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The First Cup: Abolition
Contributed by Noraa Kaplan

  • TOP HAGGADAHS FOR 2023

Kabbalah teaches that Hashem had to contract their infinite light in order to create the universe. This contraction, called tzimtzum, made space for our world, but it also resulted in cosmic disaster: the shattering of the divine vessels into millions of sparks of holiness, which humanity has been tasked with putting back together. Sometimes, something needs to be destroyed in order to make room for something new. We cannot vote away prisons or reform the police. Only revolutionary action can end the carceral state. A better world is possible but it can only be created from the ashes of the old. People often expect abolitionists to have a complete vision of the systems that will replace incarceration and policing. We don’t need all the answers to see that the carceral state is fundamentally violent and oppressive, and to say NO to police and prisons. The Zapatistas teach “one no, many yeses.” The possibilities of a post-carceral world are endless, but they all start from the same point: abolition. 

✧ What does saying no make possible?

The leader asks "?סַבְרִי מָרָנָן"  "Savri Maranan?"     
Everyone else responds "!לְחַיִּים" "L'chayim!"  

בְּרוּכָה אַתְּ שְׁכִינָה, רוּחַ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵאת פְּרִי הַגָפֶן

(Fem:) Brucha at Shechinah, ru’ach ha-olam, boreyt p’ree ha-gafen.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי, אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הַגָפֶן

(Masc:) Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, borey p’ree ha-gafen.

Blessed are You, who creates the fruits of the vine.

Savri maranan literally means, “Have you decided, my masters?” These words first appear in a midrash about capital trials carried out in ancient Israel. The court would ask the jury for a verdict by saying, “Savri maranan?” And the jury would either say “l’mavet,” to death, or “l’chayim,” to life. According to the midrash, the court would bring those condemned to death “a good but strong wine, and give it to him to drink so that he would not suffer pain from the stoning.” Over the years, the custom emerged to ask “Savri maranan?” over kiddush wine, to ask if we’re drinking from the cup of the condemned or from the cup of life, if we’re numbing our pain or celebrating life’s blessings. May the answer always be a resounding L’chayim!

(On Saturday nights, add Havdalah then continue here:) 

בְּרוּכָה אַתְּ שְׁכִינָה, רוּחַ הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁהֶחֱיָתְנוּ וְקִיְמָתְנוּ וְהִגִיעָתְנוּ לַזְמָן הַזֶה

(Fem:) Brucha at Shechinah, ru’ach ha-olam, shehecheyatnu, ve-kiyematnu, ve-higiyatnu la-zman hazeh.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְקִיְמָנוּ וְהִגִיעָנוּ לַזְמָן הַזֶה

(Masc:) Barukh atah Adonai, eloheynu melech ha-olam, shehecheyanu, ve-kiyimanu, ve-higiyanu la-zman hazeh.

Blessed are You, who has kept us alive and sustained us, and enabled us to reach this moment.

Lean to the left and drink the first cup of wine or grape juice. 

Most of the seder is spent reliving the past and dreaming of the future, yet we begin by sanctifying the present day and offering thanks for reaching the present moment. Shehecheyanu is a blessing of renewal, a way of expressing gratitude not only for life but for the cycles we find ourselves part of within it. Instead of drawing our attention to the ways in which we grow old, Shehecheyanu reminds us of the ways in which we become new again. 
haggadah Section: Kadesh
Source: Min Ha-Meitzar: An Abolitionist Haggadah from the Narrow Place by Noraa Kaplan

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