We begin our Seder by calling to mind the efforts of those everywhere who celebrate the Passover by searching for its meaning in their lives.

In our house, we're marrying multiple traditions, genetic lines, and ways of being. It's through rituals like this that we hope to form the strands of our life into a family that's woven together for all the time we can know. We're ecstatic you can join us for Octavio Moses's first Passover, and hope we can continue this tradition until the next generation takes over the table.

There are many possible modes for understanding the events retold in the Pesach Haggadah. Three of them are braided tightly together. By participating in the symbolic actions of the Seder tonight we can share in the experience of the natural world around us, the liberation of the Jewish people, and the spiritual redemption of each individual human being.

Whatever our luck, privileges, or work have brought, it is part of the reality of being human to begin this evening shackled in some way. And by finding where we are held in bondage, we connect with all the people of the world who find themselves less than free.

Tonight we hope to set in motion the processes of growth that encourage within each of us the renewal of each person’s unique vision, and efforts to work for the freedom of all people as we see about us the flowering of a new year.

So, we begin our Seder here. But Pesach is but the pointer to the acceptance of our commitments to complete these tasks—an early harvesting of the fruits of our labors yet to come.


haggadah Section: Introduction
Source: Modified version of Mark Horvitz's introduction