We are so happy to be able to celebrate this holiday of freedom, social justice, and community our new home with all of you.  By having you here tonight, we are placing the foundation for years of love, knowledge, and support for many years to come.  These walls, roof, and floor are turned into "our home" when we are able to welcome our family and friends to laugh, discuss, eat good food, and celebrate the many gifts we have been given! 

This Hagadah was put together with pieces of other Hagadot that celebrate freedom and social justice and work towards the end of injustice, hunger, racism, and oppression.  Although the tradition is to tell the story of the Jewish people's exodus from slavery in Egypt, we believe that it is important to make new traditions in our family that honor and fight the slavery and injustice that is happening today as well.  This is not a complete Hagadah, but hopefully it can guide us through an evening of applying tradition to conversation and appreciation.

We truly feel very lucky to have you as a part of our lives as we develop new roots.

Lots of Love,

Laurie and Josh

As Rachel welcomed strangers at the well with water, so do we welcome each other to this Seder by washing the hands of thos at our table.  We are not washing ourselves of dirt, but of attachment, guilt, and resentment. Each person in turn pours a little water over the hands of the person to the left, into the bowl.  As the water is poured, think of something that you wish to let go of and imagine the water carrying it away. 

This papercut is about redemption — which is, of course, more than no longer being slaves; it is being truly free people, owning our destiny and moving forward. I have represented freedom with outstretched hands, backed with numerous cut-up comic book pieces featuring people of many races and backgrounds — because none of us can be truly free until we are all free. The background is composed of cut-up and re-stitched pieces from the “Blackest Night” comic book series, in which heroes are killed and brought back in an existence that mimics life but isn’t; they are controlled by an evil force that uses them against one another. Freedom is more than action; it is owning ourselves and our intentions and being free to serve God and ourselves.

Copyright by Isaac Brynjegard-Bialik. This work is shared here for use as part of Haggadot.com, and is not to be otherwise distributed or used without permission of the artist.

Why is this haggadah different from all others? Because it holds the true meaning of Passover—that the liberation of all oppressed and enslaved people is God's will—above all other theological and political concerns.

This isn't the haggadah for Jews or Goyim or atheists or Christians or Fascists or Communists—this is the one for you, you who demands real justice for yourself and all the world. This is the haggadah for the people, all of us, and it was made with the knowledge that so long as one of us is shackled, none of us are free.