Happy Passover!

Tonight, we gather together to celebrate Passover, our holiday of freedom. Let’s take a moment to be thankful for being together. We make a small community of storytellers. We welcome our friends and family members from other backgrounds to reflect with us on the meaning of freedom in all our lives and histories.

But, why this story again? Most of us already know the story of Passover. The answer is that we are not merely telling, or in tonight’s case, singing a story. We are being called to the act of empathy. Not only to hear the story of the Exodus but to feel as if we too were being set free. Some at our table observe this holiday every year and some are experiencing it for the first time. Some of us are Jewish, others are not. Passover is the most widely celebrated Jewish Holiday and is enjoyed by people of various faiths.

We will eat a great meal together, enjoy four glasses of the fruit of the vine, and tell the story of our ancestors’ liberation from slavery in Egypt.

We will consider the blessings in our lives, pledge to work harder at freeing those who still suffer and begin to cast off the things in our own lives that oppress us. Freedom is at the core of each of our stories.

All who are in need, let them come celebrate Passover with us. Now we are here. Next year in the land of Israel.


haggadah Section: Introduction