There's no seder like our seder,

There's no seder I know.

Everything about it is halachic

Nothing that the Torah won't allow.

Listen how we read the whole Haggadah

It's all in Hebrew 'Cause we know how.

There's no Seder like our seder,

We tell a tale that is swell:

Moses took the people out into the heat

They baked the matzah

While on their feet

Now isn't that a story That just can't be beat?

Let's go on with the show!

Blessing Over the Candles

Baruch Atah Ado-nai, Elo-heinu Melech Ha-olam, Asher Kid’shanu

B’mitzvotav V’tzivanu L’hadlik Ner Shel Yom Tov.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has

sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us that

we kindle the Yom Tov (Holiday) lights.

Blessing Over the Wine

Ba-ruch a-tah A-do-nai, E-lo-hey-nu Me-lech ha-o-lam,
Bo-rey p’-ri ha-ga-fen.

Praised are you, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

(Let's drink the first cup of wine!)

Let our telling pour forth like water, strengthening spirits, refreshing souls.

Fresh, crisp greens remind us of spring, of new beginnings, of hope.  Salt water reminds us of the long, sad season of our slavery. As we mix the two together, we remember that we must work to bring the hope of spring to everyone enslaved everywhere.

This is the bread of affliction which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt.  Let all who are hungry come and eat; let all who are needy come and celebrate the Passover with us.  Now we are here; next year may we be in the Land of Israel. Now we are slaves; next year may we be free.

We break the matzah as we broke the chains of slavery, and as we break chains which bind us today. We will no more be fooled by movements which free only some of us, in which our so - called “freedom” rests upon the  enslavement or embitterment of others.

Traditionally, seders require three matzot. Why three?   Three are our patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Three  are the segments of the people Israel, Kohen, Levi and Yisrael.  The three matzot could even represent thesis, antithesis and synthesis: the two opposites in any polarized situation, and the solution which bridges them.

Each holiday is a place in time and space, with its own story, its own message and its own rituals.  If we open ourselves, the rituals and messages of each holiday find a way to enter our hearts.

This holiday of Pesach enters our hearts with the themes of freedom, defiance, hope and renewal.  Pesach is the retelling of how a rabble of slaves was infused with a sacred purpose and grew to enter into a covenant with God.  It is a narrative that has taught the world that birth is not destiny, oppression is not defeat, “victim” is not an identity and partnership with God is open to us all. 

It’s tradition that the youngest person in the family asks the questions. The rabbis who created the set format for the Seder gave us the Four Questions to help break the ice in case no one had their own questions. Asking questions is a core tradition in Jewish life. If everyone at your Seder is around the same age, perhaps the person with the least Seder experience can ask them – or everyone can sing them all together.

 מַה נִּשְׁתַּנָּה הַלַּֽיְלָה הַזֶּה מִכָּל הַלֵּילות?  

Mah nish-ta-nah ha-lai-lah ha-zeh mi-kol ha-lei-lot?

Why is this night different from all other nights?

:שֶׁבְּכָל הַלֵּילוֹת אָֽנוּ אוֹכלין חָמֵץ וּמַצָּה  הַלַּֽיְלָה הַזֶּה כֻּלּוֹ מצה  

She-b'chol ha-lei-lot a-nu och-lin cha-meitz u-ma-tzah? Ha-lai-lah ha-zeh, ku-lo ma-tzah?

Why on all other nights we eat both leavened bread and matzah, and tonight we only eat matzah?

שֶׁבְּכָל הַלֵּילוֹת אָֽנוּ אוֹכְלִין שְׁאָר יְרָקוֹת הַלַּֽיְלָה הַזֶּה מָרוֹר:

She-b'chol ha-lei-lot a-nu och-lin sh'ar y'ra -kot. Ha-lai-lah ha-zeh ma-ror?

On all other nights we eat all kinds of vegetables, but tonight why do we only eat bitter herbs?

. שֶׁבְּכָל הַלֵּילוֹת אֵין אָֽנוּ מַטְבִּילִין אֲפִילוּ פַּֽעַם אחָת   הַלַּֽיְלָה הַזֶּה שְׁתֵּי פְעמים:

She-b'chol ha-lei-lot ein anu mat-bi-lin a-fi-lu pa-am, e-hat. Ha-lai-lah ha-zeh, sh'tei f'a-mim?

On all other nights we aren’t expected to dip our vegetables at all.  Why, tonight, do we do it twice?

