This year, with dozens of hostages remaining in captivity in Gaza, the Jewish holiday of Passover has an especially poignant meaning, activist and actress Noa Tishby told Fox News Digital.
Tishby is a New York Times bestselling author as well and Israel's former Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism and Delegitimization. She is based in Los Angeles.
Passover, said Tishby, is "the holiday of Jewish national liberation."
This year, it begins on the evening of Monday, April 22.
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As detailed in the Book of Exodus, "more than 3,000 years ago, the bodies and souls of our Hebrew ancestors were oppressed by the pharaohs of Egypt," she said.
The Jewish people were led out of Egypt by Moses, and were led to the "Promised Land" of Israel.
In the modern era, "Jewish tradition instructs us to view this suffering and redemption as if we experienced it ourselves at our annual festive – and instructive – meal and gathering, the Seder, when we recount the Exodus from Egypt," said Tishby.
But in 2024, the celebration of Passover has a much different tone.
"Next week, at millions of homes in America, our Seders will be bittersweet, as our hearts are in the terror tunnels beneath Gaza where our fellow Jews are being violated and tortured daily," she said.
Discussing the situation in the Middle East "isn't a comfortable conversation," said Tishby — something that Moses, the "Passover hero" was all too familiar with, she said.
Moses "actually begged God not to choose him to plead for his enslaved brethren," she said, noting that in Exodus 4:10 he said, "Behold, they will not believe me, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."
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God, in reply, tells Moses that he is the right person for the job and to "go unto Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Let my people go,’" said Tishby.
As a proud Jewish woman, Tishby said she "doesn't have a choice" when it comes to raising awareness of the plight of the hostages.
"My heart is bleeding for them," she said.
She added that "according to both the United Nations and the released hostages," those who are still being held captive are subject to daily rape and abuse.
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"There’s a reason why the Jewish holiday of freedom has a bitter taste this year, and no, it’s not the bitter herbs," said Tishby.
It is impossible to rest, she said, "while our friends and family languish in virtual slavery."
This Passover, as Moses went to Pharaoh to demand the freedom of the Jewish people in Egypt, people should "go to your elected officials and demand that they tell Hamas, ‘Let my people go,’" she said.
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