At Passover (Pesach) we receive a personal directive to create an inclusive and welcoming community.  Even when we intend to be welcoming, many in our communities feel like strangers.  The things that divide us-race, religion, ethnicity, gender, class among others-also have the power to unite us.  During the Seder we are each meant to remember that we ourselves were once strangers in a strange land-in fact slaves.  If the Jewish community is to be home for all, we must make room at the table and share our stories.  

We tell our children about the miracle of God saving us from slavery in Egypt.  We should feel like God is also saving US and we should feel a new beginning.  How can we free people who are oppressed throughout the world and in our own community.  At the Seder we remember that if we really want to serve God, there is no force in the world that can stand in our way.

This last year many of us have felt "enslaved" by the worldwide pandemic.  God was surely working through his "helpers" on earth to develop collectively vaccines in record time that will help set us free to visit families, return to social activities, and work.

Let us be thankful to God, our families and friends and celebrate this Pesach and dedicate our lives to helping others be set free from their personal shackles.

Guided meditation for Passover led by Alison Laichter. Video & audio recording by Isabella Giardini.

BLESSING FOR ANYONE WHO ISN’T JEWISH (’CAUSE WE KNOW THIS IS A LOT)
May everyone who shares in a Jewish life feel welcome and integrated. We lovingly acknowledge the diversity of our community and are deeply grateful for the love and support you provide by opening your heart to Judaism, no matter how big or small a part it is in your day. Your presence at this Jewish experience is valued. It is not taken for granted because not everyone in this broken world will sit at a Shabbat dinner or attend a Passover Seder. We are a very small people and history has made us smaller. As we once again see a rise in hatred and hear fear in the voices of our community, we are grateful for your presence. We pray with all our hearts that all you give to the Jewish people will come back to you and fill your life with joy. Amen.

Adapted from Rabbi Janet Marder

The seder plate holds the ritual items that are discussed during the seder. 

ROASTED SHANKBONE
One of the most striking symbols of Passover is the roasted lamb shankbone (called zeroah), which commemorates the paschal (lamb) sacrifice made the night the ancient Hebrews fled Egypt. Some say it symbolizes the outstretched arm of God (the Hebrew word zeroah can mean “arm”). Many vegetarians use a roasted beet instead. This isn’t a new idea; the great Biblical commentator Rashi suggested it back in the 11th Century.

MAROR (BITTER HERB)
Bitter herbs (usually horseradish) bring tears to the eyes and recall the bitterness of slavery. The Seder refers to the slavery in Egypt, but people are called to look at their own bitter enslavements.

CHAROSET
There’s nothing further from maror than charoset (“cha-ROH-set”), the sweet salad of apples, nuts, wine, and cinnamon that represents the mortar used by the Hebrew slaves to make bricks.

KARPAS
Karpas is a green vegetable, usually parsley (though any spring green will do). Karpas symbolizes the freshness of spring. Some families still use boiled potatoes for karpas, continuing a tradition from Eastern Europe where it was difficult to obtain fresh green vegetables.

SALT WATER
Salt water symbolizes the tears and sweat of enslavement, though paradoxically, it’s also a symbol for purity, springtime, and the sea.

ROASTED EGG
The roasted egg (baytsah) is a symbol in many different cultures, usually signifying springtime and renewal. Here it stands in place of one of the sacrificial offerings which were performed in the days of the Second Temple. Another popular interpretation is that the egg is like the Jewish people: the hotter you make it for them, the tougher they get.

BOILED EGG (TO EAT)
May we reflect on our lives this year and soften our hearts to those around us. Another year has passed since we gathered at the Seder table and we are once again reminded that life is fleeting. We are reminded to use each precious moment wisely so that no day will pass without bringing us closer to some worthy achievement as we all take a moment to be aware of how truly blessed we are.

Our faith gives us many holidays to celebrate throughout the year and they are all times for self-reflection, gently guiding us to a better path in life. We are each given a chance to reflect on our past year; to think about where we have been and how we will live our lives in the year to come. We reaffirm our commitment to lead good and meaningful lives, promoting peace wherever we go.

Fill the 1^st cup of wine

The Hebrew word “Kiddush” means sanctification. But it is not the wine we sanctify. Instead, the wine is a symbol of the sanctity, the preciousness, and the sweetness of this moment. Held together by sacred bonds of family, friendship, peoplehood, we share this virtual table tonight with one another and with all the generations who have come before us. Let us sanctify this singular moment.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הַגָפֶן

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha’olam, borei p'ri hagafen.

