We are proud to share a collaborative reflection between Senior Director Tariq Mohamed and Board Member Rabbi Dr. Tali Zelkowicz. Created at the request of Board Member Rabbi Alex Braver for his congregation at Tifereth Israel, this message bridges the gap between the ritual of the Seder and the urgent needs of New Americans in Columbus right now.
Below, you will find a guide for integrating these modern stories into your holiday, along with concrete steps you can take to support our neighbors in crisis.
How does the Seder tell the story of today’s refugees?
The story of Passover is the story of refugees.
At the heart of Passover is the ritual retelling of our collective story each year. And it is no passive act.
As Jonathan Safran Foer writes in the introduction to the New American Haggadah he edited in 2012: “We are not merely telling a story here. We are being called to a radical act of empathy. Here we are, embarking on an ancient, perennial attempt to give human life – our lives – dignity.”
In this way, our annual reading and re-enacting of the Haggadah is a kind of bibliotherapy, the use of text to help readers understand their own emotions and to foster empathy with the plight of others.
This story we tell is one of humans – and ultimately humanity – regaining freedom, agency, and dignity after being enslaved and oppressed in a land that literally means “the narrow places,” “Mitzrayim.” We do this because, as the Haggadah commands (quoting Exodus 13:8), “You will tell your child in that day, saying, ‘It is because of that which Adonai did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.’”
Lest we miss the core message, the Haggadah elaborates (citing Mishnah Pesachim 10:5), “In every generation, each person is obligated to see themselves as if they personally left Egypt.”
With this imperative, the Exodus story ceases to be an historical/mythical event, but a personal experience of liberation intended to foster genuine gratitude and productive empathy for all who are oppressed.
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Several months ago, Tariq Mohamed, Senior Director of Refugee Social Services at our Jewish Family Services here in Columbus, attended a board meeting to update board members on the crisis facing refugees in the United States. In addition to clearly outlining how the situation has worsened since 2025, Tariq also created a document that neither AI nor Google surfaces. Tariq detailed 11 steps of the multi-year process toward becoming one of the very few refugees who make it to the United States, when that was still even possible.
Seeing what Tariq outlined was eye-opening. Although I knew the harrowing story of how my own grandparents managed to make it from France to Canada in 1948 as refugees and Holocaust survivors, I realized that I knew little about how refugees make their way to the United States today.
I wondered if the 11 steps Tariq outlined for the refugee process just might align with or meaningfully interact with the 14 steps of the Passover seder, which has been described as a “radical act of empathy.” So, I sat with Tariq’s document and the Haggadah, and I juxtaposed the two journeys in the attached resource, “Following the Journey of Refugees to the US at our Seder Tables.”
As we leave Egypt at our seders this year, we can help our guests make these connections explicit and concrete. Below, you will find each step of the refugee process connected to one or more of the Haggadah’s 14 steps we follow at the Passover seder. Asking the following questions can be a thread we weave through our seder to raise awareness of the plight of refugees in this country currently:
What might each connection raise for us?
Are there other/different connections we can make?
Whom do we know who has left their own narrow places for better lives?
How can we help? What can we do?
Feel free to incorporate the chart and Action Steps into your seders this year in any way you like to help spark conversation and action about what it means to engage in radical acts of empathy… because it could have been us. And in many cases, it was.
Action Steps you can take locally, right here in Columbus:
The Columbus Jewish community is coming together to support refugees and other New Americans whose basic needs for food, housing, and safety are at risk. Thanks to the leadership initiative, Loving Our Neighbor: Jewish Values in Action, by Jewish Family Services of Columbus, they are mobilizing a collective response and invite everyone – across all communities – to join in caring for our neighbors during a time of crisis. Click here to help.
JFS would love to hear from you if you’d like to learn more or get involved in other ways. Please reach out to volunteer@jfscolumbus.org or call 614-559-0184.
