For Heaven’s Sake – Passover Under the Shadow of War: The Challenge of Hope
Shalom Hartman Institute Podcast | April 1, 2026
Hosts: Donniel Hartman & Yossi Klein Halevi

Episode Overview

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi grapple with the challenges of preparing for Passover during an exceptionally dark period in Israeli life—amid ongoing warfare with Iran, tension on the northern front with Lebanon, political turmoil, and a national sense of exhaustion. Against the backdrop of anxiety, loss, and divisive political decisions, the hosts reflect on how the meaning of Passover—the festival of liberation—can be reclaimed or reimagined in times of uncertainty. The conversation moves from the personal to the political, anchoring itself in questions of Jewish identity, resilience, and the search for hope.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The All-Encompassing Shadow of War

• Living Under Threat

  • Donniel describes the continual disruptions to daily life: air raid sirens, families running to bomb shelters, and children experiencing trauma.
    • "My son came to Israel for three weeks for Pesach... As he was getting out of his taxi...the first siren. Seven sirens that day. By the third one, his kids were tasting PTS. It was like, whoa, this was a hard week. It was the ritual of war, of the Iran war." (01:52)

• Anxiety About the Outcome & Frustrated Hopes

  • Discussion about the diminishing hopes that Israel could decisively "liberate" itself or even Iran from oppressive regimes: “Liberation deferred. Most liberations are deferred.” (04:13 - DH)
  • Awareness of dependency on international actors, especially U.S. pressure on Iran, and the limits of Israeli power.

• Multiple Fronts & New Losses

  • Donniel and Yossi mourn recent casualties on the Lebanon front and note the tragic regularity of military funerals.
  • Yossi movingly describes living near the Israeli military cemetery, hearing kaddish and eulogies while trying to go about his daily life.
    • “There was nothing more jarringly Israeli than trying to go through my daily routine while literally a young man is being buried.” (14:34 - YK)

2. Political Disillusionment Amid War

• Violation of Wartime Unity

  • Wildcat amendments to state budgets, significant new funding for Haredi educational institutions, and the unprecedented passing of a discriminatory death penalty law during a time of crisis.
    • "This was at 2 in the morning...by not putting it in the budget, it wasn't open to review, to conversation, to sunlight, what is it that you're spending money on?...just being punched." (09:53 - DH)

• Death Penalty Legislation

  • Intense concern over a law targeting only Palestinians from the West Bank, with no equivalent for Jewish perpetrators or comparable legal protections.
    • "It's not the death penalty for terrorists, it's a death penalty for west bank residents who kill Israeli citizens and in so doing act to undermine...the state of Israel exclusively. It's not for Jews... no judicial discretionary, no possibility of pardon." (10:30 - DH)
  • Yossi labels the move “a hilul hashem—desecration of God’s name—by the collective Jewish people, by the state of Israel. There is no greater sin.” (28:38 - YK)

• Shifting Norms on the Right

  • The mainstream right (Likud) is now seen as having absorbed extremist positions:
    • "The Likud has been thoroughly corrupted...an erasure...of what was once a bright red boundary between the far right and the mainstream right. Menachem Begin would not recognize this Likud." (30:08 - YK)

3. The Heaviness & Questioning of Resilience

• Societal Exhaustion

  • The war’s unprecedented length is pushing Israelis beyond historic limits:
    • "Since 1948...our wars, six days, three weeks. Yom Kippur was three weeks. That was a long war. This is two and a half years. Israeli society has never been tested in an uninterrupted way like we have been since October 7th." (22:33 - YK)
  • Recognition that constant celebration of collective strength can itself become stifling and dehumanizing.
    • “She was just observing...What about, you know, we're normal human beings, we're not Sparta.” (21:50 - DH)

• Personal Vulnerability

  • Donniel shares a memory from Lebanon: being the “strong one,” wanting to protect others, but recognizing the cost:
    • “As tank commander...I told [my loader], you don't have to go. And I said. I turned and said, I'll go, but...I'm telling you, but it's not healthy.” (25:24 - DH)
  • Yossi affirms the exhaustion but emphasizes, “We haven't broken.” (23:39 - YK)

4. Historical Parallels & the Jewish Timeline

• Israel as Commentary on All Jewish History

  • Yossi lays out a compelling metaphor: Israel is like an ingathering not only of people but of all eras of Jewish history—ancient, medieval, modern—arguing with one another.
    • "What we're experiencing now is Jewish history arguing with itself...You have the biblical period and you have the far right...The Haredim...are in the rabbinic era or Poland...secular Israelis...mid 20th century..." (33:59 - YK)

• Danger & Hope Intertwined

  • Cycles of trauma and renewal are embedded in the Jewish story. The “shadow” they feel is both ancient and immediate.

