Passover Story | Passover haggadah by Mollie Dixie Beek

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Reader 1: Long ago, there was a king named Pharaoh, who ruled the land of Egypt. The Hebrew people who lived in Egypt were Pharaoh’s slaves. Pharaoh was worried that a Jew might grow up to be a leader of the Hebrew slaves, and fight against him. So, Pharaoh ordered that all little Jewish boy babies were to be killed. He told the midwives, women who helped babies to be born, to kill the Hebrew babies. The midwives loved all babies, so they refused to obey his orders. Two midwives, Shifrah and Pu’ah, told Pharaoh lies to protect the little babies. One Jewish mother, named Yocheved, was very worried about her new baby boy, and she put him in a basket and set the basket on the river. When Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, she saw the basket among the reeds. She opened it, saw the baby was crying, and felt sorry for him. Pharoah's daughter named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

Reader 2: Moses’ sister, Miriam, watched Pharaoh's daughter take the baby out of the water, and told her, “I know a woman who can help you take care of your baby.” Miriam ran home, and brought back her Mom, Moses’ birth mother. The Princess asked Yocheved to help her take care of the baby, not knowing who she was. Yocheved agreed. We can imagine Miriam giggling happily, knowing her baby brother was alive, free, and safe with his adopted mother and his birth mother. As he grew, Moses watched the Jewish slaves working hard for Pharaoh. One day, he saw a Hebrew slave being badly beaten by an Egyptian guard, so Moses killed the guard. He knew Pharoah would be very angry at him, so he left Egypt and became a shepherd in a far-away place. There, he married a woman named Tzipporah, the daughter of the priest of Midian, and they started their own family.

Reader 3: One day, Moses saw a burning bush. When he got closer to it, he heard a voice coming from it. It was the voice of God.God called to Moses from within the bush and said, “I have seen the misery of my people in the Narrow Places. I have come down to rescue them and to bring them up into a land flowing with milk and honey. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of there.” Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of the Narrow Places?” And God said, “I will be with you.” Then Moses said to God, “So I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask, ‘What's his name?’ What shall I tell them?” And God said, “ I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I am has sent me to you.’” Moses knew that it was wrong that the Jewish people were slaves. He felt in his heart that they were his own people, just as God told him. Some people believe Moses really heard the voice of God, just like we hear our friends or our parents talking to us. Other people believe that the voice Moses heard was his own small voice coming from within his heart. It told him something wasn’t right, and he should try to fix it. The voice within his heart told him that all people are part of the human family, and that all people should be treated kindly and fairly.

Reader 4: Moses went back to Egypt, just as God told him to do, with his birth brother, Aaron. He went to the new Pharaoh, and said, “Let my people go!” Pharaoh refused. Moses warned Pharaoh that if he didn’t let the Jewish slaves go free, bad things might happen to him. According to Jewish tradition, God was punishing Pharaoh. Others believe the plagues were all scientifically explainable coincidences. God gave Pharaoh a chance to change his mind, and to let the Jewish people go free. Although Moses pleaded with Pharaoh to give in, the most terrible punishment of all came to Pharaoh. The first-born child in each family died. The Jewish families painted a mark on their door with lamb’s blood, so that the last curse would “pass over” their homes. Pharaoh’s own son died, and this time he said, “Go!”

Reader 5: Moses was relieved that Pharaoh finally said the Hebrew slaves were free to leave, but he was worried that Pharaoh would change his mind. He told the slaves to hurry and to follow him. They didn’t have time to bake bread to eat on their trip, so they put raw dough on their backs. It baked into hard crackers just like the matzah you see on the table. The Jewish people followed Moses until they arrived at the sea. Pharaoh had changed his mind and his army was following them. Moses put his walking stick in the sea, and the water miraculously moved to make a path for them to walk through. Before Pharaoh’s army could cross the sea, the water returned to normal.

Reader 6: When the Jewish people reached the desert on the other side of the sea, they started a new life. Miriam, Moses’ sister, led the women in a freedom celebration of singing and dancing. Moses told the Jews to tell their children and their grandchildren the story of how they became free. We are those grandchildren, and this is our story. That is why we still celebrate Passover today.

haggadah Section: Maggid - Beginning

Source: Nancy Cronk, Minimalist Haggadah