Welcome

Tom: Welcome to our Seder. Lynn and I welcome you. Passover commemorates a journey, a specific historic journey of the Jewish people that brought them from slavery to freedom, from a place of oppression to the promised land, where they were free. While the Seder is a recitation of our own history as Jews, it is also a time for opening our hearts and deepening our connection to the struggles for liberation that continue to the present day—struggles to be free from injustice, freedom from the constraints of poverty and disease; freedom from hunger and torture and continued slavery; freedom from cruelty; from racism, sexism, homophobia, and environmental degradation. The Seder is also an occasion to reflect on our own personal journeys, the very real journeys we are all taking in our lives in South Africa and the inner journeys we are taking to free ourselves from closed mindedness, greed, fear, indifference, selfishness, and all that keeps us stuck and in some sense enslaved.

Tonight we are all Jews. Tonight, we take on the heritage of the Jewish people and re-live the conditions of slavery in which they toiled and walk with them on their forty year journey with God’s guidance to freedom. Let us begin.

Candle Lighting

Lynn: Lighting the candles marks a time of transition, from the day that is ending to the one that is beginning, from ordinary time to sacred time. Lighting the candles is an important part of our Passover celebration because their flickering light reminds us of the importance of keeping the fragile flame of freedom alive in the world. We light the candles to invoke the Light of Perception and Understanding to shine through our Passover celebration.

Barukh atah Adonai, elohaynu meleck ha- olam ; Asher kid’shanu b ‘ mitzvo-tav v’tzi-vanu l’hadlik nayr shel Shabbot v’ yom tov.

All: Blessed are you, Eternal One. Your presence fills creation, you have sanctified us, asked us to join with you and to light these holiday candles.

Reader 1: We kindle this fire so that we may see more clearly

​ That each of us is different,

​ That each of us is the same

​ We each deserve a place at the hearth.

​ We all must help tend the fire.

​ Blessed is the fire that gives us light.

​ Blessed is the light that enables perception.

SONG —This Little Light of Mine

The Seder Plate

Lynn: This is our Seder Plate and the traditional foods. The special foods we eat on Passover are also food for thought. Every item on the Seder plate abounds in meaning and allusion as will become clear as we move on.

Order of the Seder:

Reader 2: With the lighting of the candles we are able to see the great order of things. Seder actually means “Order,” and the specific order of events of our ceremonial journey . When we see the great order of things, we also see its great mystery. Each of these steps evoke great mysteries, great expanses of territory each of us is invited to explore. To begin, we simply recite the order of the Passover Seder:

All:

Kadesh​​ Recite the Kiddush

Urchatz​​ Wash the hands

Karpas​​ Eat a green vegetable

Yachatz​ ​ Break the middle matzah—hide the Afikomen

Magid​​ Recite the Passover Story

Rachtsah​ Wash the hands before eating

Motzi Matza​ Say the ha-Motzi, eat the matzah

Maror​​ Eat the bitter herb

Koreych​ Eat the bitter herb and charoses together

Shulchan Orech Serve the festive meal

Tsafoon​​ Eat the afikomen

Barech​​ Say prayer after meal

Hallel​​ Recite the Hallel

Nirtzah​​ Conclude the Seder


haggadah Section: Introduction