שֶׁבְּכָל הַלֵּילוֹת אָֽנוּ אוֹכְלִין בֵּין יוֹשְׁבִין וּבֵין מְסֻבִּין.  :הַלַּֽיְלָה הַזֶּה כֻּלָּֽנוּ מְסֻבין:

She-b'chol ha-lei-lot a-nu och-lin bein yosh-vin o'vein m-subin. Ha-lai-lah na-zeh ku-la-nu m-su-bin?

On all other nights we eat either sitting normally or reclining. Why do we sit reclining tonight?

The Four Answers

 Answer 1: We were slaves in Egypt. Our ancestor in flight from Egypt did not have time to let the dough rise. With not a moment to spare they snatched up the dough they had prepared and fled. But the hot sun beat as they carried the dough along with them and baked it into the flat unleavened bread we call matzah.

Answer 2: The first time we dip our greens to taste the brine of enslavement. We also dip to remind ourselves of all life and growth, of earth and sea, which gives us sustenance and comes to life again in the springtime.

Answer 3: The second time we dip the maror into the charoset. The charoset reminds us of the mortar that our ancestors mixed as slaves in Egypt. But our charoset is made of fruit and nuts, to show us that our ancestors were able to withstand the bitterness of slavery because it was sweetened by the hope of freedom.

Answer 4: Slaves were not allowed to rest, not even while they ate. Since our ancestors were freed from slavery, we recline to remind ourselves that we, like our ancestors, can overcome bondage in our own time. We also recline to remind ourselves that rest and rejuvenation are vital to continuing our struggles. We should take pleasure in reclining, even as we share our difficult history.

The traditional Haggadah speaks of four children—one who is wise, one who is wicked, one who is simple, and one who does not know to ask.Each of these sons phrases his question about the seder in a different way. Answer each child according to his question.

The wise child asks " What are the statutes, the testimonies, and the laws that God has commanded you to do? " He is answered fully: You should reply to him with all the laws of pesach: one may not eat any dessert after the paschal sacrifice.

The wicked child, who asks, " What is this service to you? ", is characterized by the Haggadah as isolating himself from the Jewish people, standing by objectively and watching their behavior rather than participating. Therefore, he is rebuked by the explanation that " It is because God acted for my sake when I left Egypt. For me. Not you. If you were in Egypt, you would not have deserved to have been set free. "

The simple child, who asks, " What is this? " is answered with " With a strong hand the Almighty led us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage. "

And the one who does not know to ask is told, " It is because of what the Almighty did for us when we left Egypt. "

Now, we add a fifth child: The one who is absent from the Seder table. He asks no questions, poses no questions. He knows nothing of the Seder. These are the Jewish children who live in oppression, or those who perished in tragedy. We remember them this moment, to pray that one day, those in oppression will be freed to learn of their heritage, and remember those who were never given a chance.

There are many questions. Now we begin to answer. Our history moves from slavery toward freedom. Our narration begins with degradation and rises to dignity. Our service opens with the rule of evil and advances to the kingdom of God.

1. We were slaves to Pharoah in Egypt and the Lord freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand. Had not the Holy One liberated our people from Egypt, then we, our children and our children's children would still be enslaved.

2. We were not born free men and women; we were not born believers in one God. We came from an ancestry of slaves and idol worshippers. Tonight, we celebrate not our genesis — what we were — but what we have become. We are a choosing people, and our choice has come out of tragic encounters with pagan superstition and political enslavement. We are a choosing people and we have discovered the meaning of our choice: to live as witnesses to one God who calls upon us to mend the world, to make whole the broken vessels of this incomplete world.

3. The Torah recounts the early history of the Jewish people. It describes how God commanded Abraham to leave his country and his father's house and to go to the land of Canaan, where he would become the founder of "a great nation." Abraham and his wife, Sarah, obeyed God's command and journeyed to Canaan. There God blessed them and their family. Their son was Isaac, who married Rebecca. Their grandson was Jacob; and it was Jacob who went down to Egypt.

4. Why did Jacob journey to Egypt? Because Joseph, his son by his beloved Rachel, had become prime minister to Pharaoh, king of Egypt. When a famine broke out in Canaan, Joseph asked his father and all his family to join him there. Then Joseph granted his father and his brothers land, as Pharaoh commanded. And Israel dwelt in the land of Goshen; and they were fruitful and multiplied exceedingly.

5. Joseph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation. Now there arose a new Pharaoh over Egypt, who knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, "Behold, the people of the children of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that if there be a war, they join themselves unto our enemies and fight against us." Therefore Pharaoh set over them taskmasters to afflict them with burdens. But the more the Egyptians afflicted them, the more the Israelites multiplied and the more they spread through the land.