Praised are you, Adonai, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has created the fruit of the vine.

Drink the 1^st cup, leaning to the left.

Take less than a kezayit (the volume of one olive) of the karpas, dip it into salt-water, and recite the following blessing:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הָאֲדָמָה

Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha’olam, borei p’ri ha’adamah.

Blessed are You, Lord, our God, Ruler of the universe, who creates the fruit of the earth

(We also eat the egg here)

With three pieces of matzah stacked on the table, we now break the middle matzah into two pieces. Before reciting the blessing hamotzi, one should uncover and lift all the matzos (the two complete matzos and the broken half between them). 

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, haMotzi lechem min haaretz.

This is the bread of poverty which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. All who are hungry, come and eat; all who are needy, come and celebrate Passover with us. This year we are here; next year we will be in Israel. This year we are slaves; next year we will be free.

At a Passover seder we say an additional blessing before eating the matzah.

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav, v'tzivanu al achilat matzah.

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of all, who hallows us with mitzvot, commanding us regarding the eating of Matzah.

The host should wrap up the larger of the two broken pieces and, at some point between now and the end of dinner, hide it. This piece is called the afikomen, literally “dessert” in Greek. After dinner, the guests will have to hunt for the afikomen in order to wrap up the meal… and win a prize.

We eat matzah in memory of the quick flight of our ancestors from Egypt. As slaves, they had faced many false starts before finally being let go. So when the word of their freedom came, they took whatever dough they had and ran with it before it had the chance to rise, leaving it looking something like matzah.

Maggid means retelling the story of the exodus from Egypt.

In every generation, we must see ourselves as if we personally were liberated from Egypt. We gather tonight to tell the ancient story of a people's liberation from Egyptian slavery. This is the story of  our  origins as a people. It is from these events that we gain our ethics, our vision of history, our dreams for the future. We gather tonight, as two hundred generations of Jewish families have before us, to retell the timeless tale.

Yet our tradition requires that on Seder night, we do more than just tell the story. We must live the story. Tonight, we will re-experience the liberation from Egypt. We will remember how our family suffered as slaves; we will feel the exhilaration of redemption. We must re-taste the bitterness of slavery and must rejoice over our newfound freedom. We annually return to Egypt in order to be freed. We remember slavery in order to deepen our commitment to end all suffering; we recreate our liberation in order to reinforce our commitment to universal freedom.

Raise the tray with the matzot and say:

This is the bread of affliction that our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. Whoever is hungry, let him come and eat; whoever is in need, let him come and conduct the Seder of Passover. This year [we are] here; next year in the land of Israel. This year [we are] slaves; next year [we will be] free people.

The tray with the matzot is moved aside, and the second cup is poured.

The whole point of the seder is to ask questions. This is your time to ask about things that confuse you, things you don’t understand, or even things you don’t agree with. There really is no is no such thing as a stupid question, especially tonight. 

- Joy Levitt (age 16)

Questions are not only welcome during the course of the evening but are vital to tonight’s journey. Our obligation at this seder involves traveling from slavery to freedom, prodding ourselves from apathy to action, encouraging the transformation of silence into speech, and providing a space where all different levels of belief and tradition can co-exist safely. Because leaving Egypt--the narrow places, the places that oppress us—is a personal as well as a communal passage, your participation and thoughts are welcome and encouraged.

We remember that questioning itself is a sign of freedom. The simplest question can have many answers, sometimes complex or contradictory ones, just as life itself is fraught with complexity and contradictions. To see everything as good or bad, matzah or maror, Jewish or Muslim, Jew or Non-Jew alike is to be enslaved to simplicity. Sometimes, a question has no answer. Certainly, we must listen to the question, before answering. 

In recounting our story, let us consider that we tell it to four children, one wise, one simple, one wicked, and one innocent.

The wise child asks: How can I learn more about our people?  To that child, you shall direct our wealth of literature so that they may seek out this knowledge for themself.

The simple child asks: What is this all about?  To that child, you shall say simply, because we had faith we were redeemed from slavery.

The wicked child asks: What good is this to you?  To that child you shall say, do not exclude yourself by saying "to you" but say instead "to us", for only together can we succeed.

