“The struggle for freedom is the breath of life, and it ensures the existence of the Jewish people,” Danon stated.
The UN headquarters in New York, a place so often critical and even at times hostile toward Israel, was the venue for a Passover seder on Monday.
Jews around the word will sit around the seder table on Friday night, but diplomats from several countries got a head start with an early simulation of the Jewish tradition.
It was attended by senior members of the world body and dozens of ambassadors from around the world, according to a statement from Israel’s Ambassador Danny Danon, who is said to have spearheaded the effort.
At the event, he explained the Jewish tradition behind the Passover holiday.
“As in our years of exile, there are still those who rise up against us, but today we are a strong nation that can defend itself,” Danon stated.
“The struggle for freedom is the breath of life, and it ensures the existence of the Jewish people,” he added.
Assisting in hosting the seder was the Forum for Cultural Diplomacy, an initiative of the European Coalition for Israel.
The forum says that its “raison d’être is to create a platform for promoting better inclusion of Israel and the Jewish people in the community of nations.”
Gregory Lafitte, a co-founder of the forum, said that “the story of Passover teaches us many lessons, including about the roots of anti-Semitism and its best antidote, the immense contributions of the Jewish culture to humanity.”
Tomas Sandell, founding director of the European Coalition for Israel, told the seder participants that “remembrance is central to Passover. Recent surveys reveal that a growing number of people, especially young people, no longer know their history or that of European Jewry during the Shoah [Holocaust]. The antidote to Jew hatred is education.”
