Sarah Silverman Condemns Occupation in Passover Haggadah
Image by Getty
By Naomi Zeveloff April 4, 2017
Comedian Sarah Silverman spoke out against Israel’s military occupation in a new Passover Haggadah timed with the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Six Day War, when Israel conquered the West Bank.
“Of all the people, Jews know the bitterness of being oppressed — and not being in our own country,” she wrote. “That’s what makes the occupation all so ironic. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between right and wrong, the situation is complicated and scary, but I’m guessing oppression will always prove to be on the wrong side of history.”
Silverman was one of 30 writers who contributed to the Jubilee Haggadah, which is named for the jubilee year in the bible, when Jews were “commanded to return expropriated lands to their owners and to liberate slaves,” according to the book’s introduction.
The haggadah is a project of SISO — which stands for Save Israel. Stop the Occupation. — a new group made up of Israeli and Jewish diaspora leaders advocating for an end to the occupation on its 50th anniversary. The New Israel Fund also supported the project.
Other contributors include Silverman’s sister, Susan Silverman, a rabbi on the board of Women of the Wall, Forward editor-at-large J.J. Goldberg, Jill Jacobs, the executive director of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights and Israeli author Amos Oz.
Contact Naomi Zeveloff at zeveloff@forward.com
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
