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Opinion: The meaning of freedom this passover

The visibility, frequency and normalization of Jew hatred is alarming

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On Wednesday evening, Jewish families in Canada and around the world will gather to mark Passover. At its core, Passover is a holiday centred around the celebration of freedom, telling the story of a people liberated from oppression. It also reminds us that freedom is fragile and must be actively protected.

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But this year, the distance between past and present feels dangerously short and carries a particular urgency.

Opinion: The meaning of freedom this passover Back to video

Jew hatred is nothing new. But its visibility, frequency and normalization are alarming. Synagogues have been firebombed and shot at. Blood libels against Jews are tolerated on our streets. A Jewish woman was stabbed. Jews in the public service, in academia, and in unions are ostracized.

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For members of our Jewish community, it is no longer a question of “if”, but “when” the Bondi massacre or the Michigan car bombing that threatened the lives of 140 toddlers, happens on Canadian soil. It pains us to write these words, but in March 2026, it would be irresponsible not to.

This is not simply a matter of perception. Security assessments and law enforcement warnings have pointed to a heightened risk environment for Jewish communities in Canada. That reality should concern all Canadians, regardless of background or religion.

Freedom does not erode all at once.

It weakens when people look away, when language softens what should be confronted, and when harm is dismissed as discomfort.

History offers a clear warning. Pastor Martin Niemöller captured this progression in his famous reflection on the Holocaust (First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist…). His words remain a powerful indictment of silence and indifference. His words endure, not because history repeats itself in identical ways, but because the pattern they describe, the cost of looking away, remains constant.

The greatest threat to freedom is the failure to confront that threat.

A present-day rendering might sound uncomfortably close to home:

First, they came for Jews in Israel, and it was called complicated. 

Then they came for Jewish students on Canadian campuses, and it  was called protest. 

Then they came for Jews in the streets of our cities, and it was called isolated, fringe, not reflective of who we are. 

Then they attacked Jewish institutions, people, synagogues, schools, businesses, and there were empty words, but no real consequences.  

What starts with the Jews never ends with the Jews.  

It spreads where silence and inaction are easier than courage,  

and where indifference is mistaken for neutrality.

Silence is not neutral. It creates space for hatred to grow, for fear to settle, for standards to erode. This is not theoretical. It is the present-day reality of Canadian Jews. Nearly three years of sustained vilification have normalized antisemitic tropes and rhetoric, making the need for action urgent.

As Jewish families gather this year, the message of Passover should resonate far beyond the Seder table as the message feels especially relevant: freedom endures only when it is defended, not in words alone, but in the choices we make, and the actions we are all willing to take, together.

Remember that freedom will be sustained — or lost — by what we choose to do next.

Joel Diener, Andrea Freedman and Lawrence Greenspon on behalf of the National Holocaust Monument Committee 

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