Second Cup: To What Sustains Us

We work so hard everyday, to live our beliefs, to build just and loving relationships, and to just get by. And rarely do we pause to savor and appreciate that work. It is good to act for justice and it is righteous to pause and appreciate that work. Abraham Joshua Heschel, a Hasidic rabbi and organizer explains “given the history of the people, this makes sense. A temple can be destroyed; a people dispersed, and so it happened for the Jews many times over thousands of years. But a Sabbath day cannot be burned, smashed or shattered." When we take the time to reflect, to breathe, we are creating the Sabbath or Shabbat in our everyday life.

Meditation: Bring to mind something which sustains you either spiritually or physically. Then imagine what sustains it, and offer that your praises.

Everyone say the blessing and drink the second cup of wine:

(Ashkenazi pronunciation, fem.) Brucha Yah Shechinah, eloheinu Malkat ha’olam, borayt p’ri ha-gafen. (Ashkenazi pronunciation, masc.) Baruch atah Adonai, eloheinu Melech ha’olam boreh p’ri ha-gafen.

Blessed is Hashem, Sustainer of the Universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine.


haggadah Section: -- Cup #2 & Dayenu
Source: Love and Justice in Times of War Haggadah