeat 3x)

?!??? ?????????? ??? (Repeat 3x)

!???? ???????? ??? (Repeat 3x)

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4. “Prayer for Redemption of Hostages,” by Rabbis Ofer and Rachel Sabath Bein Halachmi

Have one participant recite:

? Our God, the One who raised Joseph up from the pit, be “a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.” (Psalm 9:10) Send complete rescue and full redemption to all those held captive by the enemy. Strengthen their spirit and bring them our prayers that they be protected from all harm. Implant understanding in the heart of the enemy that they may return the captives in wholeness of body and spirit. Grant wisdom to the Israel Defense Forces that they may secure freedom for the captives without loss of life. Grant strength of spirit and courage of heart to all the sons and daughters of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar to release bonds of captivity and allow us all to live in freedom. “They shall call upon Me, and I will answer them; I will be with them in distress; I will rescue them and honor them.” (after Psalm 91:15).

5. Prayer by Rabbi Naomi Levy

Have different participants each recite a stanza of this prayer. It is a prayer of thanks for those hostages who have been released and hope for those who have not:

Today is a day of gratitude for every soul freed from captivity. Children, mothers and elders are coming home!

The long-awaited hour of reunion is here. God, heal the hearts of children who have lived through horrors no child should ever endure. Some children have no parents’ arms to run to, let all of Israel embrace them with an eternal love.

We give thanks for every hostage released today, for joyous reunions filled with tears of thanksgiving. We pray that love will mend the brokenness, that fear will soon give way to faith in tomorrow. But for the hostages this hope-filled day of homecoming will also be heartbreaking, a?time of mourning for murdered loved ones. Comfort them, God, be their light in these dark days, be their strength, be their shelter, their hope for new life that lies ahead.

On this blessed day of gratitude, our hearts refuse to rejoice Until every soul heartlessly held by Hamas, every boy and girl, every woman and man has been released. God, help us bring them home.

Until that day, watch over them, God. Fill them with courage, perseverance, strength and hope for the day of freedom that is coming. May that day come soon.

Baruch Ata Adonai Elohenu Melech Ha-Olam Matir Assurim. Blessed are You, O God, Who frees the captives. Amen.

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6. “Prayer for Israel in Time of War,” by Reuven Kimelman

Eloheinu V’Elohei Avoteinu, Our God and God of our ancestors.

You know that the Jewish people are one nation with one heart,

And today that heart is broken.

With the grim news of so many of our sisters and brothers in Israel killed, wounded, and kidnapped, we turn to You.

Harofeh Lishvurei Lev,

“O healer of broken hearts, binder of their wounds” (Psalm 147:3)

Be with our brothers and sisters who have been taken captive

And with the families of the victims.

Watch over the hostages, break their bonds,

And bring them out from darkness to light.

“Proclaim release to the captives; liberation to the imprisoned” (Isaiah 61:1)

Comfort the families of all those murdered,

Bring them under the shelter of Your wings.

Bring complete healing of body and spirit to all of the wounded,

Bind up our wounds and grant us healing.

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Tsur Yisrael vi-Go’alo, Rock and Redeemer of the People Israel,

Bless the State of Israel, the initial manifestation of our redemption.

Shield it with Your care; spread over it Your shelter of peace.

Guide its leaders and advisors with Your light and Your truth;

Grace them with Your good counsel.

Strengthen the hands of those who defend our holy land;

Crown their efforts with victory.

Bless the land with peace; its inhabitants with lasting joy.

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Shomer Yisrael, Guardian of Israel,

Strengthen and?bless the defenders of Israel

Who stand guard over our land: on the land, in the air, and on the sea.

Deliver their murderers into their hands.

May we see the promise of the Psalmist:

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“You?turned my mourning into dancing…

my sackcloth into robes of joy” (30:12)

God, protect, preserve, and restore peace and well-being to Israel — Your people.

7. Read the Names of the Hostages

Have participants recite the names of the hostages aloud, either together or in turn (each person reciting a single name or several names). A list of the hostages’ names can be found at the Chabad website: https://tinyurl.com/Names-Hostages-in-Gaza. The list is divided into those hostages still being held (to pray for their safe release), those already released (to pray for their full recovery), those who died or were murdered in captivity (to pray for their souls), and those whose remains have not yet been returned (to pray for the return of their remains).

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7. “Leave a Seat or Two Empty This Seder,” by Prof. Gil Troy

Let each of us, as we gather at our Seders, intrude on our own celebrations by leaving one setting untouched, by having one empty chair at our table, as many of us have had in previous years. Although this year, as we lament kidnapped brothers and sisters, and mourn murdered loved ones too, we might consider two empty chairs.

Let us take the time to learn the name of at least one victim murdered since last Passover, or one victim murdered years earlier, one Jew who cannot celebrate this year’s holiday, one family in mourning, one family with an empty seat at their table and a hole in their hearts.

Let us call out the name of Koby Mandell, age 13, an American immigrant murdered in May, 2001, whose father, Rabbi Seth Mandell, noted the empty seat at his Shabbat table and shared the pain of watching other boys grow up, watching their voices deepen, their shoulders broaden, their gaits quicken, even as his son lay dead.

Let us call out the name of Hadar Goldin, a 23-year-old soldier killed by Hamas in August, 2014 but whose remains Hamas holds in a cruel assault on Hadar’s family and civilized norms.

Let us call out the names of Rabbi Eitam and Naama Henkin, ambushed in October, 2015, slaughtered in their car’s front seat as their four children sat in the back.

Let us call out the name of Ezra Schwartz, an 18-year-old Boston kid enjoying his yeshiva “gap” year, gunned down at a traffic stop.

Let us call out the name of Awad Darawshe, 23, an Israeli medic working at the Nova concert festival this Oct. 7, who refused to leave, telling friends, “I speak Arabic, I think I can manage.” Hamas terrorists killed him as he bandaged a wounded concert-goer.

Let us call out the names of Ben Mizrachi, 22, originally from Vancouver, and Itai Bausi, 22, friends simply attending the Nova concert. As good Zionists and trained Israelis, Ben, who moved to Israel and served as a combat medic, and Itai, who was a Duvdevan commando, plunged into action, trying to save others. Killed in a hail of bullets, both are now buried in their beloved kibbutz, Kvutzat Yavne.

Let us call out the names of Sgt. Eden Alon Levy 19, Capt. Or Moses, 22, and Lt. Eder Ben-Simon, 20, three Home Front Command soldiers who died saving over 90 recruits when eight Hamas terrorists stormed their base from the beach.??

And let us think for a moment, about a 10-year-old Bedouin girl, whose house collapsed just days before Passover, injuring her badly, because the Islamic Republic of Iran unleashed a barrage of missiles against the Jewish State, demonstrating that the intense hate against Jews and anyone in Israel, crosses the 1,157 miles separating Tehran from Jerusalem.?

As we call out these names, let us commit to some action to embrace the victims’ families. Moreover, let us build a friendship with Israel and Israelis, which is not just about politics and not solely about mourning.

And as we call out these names, unlike our enemies, we don’t call for vengeance. Instead, as we mourn, let us hope; as we remember the many lives lost during this crazy, pointless war, let us pray more intensely for a just and lasting peace, and for an end to the global scourge of terrorism afflicting Jews and non-Jews.

- Jewish Journal, at https://tinyurl.com/Leave-a-Seat-Empty-JJ