One of the most poignant and moving parts of the Seder is singing “Vehi she’amdah ” and more specifically the words “ela shebecholdor vador omdim aleinu lechaloseinu [in every generation they rise up against us to destroy us]” — words that have been sung over the generations in both the best of times and the worst of times.
In every generation the Jew has faced down the enemy that has sought to destroy and remove any remnants of our People through so many different means. From Pharaoh bathing in the blood of Jewish babies slaughtered for that purpose to forced conversions or death by burning at the stake to crematoria and bus bombings.
Our times are no different. With a descendant of Amalek at the helm of a powerful country like Iran bent on our destruction and outright savagery on a Leil Shabbos Kodesh in the village of Itamar it’s obvious that we are still experiencing “bechol dor vador.”
Over the last few weeks there have been not-so-subtle displays of how much the Jew is hated among the nations. First the horrible attack and assault on an American reporter who was covering the uprising in Egypt by a raging mob who referred to her as “Jew Jew” during the attack as if to justify the ruthlessness of the attack because she’s a Jew (she actually isn’t) and therefore does not deserve to be treated as a human being. Or take the CNN broadcast of mobs protesting the tyrannical rule of the Assad family in Syria holding banners that read “Assad the Jew must go ” their point being that the best way to demonstrate how evil this tyrant is and how much they revile him is by calling him a Jew.
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