Why is this Passover different from all other Passovers? The ongoing war in Israel and a rise in reported anti-Semitic incidents on college campuses have not stopped Jewish people around New Jersey from attending services or hosting seders.

“It’s a scary time. But at the end of the day, Jewish history is scary,” says Rabbi Marc Katz of Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield. “Part of the Passover seder is reminding ourselves that in every generation, people are seeking our destruction and that the Jewish people are still alive, they’re still here, they’re still thriving.”

Katz says his congregants have been concerned with everything from avoiding dinnertime arguments to a rise in reported anti-Semitic incidents on the Rutgers-New Brunswick campus. On Monday, Rutgers Chancellor Francine Conway released a letter assuring students that the school is creating an advisor council on Jewish life, and creating a task force “to review procedures around codes of conduct and codes of ethics.”

“As hard as it feels this year to come together in a celebratory way, it is actually an act of sacred defiance to do so,” says Lucy Fishbein, senior cantor at Temple B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills. “It is our Jewish obligation to do so.”