A Jedi's Passover

Before I start, I want to say that I am writing this from a Jewish perspective, and a Passover Seder should only be hosted by a Jewish person.

Passover is one of the most important Jewish holidays. In fact, it is the most celebrated Jewish Holiday in the world, with 70% of the Jewish Population celebrating. (Markoe) This Holiday remembers how the Jewish people were able to flee from Egypt after being enslaved by the Egyptian people. This holiday tells us not just how Moses saved his people, but how the Jewish people fought for themselves and their freedom. 

As a Jewish Jedi, I would like to look at Passover, and think of how I might think about it as a Jedi. Obviously, it is the Jewish people fighting for their right to freedom. So how do we honor this today as Jedi? Well, as Jedi, we dedicate ourselves to social service for others. Perhaps this means that we should help another community for their safety? For me, this could mean recognizing the achievements of my LGBTQ+ community and how we are able to free ourselves from oppression. In 1969 for example, the LGBTQ+ community had their own Exodus, the Stonewall Uprising, which is the most notable fight for freedom from the LGBTQ+ community. 

As a Jewish Jedi, during my Passover Seder, I will have an orange out in honor of the LGBTQ+ community, and discuss modern plagues. Though these aren't my specific choice, but rather my family's collective choice, I will still have the honor of partaking in this. We will be discussing homelessness, inequality, greed, discrimination and hatred, silence amid violence, environmental destruction, stigma of mental illness, ignoring refugees, and powerlessness (all from my family's Haggadah). During the week of Passover, I'll make various posts discussing these, and I will also make donations to related organizations.

Signing off, see you during Passover.

Markoe, Lauren. “Passover, Most Beloved Jewish Holiday, Explained.” USA TODAY, USA TODAY, 22 Apr. 2016, www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/04/22/passover-jewish-holiday-explained/83387514/.

Passover Day One: 
And we have made it to the first day of Pesach! Time to celebrate! Open a bottle of wine and drink your four glasses! Eat the maror and charoset matzah sandwiches! Have your kugel and have your seders! What a joyous week!

For today, we will be looking at two of the modern plagues, homelessness and hunger. 

I am going to be looking at the haggadah my family uses, which was inspired by The Wandering is Over Haggadah by Jewish Boston.

Homelessness
"In any given year, about 3.5 million people are likely to experience homelessness, about a third of them children, according to the National Law Center on homelessness & Poverty." At our Passover Seder, this is the first modern plagues we look at. In our city alone, there's a large unhoused population, and it is enough of a problem to where we have large colonies with nobody helping them. As a Jedi, and a Jewish person, I want to help these people find shelter, but there's not much I can do. I can't force them to move anywhere, I can only advocate for more affordable housing and more shelters. These are the issues here after all, the housing prices and the lack of shelters. It is saddening to see this plague only continue getting worse.

Hunger
"About 49 million Americans experience food insecurity, 16 million of them children." This goes with homelessness nicely. As the unhoused population grow, more people also grow hungry. The unhoused population in Los Angeles doesn't have access to food, especially due to the lack of help provided from the rest of the population. Along with this, there's hunger around the world, especially in third world/developing countries. Unfortunately, the population that grows hungry also grows.

This passover, I will commit myself to vote for officials and bills that will support these communities (for example, I voted YES on Prop 1 earlier this year) and I will contact my congressmen and other officials about the issue. I will also (at least see if I can) give food to a nearby unhoused community.

Unfortunately, I am unsure on if I would be able to donate to any organizations on these issues, but I will see what I can do. 

My representative can be contacted here: https://a40.asmdc.org/.
My senator can be contacted here: http://senate.ca.gov/sd27
My mayor can be contacted here: https://mayor.lacity.gov/#:~:text=City%20of%20Los%20Angeles%20Mayor%20Karen%20Bass%20Homepage&text=We%20are%20moving%20our%20city%20in%20a%20new%20direction.
My governor can be contacted here: https://www.gov.ca.gov/#:~:text=Gavin%20Newsom&text=It%20is%20that%20entrepreneurial%20and,the%20largest%20in%20the%20world.Jewish Boston. The Wandering Is over Haggadah : A Seder for Everyone. Jewishboston.com, 2015.