The Last Passover

Echoes of the Past

More than 80 years have passed since the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. Yet, approximately 112,000 Holocaust survivors still live here in Israel, many of them struggling in poverty, haunted by memories of unspeakable horrors, battling loneliness in their final years. Each month, more pass away, taking with them firsthand testimonies of one of history's darkest chapters.

Time is running out to honor these precious survivors who endured hell and chose to rebuild their shattered lives in the land of their ancestors.

Bridges for Peace is dedicated to blessing these precious survivors in any way we can, but time is running out. For five years now, we’ve made a sacred commitment. Over and above our normal food program, we ensure that 1,500 Holocaust survivors across Jerusalem can celebrate Passover with dignity, joy and all the traditional elements that make the feast meaningful. This year, we need your help more than ever.

The Seder Table Set for One

Passover commemorates the Israelites’ Exodus from slavery in Egypt. Jewish families gather around tables laden with symbolic foods: matzah (unleavened bread), charoset (a sweet mixture representing the mortar used by Hebrew slaves), maror (bitter herbs) and grape juice or wine to fill four cups throughout the evening’s retelling of God’s deliverance.

It’s a celebration meant to be shared. Families crowd around the table, children ask the traditional four questions while voices rise in ancient songs of freedom and gratitude.

But imagine setting a bare table for one. Imagine the empty chairs where loved ones should sit. Imagine celebrating deliverance from bondage when your own memories are still held captive by trauma.

This is the reality for survivors like Chaya.

Love Made Tangible

Bridges for Peace volunteers spend months preparing for the annual Passover blessing to our Holocaust survivors. We pack food parcels with staples that form the foundation for countless meals. Then we prepare special Passover bags containing the feast’s essential elements: grape juice, matzah, charoset ingredients, and when funding allows, a complete Seder plate.

But the true ministry takes place during the distribution itself.

At nearly every stop, our volunteers are ushered inside. Survivors who have been preparing for days insist we sit, pressing homemade cookies or cake into our hands. Over tea, they share photographs of relatives murdered decades ago. They recount memories, both beautiful and horrific. They ask about our children, celebrate our milestones and tell us their aches and joys. 

After years of these visits, their faces light up when they see us coming. We’ve become family. We know their stories, their favorite foods, which memories bring smiles and which bring tears. We remember their birthdays. We pray over them. We do small repairs in their homes. We sit in silence when words fail and hold their hands when loneliness threatens to overwhelm.

One survivor confessed that our monthly visits are the only thing brings a smile to her face. Another told us that knowing Christians around the world care enough to send our volunteers as a message of love has transformed how she views her faith and her life’s final chapter.

This Is Your Invitation

The Holocaust survivors in Israel didn’t choose to watch their families torn apart, to endure starvation, torture, loss beyond comprehension. But they survived. They rebuilt. They persevered.

Now, in their twilight years, they need us.

God has placed a special call on our hearts regarding the vulnerable. James 1:27 declares that caring for them is “pure and undefiled religion before God.” The prophet Isaiah proclaimed God’s heart to “comfort Zion” (40:1).

This Passover, we have the privilege, the holy responsibility, to answer that call. Your gift to our Lifeline for Israel’s Needy fund will ensure that Holocaust survivors like Chaya don’t just survive Passover but celebrate it. Your gift can let them know that they are not forgotten but cherished, that they don’t face the festival alone because Christians around the world stand with them.

Will you be one of those Christians? Will you help set the table for someone who has seen too much darkness? Will you bring light into their final years?

Time is running out. These precious survivors won’t be with us much longer. But today—right now—you can make their remaining Passovers meaningful.

Please give generously to Lifeline for Israel’s Needy today. Let’s fill their tables, hearts and final years with the knowledge that Christian love is real, active and refuses to let them spend their last Passovers alone.

With urgency and hope,

Rev. Peter J. Fast
International President & CEO

*Name has been changed to protect privacy.