Pesach - Minorities in Israel

As Pesach approaches – and the State of Israel prepares to celebrate its 61st anniversary – it is appropriate to reflect that amongst the State of Israel’s greatest achievements is the absorption of an unprecedented number of immigrants including more than a million Soviet Jews released from economic and religious oppression and more recently numbers of Darfuris fleeing Sudan via Egypt.

The welcoming of Jews under the Law of Return and of other refugees escaping persecution roots the Jewish people – and the State of Israel – in the Biblical story of a motley crew of Hebrew slaves and others fleeing slavery in Egypt, crossing the Reed Sea, and heading for a promised but unknown land .

The Midrashist (Megillah 10b) reminds us that as the Israelites reached the dry shore the ministering angels wanted to sing a song of praise but God restrained them saying: ‘My creatures are drowning in the sea and you would sing before me!’

The modern State of Israel is made up of indigenous Jews, immigrants, and indigenous Israeli Palestinians, and each of these groups must play – and be assisted to play – its full role in a Jewish democratic state. Israel’s very Declaration of Independence itself envisages that ‘The State of Israel will be …. based on freedom, justice and peace as conceived by the Prophets of Israel ... will uphold the full social and political of all its citizens…’

It is no easy task to absorb large numbers of immigrants and to balance their interests with those of two indigenous peoples but, as the angels at the Reed Sea were rebuked by God who demanded of them care and compassion for each human being, so shall the merit of the State of Israel be earned by its just and generous treatment of each and every one of its citizens regardless of origin or faith.   

Rabbi Danny Rich

Chief Executive

Liberal Judaism