7. The cruelest decree of all was the Pharaoh's order that every baby boy born to an Israelite woman be drowned in the River Nile. One couple, Amram and Yocheved, would not kill their newborn son. Instead, they hid him in their hut for three months. When his cries became too loud Yocheved placed him in a basket on the river. Their daughter Miriam watched to see what would happen.

 8. Moses would have lived at the Pharaoh's palace forever, but he could not ignore the suffering of his people. Once when he saw an Egyptian beating an Israelite slave, he could not control his anger, and he killed the Egyptian. Knowing his life would be in danger once the news of this deed spread, Moses fled to the land of Midian where he became a shepherd.

9. One day, while tending sheep on Mount Horeb, Moses saw a bush that seemed to be on fire, but was not burning up. From the bush, he heard God's voice calling him. God said, "I am the God of your ancestors. I have seen the suffering of the Israelites and have heard their cries. I am ready to take them out of Egypt and bring them to a new land, a land flowing with milk and honey."

10. God told Moses to return to Egypt to bring the message of freedom to the Israelites and to warn Pharaoh that God would bring plagues on the Egyptians if he did not let the slaves go free.Moses was such a humble man that he could not imagine being God's messenger. " I will be with you," God promised Moses. With this assurance and challenge, Moses set out for Egypt.

11. When Moses asked Pharaoh to free the Israelites, he refused. It was only then that God brought ten plagues on the Egyptians. Each one frightened Pharaoh, and each time he promised to free the slaves. But when each plague ended, Pharaoh did not keep his word. It was only after the last plague, the death of the firstborn of the Egyptians, that Pharaoh agreed to let the Israelites go. And so it was that God brought us forth out of Egypt, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and with wonders.

12. And so God's promise to our ancestor Abraham was fulfilled, "Your children shall be strangers in a land not their own, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation they shall serve, and in the end, they shall go free with abundance." (Genesis 15:13-4)

13. The experience of the Exodus was transforming. It made us a free people forever. No matter how oppressed we are, deep inside we remain free. We know now that history has meaning. We know that power cannot forever vanquish freedom. We know that God has purposes in human history.

As we rejoice at our deliverance from slavery, we acknowledge that our freedom was hard-earned. We regret that our freedom came at the cost of the Egyptians’ suffering, for we are all human beings. We pour out a drop of wine for each of the plagues as we recite them.

Dip a finger or a spoon into your wine glass for a drop for each plague.

These are the ten plagues which God brought down on the Egyptians:

דָּם Blood | dam |

צְפַרְדֵּֽעַ Frogs | tzfardeiya |

כִּנִּים Lice | kinim |

עָרוֹב Beasts | arov |

דֶּֽבֶר Cattle disease | dever |

שְׁחִין Boils | sh’chin |

בָּרָד Hail | barad |

אַרְבֶּה Locusts | arbeh |

חֹֽשֶׁךְ Darkness | choshech |

מַכַּת בְּכוֹרוֹת Death of the Firstborn | makat b’chorot |

The Egyptians needed ten plagues because after each one they were able to come up with excuses and explanations rather than change their behavior. Could we be making the same mistakes? What are the plagues in your life? What are the plagues in our world today? What behaviors do we need to change to fix them? 

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha’olam, asher g’alanu v’ga’al et avoteinu mimitzrayim, v’higianu lalaylah hazeh le’echol bo matzah umaror. Kein Adonai Eloheinu vEilohei avoteinu yagi’einu l’mo’adim v’lirgalim acheirim haba’im likrateinu l’shalom, s’meichim b’vinyan irecha v’sasim ba’avodatecha. V’nochal sham min hazvachim umin hapsachim asher yagia damam al kir mizbachacha l’ratzon, v’nodeh l’cha shir chadash al g’ulateinu v’al p’dut nafsheinu. Baruch Atah Adonai, ga’al Yisrael.

Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech haolam, borei p’ri hagafen

One of most beloved songs in the Passover seder is "Dayenu". A few of us will read the stanzas one at a time, and the everyone else will respond, "Dayenu" – meaning, “it would have been enough”.

How many times do we forget to pause and notice that where we are is exactly where we ought to be? Dayenu is a reminder to never forget all the miracles in our lives. When we stand and wait impatiently for the next one to appear, we are missing the whole point of life. Instead, we can actively seek a new reason to be grateful, a reason to say “Dayenu.”

Fun fact: Persian and Afghani Jews hit each other over the heads and shoulders with scallions every time they say Dayenu! They especially use the scallions in the ninth stanza which mentions the manna that the Israelites ate everyday in the desert, because Torah tells us that the Israelites began to complain about the manna and longed for the onions, leeks and garlic. Feel free to be Persian/Afghani for the evening if you’d like.

