Passover and the Holocaust

Today is Yom HaShoah, the official Israeli day of commemoration for the 6 million Jewish people who were murdered during the Holocaust. Less than a week ago Jews across the world finished the week long festival of Passover, the celebration of the Israelites liberation from Egypt and the end of their slavery. Whether or not the Israelites were ever enslaved in Egypt, and the historical accuracy of the Exodus story is an archaeological and theological debate which I am keen to explore but not on this occasion. Two things are certain though, firstly, the exodus story, told through the Passover Seder has become an integral part of Jewish identity. Secondly, there can be no doubt that the Jewish people have been victims of immense persecution throughout the centuries.

Plagues of Egypt

I should highlight that while I am not Jewish, ethnically or religiously I do hold a strong affiliation with the Jewish faith in my belief that Jesus Christ was the Jewish Messiah and as such would put my faith as somewhere between Messianic Judaism and early church Christianity. To this end there are a number of Messianic Jewish customs which I observe, one of them being holding a Passover Seder on Maundy Thursday which incorporates a traditional Jewish Seder and a commemoration of the Last Supper before Jesus was arrested and crucified.

For those who are not familiar with what happens during a Passover Seder, it is in effect an interactive meal which teaches the Exodus story and is primarily aimed at children but it is meant for the whole family/community of all ages to partake. Throughout the meal there are various elements which symbolise different aspects of the story. One of the most well-known parts of the Seder is the flatbread or Matzah that is eaten which tradition tells is the same bread that the Israelites took with them and that it was flat because they left in such a hurry that there wasn’t any time for the bread to rise. Moreover, vegetables are dipped into salt water representing the tears Jews shed during their time as slaves and bitter herbs (usually horseradish) symbolising the unpleasant years of their bondage is eaten.

A Passover Seder plate

This year’s Passover was different from previous years because of the Corona-virus pandemic and global lock-down – those celebrating the festival had to get together virtually or with fewer people. While this presented some difficulties, one of them being that I had to prepare Matzah (mine was definitely not flat), on the whole we made the best of it and had an enjoyable time. However, this got me thinking, especially today of all days – how did the Jews of Occupied Europe celebrate Passover under the oppression of Nazism? Below is an extract from a Holocaust survivor’s memoirs on how they persevered their customs in spite of the Nazis attempt to annihilate not just their traditions but their very existence.

“In April 1942 we had twenty-two Jewish partisans in our group. Because we had all lost our own families, we felt like a family — we became brothers and sisters to one another. One of the Jews in our group, Moishe Abramowitz, who had escaped from the town of Bobruisk, had brought with him a small prayer book that he kept hidden in his boots. He helped our group cope with the difficult conditions in the forest and the tragedy of our people. Reminding us that Passover was fast approaching, he managed to obtain some beets to make a red soup to substitute for wine, traditionally used during the holiday ritual. We had no matzah, but he dug up some horseradish from nearby fields. On the night of the first seder, we gathered near our underground bunker.

As I was the youngest, it was decided that I would ask the Four Questions, the Ma Nishtanah. I knew them well since, as the youngest in my family, I had always been the appropriate candidate. Here in the forest I interpreted the answers to the questions somewhat differently. In answer to the question, ‘Why is this night different from all other nights?’ I replied, ‘Because last Passover all the Jews sat with their families at tables beautifully set with matzah and goblets of red wine. Last year, each of us had a goblet on our plate and listened to the oldest person in our household conduct the seder. Tonight, in the forest, our lonely and orphaned group, having miraculously survived, remembers our loved ones who were taken from us forever.’ Tears fell from our eyes. After this, we continued to keep the traditions of all the Jewish holidays, which gave us the courage and the will to survive. With God’s help, we would eventually live in this world as free people.” Michael Kutz.

The first Passover after the war was a bittersweet experience for the Jews of Europe. On the one hand it was symbolic of their salvation from the horrors of the Holocaust. However, it was also a time to reflect on everything that had been taken from them. In many Jewish communities their experience of the Holocaust influenced their Passover Seder's, for example, one survivor in Munich Yosef Dov Sheinson wanted to express his experience in a Haggadah (the book which accompanies the Seder) which he wrote for the Seder night in the displaced persons camp. The excerpts in Hebrew and Yiddish which Sheinson added to the traditional Haggadah are accompanied by woodcuts by the Jewish-Hungarian artist Zvi Miklos Adler, who signed his name in the Haggadah as “Ben Binyamin.” As you can see in this Seder Egypt and Pharaoh have been replaced by concentration camps and the Nazis.

An extract from the Haggadah written in 1946

The history of the Holocaust naturally focuses on the obvious and undeniable suffering it caused, nevertheless, resistance did happen and in some ways this form of spiritual resistance was the most important as it kept the Jewish hope of salvation which Passover represents alive.