This Passover, Jews ensure access to Matza, Kosher food, and security

With the approach of Passover, Jews around the world are working tirelessly to supply special matza and products that are kosher for Pesach for their communities.

Apart from ensuring that all food is fit for Passover use, community rabbis spend their time koshering kitchens and utensils, and teaching the laws of Passover to the members of their community.

In the shadow of the war in Israel, Jewish communities are expected to bolster security at synagogues and other Jewish institutions as a result of the growing wave of anti-Semitism that has washed over the world in recent months. 

The wave of hatred soaring up against the Jews only serves to strengthen the mutual bond between Jews around the world. According to an index published by the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, after the events of October 7th, 67% of Israelis feel a brotherly connection with Diaspora Jews, which is a 4% increase compared to last year, and 76% of Israelis sense a shared destiny with Diaspora Jews, an increase of 6.6% as opposed to last year’s figures.

Yet, in certain parts of the world there are Jews who do not fear harassment and hatred. The Sephardic Jewish community in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, says that their warm relations with the local population, most of whom are Shi’ite Muslims, remain unchanged.

The rabbi of the community, Rabbi Zamir Isayev, said that the Jewish community’s history of living side by side with the Azerbaijani people for approximately 1,000 years proves that we cannot generalize. “Unfortunately, the Jewish community in neighboring Armenia has undergone many hardships over the past few months, following a severe wave of anti-Semitism that is plaguing the country.” 

Rabbi Isayev mentioned the renewal of the blood libel invented by the Hosank movement, Armenia’s neo-Nazi organization, that claims the recent terror attack in Moscow was carried out by Jews. The movement’s leader, Hayk Nazaryan, explained over social media networks that “Jews always have the custom of carrying out terror attacks on their festival of Purim to commemorate the slaughter of 75,000 by their ancestors 2,500 years ago.”

Just over three months ago, the same neo-Nazi group marched across Armenia’s capital city, Yerevan, bearing flags with stylized swastikas, an event that occurred following two arson attempts on the country’s only synagogue. Authorities claimed that it was the result of “foreign provocation,” and that all neo-Nazis had left the country. However, by the looks of photographs plastered on social media, they are not hiding anywhere and their leaders are boasting about purchasing weapons in the heart of Yerevan.

With the approach of Passover, Ukraine joins its war-torn Sephardic brothers with their many Jewish organizations working towards assisting all Jewish households across the country, by providing them with access to their Passover needs, including matzas and cleaning their homes of chametz (leaven). 

Likewise, Chabad Houses around the world are gearing up for the thousands of seders they will be holding, with the participation of hundreds of thousands of Jews.

Meanwhile in Israel, despite the current security situation, preparations are underway for a mass pilgrimage to the Western Wall over tichol hamo’ed (the intermediate days of Passover), as is customary every year.

This article was written in cooperation with Shuva Israel