As we now transition from the formal telling of the Passover story to the celebratory meal, we once again wash our hands to prepare ourselves. A good meal together with friends and family is itself a sacred act, so we prepare for it just as we prepared for our holiday ritual, recalling the way ancient priests once prepared for service in the Temple.

Anyone who wishes to is welcome to wash their hands.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָֽׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּנוּ  עַל נְטִילַת יָדָֽיִם:

Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al n’tilat yadayim.

Blessed are you, spirit of the world, who made us holy through simple deeds like the washing of our hands.

The Leader passes around one of the sheets of matzoh. Each participant takes a small piece.

All:  Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, asher kidishanu b'mitzvotav vitzivanu al a'chilat matzoh.

(Blessed art thou, the LORD our God, King of the Universe, who hath santified us and commanded us to eat matzoh)

All eat their matzoh.

Leader: We now partake of the bitter herbs, of which there are two symbols on the seder plate, the maror and the chazeret.

Take a small amount of horseradish and eat it on a leaf of lettuce.

All:  Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, asher kidishanu b'mitzvotav vitzivanu al a'chilat maror.

(Blessed art thou, the LORD our God, King of the Universe, who hath santified us and commanded us to eat bitter herbs)

Leader: Now we partake of the Charoset, which symbolizes the mortar with which our enslaved ancestors worked. Though the labor was bitter, it was made bearable by the sweetness of hope. We now include charoset with the maror and matzoh to soften the bitterness of suffering.

Create a "Hillel sandwich", matzoh with both maror and charoset, and eat it.

Leader: We are now ready to eat the seder meal! In some Jewish traditions, we begin by eating eggs and salt water. The egg on the seder plate, Beitzah, has many meanings. It is a symbol of Spring and rebirth. It is also historically a symbol of mourning, and represents the fall of the great Temple in Jerusalem. There are also some who say it represents the Jewish people, for the more it is boiled, the harder it gets.

Leader: There are some who say that the salt represents tears once again, and others who claim it is in memory of the crossing of the Red Sea.

The children are sent out of the room to find the Afikomen.  They return, shouting:

Children:  An afikomen! An afikomen! An afikomen! We've got an afikomen!: We have found an afikomen, may we eat it? 

Father:     Eat it! Eat! 

Mother:    How do you know it is an afikomen?

Children:  It looks like one. It has warts on it.  And it turned me into a newt!

The Third Cup

(Pour the third cup of wine)

Reader 1: The swords have not yet been put aside, and the time of the plowshare and the pruning hooks is still to come. But the journey has begun. Towards that redemption, let us lift once again our glasses of wine and
join in the blessing:

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha’olam boreh p’ri ha-gafen.
We praise You, O God, Sovereign of the Universe, Who brings forth the fruit of the vine.

(Leaning to the left, all drink the third cup of wine.)

Reader 1: That's the difficulty in these times: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to meet the horrible truth and be shattered.

Reader 2:
It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because, in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusio, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a
wilderness. I hear the ever-approaching thunder, which will destroy us too. I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.

Group: In the meantime, I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out.
- Anne Frank, The Diary of Anne Frank.

Les Miselijah
(to the tune of "Do you hear the people Sing" from Les Miserables)

Do you hear the doorbell ring,

And it's a little after ten?

It can only be Elijah

Come to take a sip again.

He is feeling pretty fine

But in his head a screw is loose.

So perhaps instead of wine

We should only give him juice.

Open door and sing:

Eliyahu ha-navee, Eliyahu ha-Tish-bee Eliyahu, eliyahu, Eliyahu ha-Giladee Beem-hei-ra b'ya-mei-nu Yavo ei-leinu Eem ma-shee-ach ben David Eem ma-shee-ach ben David

Death and loss often lead to a sense of isolation. The doors to the heart and the doors to community and love seem to be closed. What are the beliefs and the hopes you have which can help you to open the door again?

Narrator:  We conclude tonight's program with the question, 'Is there life after death?'. And here to discuss this question are three dead people.  The late Pharaoh Ramses, former ruler of the kingdom of Egypt, circa 1400 BCE; the late Moshe ben Amram, tribal spokesperson and record holder for longest road trip across the wilderness; and putting forward the view of the Powers that Be, the prophet Elijah the Gileadite. Gentlemen, is there life after death or not? (Prolonged silence)

Well there we have it!  Three say "No". On next week's program we'll be discussing the question 'Does the state of France have a right to exist?. And until then, goodnight. 

Our Seder now ends. Together we say, “Next year in Jerusalem. Next year may all men and women everywhere be free!”