Hey, I'm Ishi Harmon, and this is Israel Story.

Israel Story is brought to you by the Jerusalem Foundation and the times of Israel.

Next week we'll be celebrating the second Passover since the start of the war.

People around the world will gather at Sil tables and talk about slavery and freedom,

liberty and social justice.

We'll ask how this night, this cedil, is different from all other nights.

We'll offer up some answers about bitter herbs and comfortable cushions,

but the truth is that once again, just like the previous 554 nights,

there will be countless people throughout the region who aren't reclined and sheltered,

but are rather suffering and homeless and feeling pain.

There will be countless sedent tables with empty seats and missing people.

I'm recording this in late March, and pray in every possible way that by the time it airs,

it will no longer be true.

But at least as of today, there will also be Israeli hostages who are still

held in captivity in Gaza. People for whom the words of the Hagada are, more than anything else,

an accurate description of their daily lives. People who will say this is the bread of affliction

that our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt,

and know, in their growling stomachs, exactly what that means.

And people who will whisper, with the most deep-seated hope,

this year we are here, next year, let us be in the land of Israel. This year we are here. Next year, let us be in the land of Israel.

This year we are slaves.

Next year, let us be free.

...