Ten Plagues | Passover haggadah by Natalie Yosipovitch + John San Soucie

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A new person reads:

The triumph of Passover is diminished by the sacrifice of many human lives
when ten plagues were visited upon the people of Egypt.
In the story, the plagues that befell the Egyptians resulted from the decisions of tyrants,
but the greatest suffering occurred among those who had no choice but to follow.

It is fitting that we mourn their loss of life, and express our sorrow over their suffering.
Therefore, let us diminish the wine in our cups
as we recall the ten plagues that befell the Egyptian people.

As we recite the name of each plague, please dip a finger in your wine and then touch your plate to remove the drop.

dam | דָּם (blood)

tzfardeiya | צְפַרְדֵּֽעַ (frogs)

kinim | כִּנִּים (lice)

arov | עָרוֹב (beasts)

dever | דֶּֽבֶר (cattle disease)

sh’chin | שְׁחִין (boils)

barad | בָּרָד (hail)

arbeh | אַרְבֶּה (locusts)

choshech | חֹֽשֶׁךְ (darkness)

makat b’chorot | מַכַּת בְּכוֹרוֹת (death of the firstborn)

The same person continues: (adapted from text by Temple Israel of Boston)

We turn our thoughts to the many plagues affecting our society today. Our journey from slavery to redemption is ongoing, demanding the work of our hearts and hands. Will someone else please continue the story?

A new person continues:

(Homelessness) In any given year, about 3.5 million people are likely to experience homelessness, about a third of them children, according to the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. A recent study by the U.S. Conference of Mayors showed the majority of major cities lack the capacity to shelter those in need and are forced to turn people away. We are reminded time and again in the Torah that the Exodus is a story about a wandering people, once suffering from enslavement, who, through God’s help, eventually find their way to their homeland. As we inherit this story, we affirm our commitment to pursue an end to homelessness. Will someone else please continue the story?

A new person continues:

(Hunger) About 49 million Americans experience food insecurity, 16 million of them children. While living in a world blessed with more than enough food to ensure all of God’s children are well nourished, on Passover we declare, “Let all who are hungry come and eat!” These are not empty words, but rather a heartfelt and age-old prayer to end the man-made plague of hunger. Will someone else please continue the story?

A new person continues:

(Inequality) Access to affordable housing, quality health care, nutritious food and quality education is far from equal. The disparity between the privileged and the poor is growing, with opportunities for upward mobility still gravely limited. Maimonides taught, “Everyone in the house of Israel is obligated to study Torah, regardless of whether one is rich or poor, physically able or with a physical disability.” Unequal access to basic human needs, based on one’s real or perceived identity, like race, gender or disability, is a plague, antithetical to the inclusive spirit of the Jewish tradition. Will someone else please continue the story?

A new person continues:

(Greed) In the Talmud, the sage Ben Zoma asks: “Who is wealthy? One who is happy with one’s lot.” These teachings evidence what we know in our conscience—a human propensity to desire more than we need, to want what is not ours and, at times, to allow this inclination to conquer us, leading to sin. Passover urges us against the plague of greed, toward an attitude of gratitude. Will someone else please continue the story?

A new person continues:

(Discrimination) The Jewish people, as quintessential victims of hatred and discrimination, are especially sensitized to this plague in our own day and age. Today, half a century after the civil rights movement in the United States, we still are far from the actualization of the dream Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. articulated in Washington, D.C., a vision rooted in the message of our prophets. On Passover, we affirm our own identity as the once oppressed, and we refuse to stand idly by amid the plagues of discrimination and hatred. Will someone else please continue the story?

A new person continues:

(Environmental destruction) Humans actively destroy the environment through various forms of pollution, wastefulness, deforestation and widespread apathy toward improving our behaviors and detrimental civic policies. Rabbi Nachman of Brezlav taught, “If you believe you can destroy, you must believe you can repair.” Our precious world is in need of repair, now more than ever. Will someone else please continue the story?

A new person continues:

(Stigma of mental illness) One in five Americans experiences mental illness in a given year. Even more alarming, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, nearly two-thirds of people with a diagnosable mental illness do not seek treatment, and minority communities are the least likely to search for or have access to mental health resources. Social stigma toward those with mental illness is a widespread plague. Historically, people with mental health issues have suffered from severe discrimination and brutality, yet our society is increasingly equipped with the knowledge and resources to alleviate the plague of social stigma and offer critical support. Will someone else please continue the story?

A new person continues:

(Ignoring refugees) We are living through the worst refugee crisis since the Holocaust. On this day, we remember that “we were foreigners in the land of Egypt,” and God liberated us for a reason: to love the stranger as ourselves. With the memory of generations upon generations of our ancestors living as refugees, we commit ourselves to safely and lovingly opening our hearts and our doors to all peace-loving refugees. Will someone else please continue the story?

A new person continues:

(Powerlessness) When faced with these modern plagues, how often do we doubt or question our own ability to make a difference? How often do we feel paralyzed because we do not know what to do to bring about change? How often do we find ourselves powerless to transform the world as it is into the world as we know it should be, overflowing with justice and peace? Will someone else please continue the story?

A new person continues: (adapted from text by Rabbi Laurence Edwards)

In every generation, we find ourselves in narrow places— political oppression, environmental crisis, personal struggles to live up to our own best selves. The seder ritual is a brilliant orchestration of an extended conversation around the central themes of memory and justice and liberation. To which, let us add, whoever expands the doing of the work of tikkun, “healing”— of myself and of society—is even more praiseworthy.

וְלֹא הַמִּדְרָשׁ הוּא הָעִקָּר, אֶלָּא הַמַּעֲשֶׂה

V’lo hamidrash hu ha’ikar, elah ha’ma’aseh

"not study but practice is the primary thing" - for one who does the mitzva is greater than one who learns but does not do.

haggadah Section: -- Ten Plagues