Front Lines
NOTE BO
JNenline
uonit Take Freedom For Grantee
Dear IN family:
Pesach, which begins at sundown Monday, April 2, with
the first seder and runs eight days in the diaspora, appeals
to more Jews than any other Jewish holiday, even the High
Holidays. In its simplest state, Pesach commemorates our
liberation from slavery in Egypt 3,287 years ago and the
Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. We celebrate this eleva-
tion to religious freedom each spring at the seder table.
That this freedom, though limited in many parts of the
diaspora, allows us to celebrate the holiday each year is a
fervent reminder of the power of God's blessing upon us.
Freedom can be fleeting and we're foolish to think otherwise. You
need to constantly work to keep its protective layers. They can be
stripped away much more quickly than it took to add them.
American Jews today enjoy the greatest religious freedom ever in
Jewish history, even exceeding that during the Golden Age of Spain.
But we must not ignore the crashing tides of anti-Semitism in much
of Europe, certainly in the Middle East and even in neighboring
Canada, which is experiencing its worst anti-Semitism in 25 years. We
know the torture and torment that Israelis potentially feel
daily as they strive to preserve our ancestral homeland.
If you don't have students on campuses of higher educa-
tion, you also may not know that more and more U.S. uni-
versities and colleges have become hotbeds of Jew bashing,
Israel propaganda and anti-Zionism.
Pesach is a universal reminder that Jews through the
ages were delivered by God from Egyptian slavery just as
the Israelites were. Against that backdrop, we the American
Jewish community must not turn a complacent eye, because
of our relative wealth and security, toward the ripples of
discontent and hate around us.
Remember: We're a people. It was never God's plan for Jews to live
independent of one another. It's through our collective fortitude, spirit
and wisdom that we pursue tikkun olam, repair of the world, always
with encouragement and hope distilled from what ultimately binds
us: our sacred Torah.
We're survivors, but to take that for granted could be our demise.
Meanwhile, chag kasher Pesach sameach and Shabbat shalom!
❑
Toronto artist Melissa Shiff takes her art — and her mitzvot — seriously. A conceptual artist whose work
is currently showing in "Tergloba," an exhibition at the Oakland University Art Gallery in Rochester through
April 15, Shiff plays on Jewish traditions, myths and symbols to make her point about the importance of
activism and doing your part to make the world a better place.
"Crush Oppression" is the title of the piece at OU. It is taken from a larger work called "Passover
Installation: The Medium is the Matze At OU, she uses boards of matzah (the unleavened bread of afflic-
tion) as a wall covering for a cozy corner filled with handmade pillows lining the floor and piled in a corner.
They await visitors who are invited to recline on them as they are instructed to do during a seder as a sign
of being free.
One catch — these soft pillows contain a piece of matzah inside that is, as Shiff says, "meant to agitate
and to remind the participant that one should not get too comfortable because there is work to be done to
crush oppression in the world today:'
The pillows are available for sale to be used in your own seder, with part of the proceeds donated to
Mazon, an organization dedicated to fighting hunger. By removing a pillow, you are doing your part to
crush oppression. Get a pillow for $15 (small), $20 (medium), $30 (large) at the OU gallery, 208 Wilson Hall
(across the hall from the theater), Auburn Hills, (248) 370-3005. Or go to Shiff's Web site and buy one there:
www.japshoppercom. P.S. The piece of matzah can be replaced after it's been crushed to matzah meal.
- Keri Guten Cohen, story development editor
"Crush Oppression."
Passover Means Freedom For Ali
As Jewish families gather this Passover to celebrate freedom and
remember the tragedy of slavery in Egypt, the human rights organiza-
tion Global Exchange asks seder participants to reflect on present-day
child slavery in West African cocoa fields and provides tools for Jews to
bring about "next year, an end to slavery in the cocoa fields."
As the one-page seder supplement, free for download at www.glo-
balexchange.org/cocoa/passover, reads: "Leader: Once, we were slaves
in Egypt. Today, young children are slaves on the opposite side of Africa.
Assembled: Child laborers in the West African cocoa fields are over a
quarter of million in number; 12,000 of them are slaves. We can walk in
Moses' footsteps. We can have the courage to ask the pharoahs of today
to let the children go:'
Recent studies estimate that 284,000 children work in dangerous con-
ditions on cocoa farms in West Africa, 64 percent of whom are under
age 14. Virtually all of the chocolate sold in the United States — about
$13 billion worth each year — includes some cocoa from West Africa.
The seder supplement suggests that the host place a piece of Fair
Trade chocolate on the seder plate to remind that slavery is still with us
today, but informs participants about a solution to this atrocity.
Fair Trade chocolate, denoted by the "Fair Trade Certified" label, is a
monitoring and certification process that guarantees a minimum price
per pound for cocoa to help lift farmers from poverty. It prohibits slav-
ery and abusive child labor, and requires independent farm monitoring.
The supplement invites seder participants to send a simple letter
to U.S. World's Finest Chocolate, the largest manufacturer of chocolate
for fundraisers, asking the company to bring an end to child slavery in
cocoa fields by producing Fair Trade chocolate. For more information
about Fair Trade, visit www.globalexchange.org/cocoa.
- Keri Guten Cohen, story development editor
Cap & Gown
www.JNOnline.us
Passover & Food
Here's your chance to share
your favorite Passover recipes
with the rest of us. We're look-
ing for recipes from soup (mat-
zah ball, of course!) to dessert.
It's easy to share. Just fill in
the comments info at the bot-
tom of the story. We've added
a few recipes just to get you
started!
Only at JNonline.us . Just
click on Web Extra on the
menu on the left.
Latest From Israel
Crush Oppression This Passover
Melissa Shiff does her part to
This Week
The annual Jewish News recogni-
tion of sharp high school seniors
will be published May 24. Any
Jewish senior in Michigan with a
3.50 or higher grade point average
can receive a free listing in the Cap & Gown section.
For complete information, go to JNonline.us and click on the
Cap & Gown button in the top right corner of the home page.
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JBlog
Arnie Goldman shares his
thoughts about Borat, the Iraq
war, little mitzvahs and more.
Jeff Klein offers his Metro
Perspectives on everything
from dating to friendship.
Follow the amusing adventures
of Laurie Freeman's China
Punim, 4-year-old Amanda.
Only at JNonline.us . Just
click on JBloq on the menu on
the left.
Results from last week's poll:
Will you take part in two
Passover seders this year or
one?
One 36%
Two 64%
This week's poll question:
For Passover, did you change
your dishes and sell your
chametz?
Visit the JNonline.us homep-
age to cast your vote.
March 29 2007
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