That Empty Chair at The Passover Seder

There's a custom to set an extra seat at the Passover Seder.  We invite those who are imprisoned.  It is believed that if "enough*" people set places for those who are forbidden to taste true freedom, they will be freed.

It didn't take too many years for Natan Sharansky to be freed from the Soviet prison.  He was allowed to make aliyah and reunite with his wife Avital.  They were rewarded by G-d with two daughters.

The American prison faux justice system is harder to break.  My older children remember when Sharansky was the missing guest and they celebrated his release.  My younger children are more cynical.  They grew up with Jonathan Pollard's empty seat.  It's still empty.  Pollard is jailed by the Americans in an unprecedented punishment for an unprecedented crime of helping an ally.

Israel's most dangerous enemies are those who claim to be our friends and allies. That mask is the most difficult to remove.

• It was easier to free Natan Sharansky.
• It was easier to free Gilad Shalit.

Only when we as a People and State recognize that the United States of America isn't a true friend of Israel that Jonathan Pollard will have a chance at freedom.

We can only rely on G-d and we must.

Dry Bones

Chag Kasher v'Same'ach

May You Have a Kosher and Happy Passover

*the question is the meaning of "enough"