Let’s begin with the undeniable.
The Seder ritual on the first night of Passover is constructed around the historical memory of the Jewish people as a nation. It is not solely a religious performance, nor is it a folk custom. It is more than a community engagement.
Moreover, it not only recalls memories of the past but seeks to reinforce the Jewish people with a vibrant present and a hoped-for future, as a people. The location of that future, as we read at the beginning of the Haggadah, is in a very specific homeland: “This year [we are] here; next year in the land of Israel.”
