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Every year, people choose Easter to push party agendas. This year, Jewish human rights groups are already promoting elements of the Passover Haggadah that encourage people to put “social justice at your seder table” and confront “racism,” poverty, disenfranchisement and the climate crisis. Instead of letting the holiday change us, we continue to hire it to justify the reasons.
Predictable columns reframe the holiday as a lesson in immigrant rights. Reform Judaism even advocates adding modern political symbols to the seder plate, such as olives in solidarity with the Palestinian people, oranges to symbolize LGBTQ+ inclusion, fair trade chocolate to represent labor rights, and acorns to honor American Indians.
I am guilty myself. I once wrote a column arguing that including a “bad child” at the Seder table is tantamount to rejecting the tradition of cancellation, and the article argues that the story of Exodus protects free speech because Moses wanted Pharaoh to “let my people go,” and the Israelites deserve redemption, in part, for keeping their language from slavery.
But making religion into politics risks overshadowing its personal and spiritual essence.
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Progressives do this. Conservatives do too. The right appeals to the Bible to oppose abortion and protect traditional family values. The left asks it to fight for social justice.
Easter is not about finding the world’s problems. It is about the slavery within us. It’s about letting the story change us. (Stock)
Pope Leo XIV used a recent speech at diplomatic missions to emphasize that “every migrant is a person” with “inalienable rights” and warned governments against using crime and smuggling as an excuse to destroy the dignity of immigrants. Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, who in the name of God publicly called for mercy for refugees after the inauguration of President Donald Trump last year, has again joined the fight against immigration by appearing in protests against ICE in Minnesota in January 2026.
Even matzoh teaches us. Unlike puffed bread, it is flat and humble. It is very different from a culture full of image and arrogance. In a world that rewards arrogance, matzoh reminds us that true freedom begins with humility.
Each side finds its cause, often citing conflicting verses to prove its case. Nehemiah 4:13-14 is used to justify border security by comparing it to protecting the walls of Jerusalem, while Leviticus 19:34 is used to represent the entry system that allows immigration because it commands kindness to the stranger. Genesis 2:15 supports the principle of the environment because it portrays humans as caretakers, while Genesis 1:28 speaks of dominion over nature and can be used to justify exploiting natural resources.
When religion is reduced to a political weapon, it loses its meaning. Be performative instead of transformative.
In this photo taken Wednesday, April 20, 2016, the famous Birds’ Head Haggadah, a medieval copy of the text read at the Passover holiday table, is seen on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
Of course, faith can also be a force for moral clarity in social life. Exodus inspired the destroyers. Rabbis are marching for human rights. But faith must do more than inspire activism. Faith is deeply human.
It’s like the old moral lesson about a person who spends his life trying to change the world, his country, his town, and his family before he finally realizes that he must change himself first if he wants to make a big impact. Passover makes a similar demand. Before we use this holiday to fix the world, it asks us to face our demons.
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I heard this tension at my Seder table. Instead of looking for souls, I mindlessly flip through the Haggadah, review the scientific explanations for the parting of the seas and the ten plagues, or get involved in politics. Anything but internal work.
But Easter is not about solving the world’s problems. It is about the slavery within us. It’s about letting the story change us. The Haggadah instructs each person to see themselves as if they came out of Egypt. It is not a metaphor for someone else’s struggle, for any political leader who thinks Pharaoh represents, or for any oppressed people imitating the Israelites. It is a challenge to face our challenges and pursue our own redemption, one positive action at a time.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe rebuilt Jewish life from the ashes of the Holocaust with this goal. As written in the “Books of Life,” the Rebbe focused not on politics or ideology but on encouraging one good deed, one mitzvah, in time to create lasting change. Psychology supports this. Behavioral rehabilitation therapy, used to treat depression, shows how purposeful action can reshape the mind even before motivation strikes.
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The Seder reflects the same concept. The four cups of wine represent the stages of breaking destructive patterns, accepting positive change, developing moral awareness, and internalizing growth.
Through practice and storytelling, we make our way to freedom. We don’t just remember Exodus. We are alive.
Even matzoh teaches us. Unlike puffed bread, it is flat and humble. It is very different from a culture full of image and arrogance. In a world that rewards arrogance, matzoh reminds us that true freedom begins with humility. You cannot escape Pharaoh if you are still enslaved by your ego.
Even matzoh teaches us. Unlike puffed bread, it is flat and humble. It is very different from a culture full of image and arrogance. (Stock)
We eat bitter herbs at the Seder not only to remember the suffering of our ancestors but also to face our own, to feel the bitterness we carry and release what we have buried.
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Egypt is not just a place of history. It is a human metaphor. Mental chains are as real as physical ones. Fear, shame, addiction, and anger are today’s pharaohs. The Seder gives us a spiritual road map to freedom.
Faith is not meant to help our platforms or confirm our political bias. It is meant to challenge us and change us into better people.
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