Gathered around the Seder table, we pour four cups, remembering the gift of freedom that our ancestors received centuries ago. We delight in our liberation from Pharaoh’s oppression.
We drink four cups for four promises fulfilled.
The first cup as God said, “I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians.”
The second as God said, “And I will deliver you from their bondage.”
The third as God said, “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.”
The fourth because God said, “I will take you to be My People.”
We know, though, that all are not yet free. As we welcome Elijah the Prophet into our homes, we offer
a fifth cup, a cup not yet consumed.
A fifth cup for the 60 million refugees and displaced people around the world still waiting to be free
— from the refugee camps in Chad to the cities and towns of Ukraine, for the Syrian refugees still
waiting to be delivered from the hands of tyrants, for the thousands of asylum seekers in the United
States still waiting in detention for redemption to come, for all those who yearn to be taken in not as
strangers but as fellow human beings.
This Passover, let us walk in the footsteps of the One who delivered us from bondage. When we
rise from our Seder tables, may we be emboldened to take action on behalf of the world’s refugees,
hastening Elijah’s arrival as we speak out on behalf of those who are not yet free.

–Reprinted with permission from HIAS.


haggadah Section: Bareich
Source: HIAS