The innocent child does not know how to ask.  For this child, you shall tell them that we were taken out of Egypt so that we could be free.

Say to all of the children, that you may know who you are, get wisdom, get understanding and it shall preserve you, love it and it shall keep you.

The very first Passover happened a long time ago (about 3000 years ago) in a a land called Egypt.  There was a mean and very powerful king called Pharoh who ruled over all of Egypt.  The King was getting very worried that the Jewish people in his kingdom would one day try to fight against him.

Pharoh decided that these Jewish people must become his slaves.  As slaves, the Jewish people had to work very hard for many hours each day.  They were forced to build large palaces and huge cities for the king.  They were never allowed to rest or play and had little food to eat.  It was a terrible time.

The Jewish people hated being slaves to Pharoh.  They cried out and asked God to help them.  God chose a man named Moses to lead the people out of slavery and far away from the land of Egypt.  When Moses went to talk with Pharoh he said "God is not happy with the way you are treating the Jewish people in your kingdom.  God wants you to let the Jews leave Egypt and allow them to go into the desert where they can be free."

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 made in the image of God. 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:

Blood | dam | דָּם

Frogs | tzfardeiya |  צְפַרְדֵּֽעַ

Lice | kinim | כִּנִּים

Beasts | arov | עָרוֹב

Cattle disease | dever | דֶּֽבֶר

Boils | sh’chin | שְׁחִין

Hail | barad | בָּרָד

Locusts | arbeh | אַרְבֶּה

Darkness | choshech | חֹֽשֶׁךְ

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

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? Make up your own list. 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? 

The traditional Haggadah lists 10 plagues that afflicted the Egyptians.  We live in a very different world, but Passover is a good time to remember the plagues that we continue to experience in modern times.  The biblical ten plagues were sent to the Egyptians as a warning.  We should also recognize and respond to modern plagues as a warning of the dangers of not respecting the principles of justice, equity, and dignity that God has set forth for all His people.  As we each recite a modern plague that affects people from all over the world, we remove a drop of wine from our glasses to symbolize our anguish at the suffering these plagues have caused.

The Jewish people were quite afraid that Pharoh would change his mind again, so they packed up their belongings very quickly.  They had no time to prepare any food for the trip and no time to let their dough rise into puffy bread.  There was only enough time to make a flat cracker-like bread that we call matzah.  They tied all of their matzah onto their backs and ran into the desert.  

The people had not traveled very far on their journey before the evil King changed his mind again.  Pharoh ordered his large army of soldiers, with their strong horses and chariots, to chase them and bring them back to Egypt to become his slaves again.

Pharoh's soldiers were racing very fast towards them, so the Jews dashed forward.  But, they had to stop quite suddenly when they reached the Red Sea.  The sea was much too wide and too deep to swim across.  Now they became very frightened because they thought Pharoh's soldiers would soon catch them.

The people prayed to God and a miracle happened.  The sea opened up right down the middle.  Two huge walls of water stood in front of them with a dry, sandy path stretching out between the walls of water.  The Jewish people ran across the path and just as they reached the other side of the sea, the walls of water fell back down and the pathway disappeared.  The water of the sea now separated the Jewish people from the land of Egypt and all of Pharoh's kingdom.  The Jewish people were finally free!!!

Every year on the holiday of Passover, we eat special foods, sing songs, tell stories, and have a Passover Seder and special meal.  Telling this story helps us to remember the brave journey of the Jewish people and the great miracle of going from slavery to freedom.  It teaches us how important it is for everyone in our world to be free from bad kings and harsh or discriminatory treatment.

Had He brought us out of Egypt, and not executed judgments against the Egyptians, It would have been enough – Dayyenu

Had He executed judgments against the Egyptians, and not their gods, – Dayyenu

Had He executed judgments against their gods and not put to death their firstborn, – Dayyenu

Had He put to death their firstborn, and not given us their riches, – Dayyenu

Had He given us their riches, and not split the Sea for us, – Dayyenu

Had He split the Sea for us, and not led us through it on dry land, – Dayyenu

Had He led us through it on dry land, and not sunk our foes in it, – Dayyenu

Had He sunk our foes in it, and not satisfied our needs in the desert for forty years – Dayyenu

Had He satisfied our needs in the desert for forty years, and not fed us the manna, – Dayyenu

