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Letters: Passover vigil for peace

THROUGH the ritual of the Seder, Passover tells the story of the Pharaoh's oppression of the Jews in ancient Egypt and their eventual emancipation from slavery. It's a time of reflection, and after the recent war in Gaza, many Jews are asking: Who are the slaves and who is the Pharaoh?

THROUGH the ritual of the Seder, Passover tells the story of the Pharaoh's oppression of the Jews in ancient Egypt and their eventual emancipation from slavery. It's a time of reflection, and after the recent war in Gaza, many Jews are asking: Who are the slaves and who is the Pharaoh?

The war saw more than 1,417 Palestinians killed, more than 900 of them civilians, as opposed to 13 Israelis. The war was not only a devastating event for Palestinians but also the moral challenge of our time to the American Jewish community whose communal leadership supported the onslaught publicly and loudly. This year, Passover gives us a chance to reflect on this war, our history and our responsibility.

This year, by coincidence, the start of Passover also falls near an important anniversary, Deir Yassin Day. Deir Yassin was a Palestinian village destroyed by Zionist militias on April 9, 1948.

More than 100 men, women and children were killed. As word of the massacre, and others like it, spread through Palestine, many residents fled, expecting they'd be able to return after the fighting subsided. Within a year, Deir Yassin, emptied of Palestinians, was repopulated with Jewish immigrants and its name was erased from the map.

The Passover Seder is about learning and teaching - using the stories of the past to understand our place in the world today. The story of Egypt is told and remembered through ritual, questioning and storytelling.

This year, a group of Jewish activists in Philadelphia are using the Seder ritual to wrestle with the Jewish history of being both slave and Pharaoh.

Today and tomorrow, Philadelphia Jews for a Just Peace are holding "From Deir Yassin to Gaza: an 18-hour Passover Vigil" outside the Israeli Consulate. This event will combine a memorial to Deir Yassin, a Passover ritual remembering the past as well as a teach-in and discussion.

We are holding this event to understand the past and take responsibility for its legacies in the present.

Adam Horowitz, Philadelphia