5. Passover: Ritual, Memory, and the Challenge of Hope

• The Shadow Over Seder Night

  • The Home Front warns of possible missile attacks even during the Seder, reminding the hosts of past Passovers shadowed by violence (e.g., the Park Hotel bombing during the second Intifada).
    • "They know it's Pesach. They know we're going to be gathering. And you know, if you want to ruin a Jew's day, hit them at the Seder. That's a time honored antisemitic tradition." (37:47 - YK)

• Ambivalent Relationship to the Ritual

  • Yossi tells of his family sometimes skipping parts of the Haggadah about eternal victimhood—“V’Hi She’amda”—but reverting when reality intrudes.
    • “...We stopped for a while. And then during the second intifada...it quietly came back. And it's back. It's firmly back in our Seder this year.” (39:12 - YK)

• From Liberation to Aspiration for Liberation

  • Donniel: Israel once made Passover’s promise of physical liberation feel real; today, he feels more in touch with the holiday as an expression of longing and hope:
    • “This year I'm feeling the shadow a lot. I really am. I'm connecting to Passover, not as this holiday of freedom...for most of Jewish history, Passover was not the holiday of freedom, but the holiday of an aspiration for freedom.” (42:21 - DH)
    • “October 7th is still enslaving us. Fear is still enslaving us. A culture of war is enslaving us. And this Passover, I'm really going to try to connect to hope.” (43:28 – DH & 00:04)

• The Need for New Language

  • Yossi reflects on the tiredness of the “language of hope” in the Haggadah and the difficulty of doing justice to the Jewish story:
    • “The story is so powerful...such a profound source of hope and spiritual energy, and we don't have the language for it. That's what I'm feeling when I sit with the Haggadah.” (46:54 - YK)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Personal:

  • “There was nothing more jarringly Israeli than trying to go through my daily routine while literally a young man is being buried. And you're hearing these heartbreaking eulogies. And then the singing. Beautiful, unbearable singing, but also the old Israeli songs.” (14:34 - YK)

• Resilience Questioned:

  • “She was just observing that...What is this celebration of strength? What about, you know, we're normal human beings, we're not Sparta...Is it too much? It's just too much to bear?” (21:35 - DH)

• Death Penalty as Hilul Hashem:

  • “It's a hilul hashem. A hilul hashem is the most serious sin in Judaism. It is the desecration of God's name...And what the government did last night was a hilul hashem.” (28:38 - YK)

• Passover’s Meaning in Uncertain Times:

  • “Passover is what gave us the strength to be a people who hopes. It's not a people who celebrate our success...but liberation is possible and has to be an integral part of human culture. That aspiration and I think our people aspired for this year. I need hope. I'm holding on to the Hope and this shadow.” (43:29 - DH)

Important Timestamps

• Opening reflections on war & fear: 00:04 - 03:00
• Personal story: Sirens & shelters: 01:52
• Political malaise & Haredi budget trickery revealed: 07:32 - 09:53
• Death penalty law & its significance: 10:28 - 12:55, 28:17 - 33:59
• Daily life near Israel’s military cemetery: 12:55 - 16:16
• Questioning resilience & strength: 21:35 - 23:39
• Debate about Jewish time and Israeli politics: 33:59 - 36:32
• Passover during crisis: family, ritual, memory: 37:08 - 40:46
• Struggle over the meaning and language of hope: 46:19 - 48:43

Conclusion: The Challenge & Necessity of Hope

Donniel and Yossi close in divergent places—one (Donniel) seeking to use Passover to explore and name the shadows and "enslavements" of the current era, the other (Yossi) already feeling the pulse of historical hope, even if our old language for it feels insufficient:

• “Every Seder is an opportunity to try to go just one little layer deeper, both in terms of the language and, well, the way we tell the story. I feel that challenge, especially this year.” (46:54 - YK)
• “We need some hope. We need some liberation from our enemies outside, our enemies inside, from the stuff within ourselves.” (48:45 - DH)

They wish each other, and their listeners, a “good year, a healthy year, and a better year”—an aspiration that acknowledges both the burden and the possibility that Passover represents.

Chag Sameach – as much as possible.