The seder, a festive holiday meal, actually means "order." It is called this because the meal is done in a certain order which takes us from slavery to freedom. The Haggadah - which means "the telling" - is the book used at the Passover seder. The Haggadah explains the foods on the seder plate, recounts the highlights of the Exodus, and includes songs, prayers, questions and vignettes.

On this Passover eve we see the world in a new light.

We add new spirit to our lives.

We taste a new time for peace.

We rest from desire for gain and ambition for things.

We raise our eyes to look beyond time and space and toward eternity.

May we come to always see the world in a new light."

The story of Passover, or Pesach, has been told countless times over thousands of years. But each time the story sounds a little different, for the faces seated around the Seder table have changed and the experiences they bring with them add a special, new quality to a very old tradition.

Pesach is a time for joy and relaxation, and a time for the renewal of courage. It is a time when we reflect on the past, while listening to tales of the Jews enslaved in Egypt. And Pesach is a time to look toward the future, when we can all live in freedom, as we choose, with no fear of oppression.

I'Tonight is a time to catch our breath.

Whatever we have been doing, making, working, creating . . .

Tonight is a time to catch our breath. No matter how necessary our work, how important to the world, how urgent that we continue it;

No matter how joyful our work, how fully and profoundly human;

No matter how flawed our work, how urgent that we set it right;

No matter how hard we have worked to gather our modest fame, our honorable livelihood, our reasonable power,

Tonight, we pause to catch our breath.

Tonight, we pause to share whatever we have gathered."


haggadah Section: Introduction