Judaism and equality - or lack thereof

The days of Passover command us to remember the story of the Exodus. One of the most fundamental messages of the Exodus is the idea that a nation has decided that "freedom" can take precedence over life itself. In fact, halakha tells us that maintaining our freedom to remain Jews is one of the very few cases in which we must be willing to give up our lives.

In the past, the freedom of religion, in the sense of conducting rituals, was left to a small, elite group and the role of the religious leadership was crucial - that was the reality when man entered the modern age.

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Love the Stranger

The commandment to "therefore love the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" (Deuteronomy 10:19) has particular relevance to recent events in the Druse village of Peki'in and how we might view them.

In order to explain what I mean, allow me to begin with a couple of personal memories.

My first visit to the Druse village of Peki'in occurred when I was about eleven years old. I was on a Bnei Akiva trip and the tour guide had one point of importance to make about the village: that there had been a continuous Jewish settlement in the village for almost two thousand years, ever since the Bar-Kochva period. One of the experiences that I guess many visitors never forget is eating one of Raya's paper-thin Druze pita with labbaneh. Many religious visitors stop there, because Raya, an elderly Druse woman, had a special connection with Margalit Zinati who insured that the preparation of the pita was done under supervision of the "Jew of Peki'in". I remember Raya instructing me to join her in stirring the fire, so there would be no doubt of "Pat Akum" (bread baked by a gentile).