Like most Passover celebrations, freedom was the theme of the American Jewish Committee’s 33rd annual Ambassadors’ Seder. Speakers at the April 9 event in Washington, D.C., emphasized that the Exodus is not solely something that occurred about 3,000 years ago, but an ongoing struggle for liberation.
The seder, which drew more than 400 attendees and diplomats from 60 countries, was AJC’s largest Ambassadors’ Seder yet.
Ambassador’s Remarks
Oksana Markarova, the ambassador of Ukraine to the United States, drew parallels between the Exodus and the current war between Russia and Ukraine, in conversation with Jason Isaacson, AJC’s chief policy and political affairs officer.
“This is our Passover and this is our fight for freedom,” Markarova said at the event. “It’s of course about homes; it’s of course about land, but it’s about freedom.
“When we talk about this horrible experience and courageous fight, the theme of the message of Passover is what comes to mind … because it is about horrible sacrifices and suffering, but also joy because we know we will be free in the end.”
The ambassador highlighted the uncertainty the Ukrainian people have endured since Russia invaded their country in February 2022. The invasion led to the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, which AJC warns has many global implications.
“Russia’s continued illegal war, its efforts to undermine European stability and unity and its ever-deepening alignment with Iran, China and North Korea all pose grave threats to American and European interests, democracy and the Jewish people,” an April 10 press release by AJC read.
Despite the tragedies, Markarova is hopeful that Ukraine will continue to work with its allies and reach a cease-fire with Russia. Markarova wants attendees to carry forth a message of determination — “Stay the course” — knowing that Ukraine is fighting for what’s right.
“I just want all of us to be kinder to each other, to support each other,” Markarova said. “To always keep in our prayers and thoughts everyone who is in captivity in Ukraine and all the people of Israel who are still in captivity — we have to fight for all of them. We just have to stay together, as one big family of those who believe in freedom and democracy.”
“We’re in solidarity with Ukraine,” Isaacson told the crowd.
Keith and Aviva Siegel
After a traditional seder led by Rabbi Corey Helfand of Ohr Kodesh Congregation, attendees heard from freed hostages Keith and Aviva Siegel.
Keith Siegel, 65, recounted his 484 days in captivity, living underground in Gaza before his release earlier this year. He said his Hamas captors shot him in the hand, broke his ribs, kicked him at random and sexually assaulted him — his wounds remained untreated for his entire time in captivity. Every day, Siegel was surrounded by omnipresent guns and death threats and forced to make “Hamas propaganda videos.”
“These memories of medieval torture methods still haunt me,” Siegel said, adding that he had been continuously at his captors’ mercy.
He told the crowd that he survived through sheer will, imagining himself speaking with each of the members of his family: four kids, five grandchildren and his wife, Aviva, who was held hostage along with Keith and released after 51 days.
“The solitude was just as hard as the physical abuse,” said Keith Siegel, who was kept by himself for his last two months of captivity.
He emerged “physically broken” but determined to survive, having made a promise to Aviva Siegel.
“I’m sharing my story because the world needs to understand what the 59 hostages that are still held captive in Gaza are facing,” Keith Siegel said. “The remaining 59 hostages deserve the chance I was given to heal, to reconnect, to live.”
“Let everybody go,” Aviva Siegel said.
Ted Deutch, the CEO of AJC, voiced his support for the remaining hostages and the people of Ukraine in his remarks.
“As Jews, we are mandated to retell the Passover story every year, as if we ourselves escaped from slavery in Egypt, as if what happened in difficult times continues to be felt today,” Deutch said at the event. “The Haggadah states even if we are all wise and understand it, all elders and experts of the Torah, we are still obligated to speak of the Exodus.”
He added that the modern-day “Exodus” is the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, and that people must continue to talk about that day. This Passover is the remaining hostages’ second such holiday in captivity.
“This one continues to be a defining event for us as Jews,” Deutch said. “Please think of Oct. 7 as if it was the story of Passover, as if we all fled slavery. Please think of the atrocities as if they happened to you and to your family and to your friends, because for the Jewish community, it did [happen] to all of us.”
