Stay indoors and stay safe. This is the message of the IDF Homefront to Israeli citizens.
3000 years ago, while chaos raged outside in Egypt, Jewish homes became spaces of quiet faith, where families sat together knowing that Hashem was watching over them. Safety did not come from walls alone, but from a deep sense that they were not alone. Hashem was with them.
Today, that image is no longer just history. Across Israel, families run to mamadim and miklatim as sirens pierce the air. Parents gather their children, doors close again, and hearts turn upward. The setting has changed, but the feeling is the same. In the moments of greatest vulnerability, we are reminded that Hashem’s protection does not disappear.
And here, on the eve of Pesach, we stand with fire in our hands as we burn our chametz. It is a powerful act. We take leaven, something inflated, something that represents ego and excess, and we reduce it to ashes. It is meant to be a fire of growth, a fire that strips away what is unnecessary and helps us become who we are meant to be.
Which is why it is so jarring, so painful, that in Golders Green, fire was used in the opposite way, to destroy, to attack Hatzola ambulances, vehicles that exist only to save lives and bring help in moments of crisis.
Two fires. One that refines. One that destroys.
The question for us is simple but demanding. What kind of fire will we bring into the world?
As we close our doors this Pesach, whether in London or in Israel, may they not be doors of fear but of faith. And may we feel, as our ancestors did, that even in the darkest nights, Hashem is watching over His people.
Hannah and I wish you, your family and the whole community chag kasher v’sameach – a very happy, healthy and kosher Pesach