Second Seder Plate | Passover haggadah by Marla Petal

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For today's world - from Jewish World Watch

Scrabble Tiles: Children in refugee camps need to be educated, yet schools in the camps are limited by a host country’s rules. In Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, Rohingya children are forced to learn in English, even though often neither they nor their teachers speak the language. The Scrabble tiles on our Seder Plate symbolize the English language, radically different in alphabet and vocabulary from the Rohingya dialect. FACT: Since the genocide perpetrated by the Myanmar military began in August 2017, nearly 800,000 Rohingya have fled to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, where they live in precarious, crowded conditions, easily susceptible to disease. Almost 60 percent of the refugees are children.

Postage Stamps: Stamps represent communication. China has cut off or is surveilling virtually all interaction with the Uyghurs, a Muslim ethnic minority group based in East Turkestan (China’s northwestern Xinjiang region). An estimated 2 million Uyghurs are in internment camps, subject to torture and forced labor without formal charges or legal representation. Given the threat of the spread of COVID-19, the Uyghur diaspora fear that the internment camps holding their relatives are being so strictly quarantined that the interred could starve, and no one will know because all communication has been cut off. FACT: The Chinese government claims its crackdown on the Uyghurs is a security measure, yet its arbitrary, targeted detention, reported use of torture against detainees, and the transformation of Xinjiang into a surveillance state rise to the level of crimes against humanity.

Gauze & Tape: Our longtime partner in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege, has just been named provincial coronavirus response coordinator for South Kivu, helping direct the regional response to the pandemic. His hospital is also the leading responder in the DRC to sexual violence against women. At his hospital in Bukavu, as well as when violent attacks by militias happen in remote areas of the DRC, Mukwege’s team utilizes doctors, psychologists and attorneys to help heal survivors and advocate for justice. The gauze here represents a simple yet vital healing tool. Restoring the whole person, including the broken heart, requires time and care – which your support helps provide. FACT: An estimated 200,000 surviving rape victims live in the DRC today. Now hospitals are also working to avoid mass suffering from the coronavirus pandemic.

Legos: These Legos represent the creative innocence of childhood stolen from as many as 30,000 boys and girls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who have been abducted to become soldiers. Through your support, and with our brave partners in the DRC, Jewish World Watch has been securing the release of these boys and girls through risky negotiations with armed groups. Once the children are freed, each receives psychosocial assistance and help reuniting with family. Those without family get continued care, including education and vocational training. FACT: Conscripting children under the age of 18 for armed conflict is prohibited by international law.

Pile of Rubble: he region of Idlib, one of the last rebel strongholds inside Syria, is being bombed relentlessly – including targeting hospitals. The rubble on our Second Seder Plate reminds us of the ongoing catastrophe, where civilians are wounded and killed daily as collateral damage in ongoing war crimes. Despite the danger, heroic Syrian doctors have remained in Idlib, making makeshift healing spaces where they continue to save lives. Now they, too, face the imminent threat of COVID-19. With your help, Jewish World Watch supports these incredible doctors in Idlib by delivering essential, life-saving medical supplies to dozens of makeshift hospitals, supplying them with the tools and equipment needed most. FACT: More than 3 million people are believed to remain in desperate conditions in the Idlib region. The current humanitarian crisis there is said to be the worst since the conflict began in 2011.

Cucumber: The Darfuris of Sudan fled genocide in 2004; today, more than 300,000 Darfuris remain in refugee camps in Chad. As the world’s humanitarian aid food supplies are stretched thin to meet the growing number of displaced, through your support many Darfuris are being taught perma-gardening techniques to grow their own food. This water-efficient farming produces lush crops of vegetables, including cucumbers, year-round. Refugees now can feed their families without leaving the camps. FACT: Darfuri women are at risk of sexual violence outside the camps, so growing food close to home keeps them safe and well-nourished. ACT: Help the new Sudanese government and create a future for the Darfuris in their homeland by encouraging your representatives to support the civilian-led transition’s reform agenda via the Sudan Democratic Transition, Accountability and Financial Transparency Act of 2020 (H.R. 6094) at jww.org/SudanTransitionAct

haggadah Section: Introduction

Source: Jewish World Watch