Pesach Ice Block Challenge

Each Pesach, JCN invites you to place an ice block on the seder table next to the seder plate and use our resource to stimulate conversation about the climate challenge.

WHY AN ICE BLOCK?

The ice block represents the rapidly melting ice caps and sheets throughout the world caused by human activity. As the ice block shvitzes on our seder table, we are reminded that time is running out for action. This decade is different to all other decades.  

As our energy, industry, travel and agricultural systems continue to emit carbon dioxide and methane, our world is warming and our food, air and lives are at risk. The seas are rising and there’s no Nachson to split them for us so we can walk safely through.

WHY AN ICE BLOCK AT THE SEDER TABLE?

Isidor Rabi, winner of a Nobel Prize in physics, was once asked why he became a scientist. He replied, “My mother made me a scientist without ever knowing it. Every other child would come back from school and be asked, ‘What did you learn today?’ But my mother used to ask: “Izzy, did you ask a good question today?’ That made the difference. Asking good questions made me a scientist.’ 

Brave questions are the crux of Judaism and of the ‘Festival of Freedom’, Chag Ha-Cherut. As the former Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks taught: ‘Liberty means freedom of the mind, not just of the body’.

How to participate this year?

  1. Put an ice block next to your seder plate

  2. Download our resource

  3. Read the resource aloud before Ma’Nishtana

  4. Do the optional activity

Pesach is also fundamentally about reflecting on what the Jewish People have gone through each generation, bechol dor va’dor, and our vision for the future. The ice block reminds us that unlike past decades for the Jewish people, this decade is different. We can avert the worst impacts of climate change if we act swiftly and boldly, so that we can enjoy future seders together in peace and health.