Rabbi Mark Zimmerman’s Message for Passover 2026
For our Passover holiday issue, we invited members of our staff and community to share their responses.
The Long Road of Freedom
At its core, Passover is all about freedom. The story of our Exodus from Egypt has long served as humanity’s enduring paradigm for the longing to be free.
And even today, that longing has not disappeared. Around the world, there are still people who yearn for the same freedom our ancestors sought. One cannot help but think of the Iranian people — many of whom bravely risk their safety in their struggle to live free of the oppression imposed by their radical rulers.
It is worth remembering that even our moment of liberation from Egyptian bondage didn’t instantly solve everything for the Jewish people. Far from it. Freedom did not bring immediate relief.
The former slaves still faced hunger, fear, enemies, and uncertainty. They had to learn how to defend themselves. They had to build a society. They had to transform themselves from oppressed rabble into a people with a shared purpose.
At times, the Israelites even looked back nostalgically at Egypt. Slavery was terrible — but at least it was predictable. You knew where your next meal was coming from. Freedom, by contrast, was uncertain.
Passover therefore marks not the end of the story, but the beginning of a long journey — exciting, meaningful, and sometimes arduous. As the saying goes, life is less about the destination than about the journey.
The Jewish story has always been a long road. After the brutal Oct. 7 attacks, I noticed a slogan appearing everywhere in Israel: Am Ha-Netzach Lo Mefached Miderech Arukah — “The eternal people are not afraid of a long road.”
And it has been a long road. For thousands of years, we have wandered through history — through exile, persecution, renewal, and return.
So, what does it mean to be a good Jew today? Is it attending synagogue regularly? Studying Torah? Supporting Israel? Treating others with respect?
Jewish life includes all of these things. But at its heart lies something deeper: the sense that we are part of a family traveling the same road together.
Because we’ve always seen ourselves this way, Jews built synagogues, hospitals, schools, and agencies wherever we have lived. It is why Jews scattered across the world care so deeply about one another. And it is why, in the 20th century, Jews helped rebuild a sovereign Jewish state after the devastation of the Shoah.
Our Passover seder is, in many ways, a Jewish homecoming. Around the table, we remember where we came from, who we are, and that our story continues.
The road has been long, and it is far from over.
And as long as we continue to walk it together, the journey of the Jewish people will endure for generations yet to come.
Rabbi Mark Zimmerman is the Senior Rabbi at Congregation Beth Shalom.