From enslavement to Exodus, the Passover story is one of the greatest ever told. This account of human triumph is also among the most important in the long history of the Jewish people. Passover provides us with an opportunity not only to reflect on core attributes of what it means to be Jewish – vision, purpose, struggle, and collective action – but also to do something that, for many of us, is sorely lacking in modern life: to pause, reconnect with loved ones, and talk together about our shared past and express hopes for our collective future.

Our guess is, like ours, your Seder table is filled with love – and characterized by lively conversation and big ideas.

To get you thinking about some of the issues currently top of mind at CIJA, we offer Four More Questions: A Passover Discussion Guide, which features thought-provoking questions about some of the most difficult advocacy challenges facing our community. We believe that the solutions to these challenges could very well emanate from the discourse that takes place around your Seder table.

Some of those challenges are disturbingly familiar to our people. Days ago, after CIJA intervened, a GTA school board stopped a project in one of its schools that promoted an antisemitic blood libel. We have learned that the same blood libel – the disgusting and false accusation that Israelis conduct medical experiments on Palestinians – is now being spread by anti-Israel student groups at McGill University, York University, and the University of Toronto.

It is outrageous that, on the eve of Passover, accredited student clubs are promoting antisemitic lies based on ancient blood libels used to instigate violence against Jews. Our campus partners Federation CJA/GenMTL/Hillel Montreal and Hillel Ontario have filed complaints with university authorities urging immediate action.

If this alarms and upsets you, please join us in speaking out.

From all of us at CIJA,

Chag Pesach Sameach!

And to our many friends in the Christian community, Happy Easter!

Sincerely,

Joel Reitman	Jeffrey Rosenthal
Co-Chair CIJA Board	Co-Chair CIJA Board