The great sage Hillel, a Jewish religious leader, provided us with the tradition of constructing the Hillel sandwich. We combine the bitterness of the maror with the sweetness of the charoset, between the fortitude of the two pieces of matzah-- the symbol of freedom. Through this ritual, we think of the Israelites traveling through the desert with no homes, no place to land, and how they built up their strong communities with only matzah as a reminder of their freedom. It is not until they came to the biblical Promised Land that they experienced the sweetness of their redemption.

We sit tonight in a place of both freedom and comfort, while we remember the bitterness of the hardships of our ancestors. But what about those who cannot foresee their own redemption from the impending impacts of climate change, those who do not have the infrastructure redemption?

Tonight, as we eat this sandwich, let us remember the privilege of our infrastructure and the freedom and comfort that our homes provide us, and let us consider all those who are in need of a home tonight.


haggadah Section: Koreich