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Every year as our families sit around the Seder table we read from the Passover Haggadah of the Seder that took place some 2,000 years ago in Bnei Brak where the Sages stayed up all night recalling the Exodus.

Many have wondered, “Why did they stay up all night?”

The answer is because the struggle for Jewish destiny and continuity is ongoing and still a work in progress. Look at the modern-day pharoahs and despots who want to destroy us:

Ahmadinejad who seeks nuclear weapons and calls for Israel’s destruction.

Hamas leader Imam Ziad Abu Alhaj, who participated in the 2006 Second World Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace, but in 2009 said on Al Aqsa TV, “The time will come by, Allah’s will, when their property will be destroyed and their children will be exterminated and no Jew or Zionist will be left on the face of the earth.”

And even at the University of California, Berkeley, where a resolution was passed to divest from companies doing business with Israel. They are not divesting from Iran, from Saudia Arabia, or Syria — but only from Israel.

This is why our work is now more important than ever. And your support is vital to our success. So while you are celebrating the festival of freedom with your family, take a moment to remember the Simon Wiesenthal Center which is on the frontlines 365 days a year, defending Israel and the Jewish people.

Please be generous. We are counting on your support,

Rabbi Marvin Hier
Dean and Founder, Simon Wiesenthal Center