Had He fed us the manna, and not given us the Sabbath, – Dayyenu

Had He given us the Sabbath, and not brought us to Mount Sinai, – Dayyenu

Had He brought us to Mount Sinai, and not given us the Torah, – Dayyenu

Had He given us the Torah, and not brought us into Israel, – Dayyenu

Had He brought us into Israel, and not built the Temple for us,   It would have been enough  – Dayyenu

We are grateful that we are together on this night as a family ~ Dayenu

We are grateful that we are together to share this moment ~ Dayenu

We are grateful that we are together, alive and healthy ~ Dayenu

We are grateful that we are able to eat together ~ Dayenu

We are grateful that we have a light shining upon us ~ Dayenu

We are grateful for everything and everyone that we have ~ Dayenu

We are grateful for all that has touched our lives ~Dayenu

We are grateful that our ancestors never gave up home, and to them we drink the second glass of wine together ~ Dayenu

ָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה‘ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הַגָּפֶן.

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech haolam, borei pri hagafen.

Blessed are You, Adonai, Sovereign of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

Motzi-Matzah מוֹצִיא

Take the three matzot - the broken piece between the two whole ones – and hold them in your hand and recite the following blessing:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם הַמּוֹצִיא לֶחֶם מִן הָאָרֶץ

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, hamotzi lechem min ha-aretz.

Praised are you, Adonai, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who provides sustenance from the earth.

Before eating the matzah, put the bottom matzah back in its place and continue, reciting the following blessing while holding only the top and middle piece of matzah.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ עַל אֲכִילַת מַצָּה

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu al achilat matzah.

Praised are you, Adonai, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has taught us the way of holiness through commandments, commanding us to eat matzah.

Break the top and middle matzot into pieces and distribute them everyone at the table to eat a while reclining to the left.

Maror מָרוֹר

Now take a kezayit (the volume of one olive) of the maror. Dip it into the Charoset, but not so much that the bitter taste is neutralized. Recite the following blessing and then eat the maror (without reclining):

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ עַל אֲכִילַת מָרוֹר.

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha-olam, asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu al achilat maror.

Praised are you, Adonai, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has taught us the way of holiness through commandments, commanding us to eat the bitter herb.

Korech:  Mixing the Bitter and the Sweet

One of my favorite moments of the seder comes just before dinner is served.  It is called Korech.  It is also known as the Hillel sandwich.  It is the moment when we eat maror (the bitter herbs) and the charoset (the sweet apple and nut mixture) on a piece of matzah.  What a strange custom to eat something so bitter and something so sweet all in one bite.  I can taste it now, just thinking about it, and the anticipation is almost too much to bear.  I dread it, and I long for it all at the same time.  Why do we do such a thing?  We do it to tell our story.

The Jewish people tells our story through our observance of Jewish holidays throughout the year.  The holidays of Passover, Chanukah and Purim remind us just how close the Jewish people has come to utter destruction and how we now celebrate our strength and our survival with great joy, remembering God’s help and our persistence, and our own determination to survive. 

We also tell the story throughout our lifetime of Jewish rituals.  The breaking of a glass at a Jewish wedding reminds us that even in times of life’s greatest joys we remember the sadness of the destruction of the Temple.  When we build a home, some Jews leave a part unfinished to remember that even when building something new, we sense the times of tragedy in the Jewish people.  And on Passover we mix the sweet charoset with the bitter maror, mixing bitter and sweet of slavery and freedom all in one bite.

Throughout each year and throughout our lifetimes, we challenge ourselves to remember that even in times of strength, it is better to sense our vulnerability, rather than bask in our success.  We all have memories of times in which bitter and sweet were mixed in our lives, all in the same bite.  Judaism says, sometimes life is like that.  We can celebrate and mourn all at the same time.  And somehow, everything will be ok.  What is your korech moment?

Shulchan Orech  שֻׁלְחָן עוֹרֵךְ

Now is time to enjoy the festival meal and participate in lively discussion. It is permitted to drink wine between the second and third cups.

Tonight, we have joined in an unbroken chain with our ancestors and our ancestors’ ancestors (and our ancestors’ ancestors’ ancestors!) in commemorating this sacred day, remembering that we were once in bondage and now are liberated. We will be grateful. We will remember those who came before us and we will lovingly envision those who will come after. We will stand against the enslavement of any living beings and we will uplift all of our brothers and sisters and we will know that none of us are free while another suffers in bondage.

We will celebrate again, next year, in the promised land!