"It begins with Ha Lahma Anya, an invitation to the less fortunate without seders of their own to join ours, and a public declaration that we havent forgotten them. Once we all come to the table and recall the story of our national identity, we become worthy of redemption, and we can then sing Le-Shanah ha-baah bi-Yrushalayim, together."

"Like Yosefs new name, it isnt clear where it came from, and, now that he passed away, I will never know for certain. My only clue is from a friend of my father who told me that when my grandparents and uncle passed away, my father felt like he needed a new start. In a way, that fresh start began with me, born on the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising that my zayde participated in when he was a teenager."

"Memory Makes Us Worthy The story of our communal enslavement is the result of characters in Sefer Bereishitforgetting and discarding the things that keep a people together and thriving, the very things which the Mekhilta credits the Jews with maintaining once they were enslaved in Sefer Shemot. Victims of oppression and misfortune within society are overlooked, and the trauma and internal conflict that those victims face push them to forget who they are and where they come from. A surprisingly appropriate parallel might be found in modern insights into the psychology of people experiencing homelessness. Victims of homelessness are the textbook definition of the forgotten and overlooked. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, when interviewing potential rabbinical students for the Jewish Theological Seminary, used to ask candidates if theyd seen the homeless woman on 96th street the veteran on 117th on their way to the building from the subway."