We are wired to give. 

One of the worst feelings in the world is not being needed by others. 

I once asked a group of high school kids: "When was the last time you felt really good about yourselves?" Each responded by sharing an act of kindness and selfless giving. 

But a slave has nothing to offer. Drained of energy and time, the slave's emotional and physical resources are depleted. With no ability to give, the slave loses his/her sense of humanity, and feels empty, worthless, and incapable of generosity.

And so we begin the Seder by proclaiming: "Let all who are hungry come and eat!" We are no longer slaves with nothing to give. No matter what our situation, we defiantly declare that we have food in abundance and that we can't wait to share it with the world - a moment of exaggerated and piercing "largeness". 

This sentence should not be read. It should be raucously screamed. It is tantamount to announcing: "I am a giving person! I am overflowing with goodness and kindness! I have a full tank of giving to share with everyone!"

Activity for Seder: Share a moment when you either carried out - or witnessed - an act of extraordinary giving. 

WHAT DOES THE ACTIVIST CHILD ASK?

“The Torah tells me, ‘Justice, justice you shall pursue,’ but how can I pursue justice?”Empower him always to seek pathways to advocate for the vulnerable. As Proverbs teaches, “Speak up for the mute, for the rights of the unfortunate. Speak up, judge righteously, champion the poor and the needy.”

WHAT DOES THE SKEPTICAL CHILD ASK?

“How can I solve problems of such enormity?” Encourage her by explaining that she need not solve the problems, she must only do what she is capable of doing.   As we read in Pirke Avot, “It is not your responsibility to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.”

WHAT DOES THE INDIFFERENT CHILD SAY?

“It’s not my responsibility.”Persuade him that responsibility cannot be shirked. As Abraham Joshua Heschel writes, “The opposite of good is not evil, the opposite of good is indifference. In a free society where terrible wrongs exist, some are guilty, but all are responsible.”

AND THE UNINFORMED CHILD WHO DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO ASK...

Prompt her to see herself as an inheritor of our people’s legacy.  As it says in Deuteronomy, “You must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”At this season of liberation, join us in working for the liberation of all people. Let us respond to our children’s questions with action and justice. 

Now it's time to tell the story of the Exodus! We've broken the story into six sections, which we'll take turns performing! Each section will be performed in sixty seconds or less (please

see notes below): 

Part I: How the Jews found themselves in Egypt

Part II: Enslavement

Part III: Birth of Moses

Part IV: Moses assumes Leadership

Part V: Ten Plagues

Part VI: Exodus and Parting of the Red Sea

NOTES:

*Seder leader(s) can assign story sections prior to the seder or alot time during the seder for others to prepare presentations.

*Be creative!! Charades, costumes, sock puppets, drawings and screenshares, contemporary interpretations all welcome!

*Assign a time keeper

*Feel free to research your section further but you can also this illustrated summary or this children's summary to start:

The traditional Haggadah lists ten plagues that afflicted the Egyptians. We live in a very different world, but Passover is a good time to remember that, even after our liberation from slavery in Egypt, there are still many challenges for us to meet. Here are ten “modern plagues”:

Inequity - Access to affordable housing, quality healthcare, nutritious food, good schools, and higher education is far from equal. The disparity between rich and poor is growing, and opportunities for upward mobility are limited.

Entitlement - Too many people consider themselves entitled to material comfort, economic security, and other privileges of middle-class life without hard work.

Fear - Fear of “the other” produces and reinforces xenophobia, anti-immigrant sentiment, antisemitism, homophobia, and transphobia.

Greed - Profits are a higher priority than the safety of workers or the health of the environment. The top one percent of the American population controls 42% of the country’s financial wealth, while corporations send jobs off-shore and American workers’ right to organize and bargain collectively is threatened.

Distraction - In this age of constant connectedness, we are easily distracted by an unending barrage of information, much of it meaningless, with no way to discern what is important.

Distortion of reality - The media constructs and society accepts unrealistic expectations, leading to eating disorders and an unhealthy obsession with appearance for both men and women.

Unawareness - It is easy to be unaware of the consequences our consumer choices have for the environment and for workers at home and abroad. Do we know where or how our clothes are made? Where or how our food is produced? The working conditions? The impact on the environment?

Discrimination - While we celebrate our liberation from bondage in Egypt, too many people still suffer from discrimination. For example, blacks in the United States are imprisoned at more than five times the rate of whites, and Hispanics are locked up at nearly double the white rate. Women earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by a man. At 61 cents to the dollar, the disparity is even more shocking in Jewish communal organization.

Silence - Every year, 4.8 million cases of domestic violence against American women are reported. We do not talk about things that are disturbing, such as rape, sex trafficking, child abuse, domestic violence, and elder abuse, even though they happen every day in our own communities.

Feeling overwhelmed and disempowered - When faced with these modern “plagues,” how often do we doubt or question our own ability to make a difference? How often do we feel paralyzed because we do not know what to do to bring about change?

We have asked the oldest seder participant to imagine hiding the Afikomen....

We now ask all the children to search (virtually!) for the afikomen by asking only yes or now questions! 

In a moment, our Seder will be complete. However, we remember that working against oppression in the world is our never-ending responsibility. We recommit ourselves to the vision of a world filled with peace and justice for all. We work for a world where "nation shall not lift-up sword against nation nor study war anymore." We work for a world where people are not treated differently because of their race, their religion, their gender, their age, their marital status, their skin color, the people they love, their profession or their politics. We work for a world that affirms the inherent worth and dignity of every person on our planet and assures basic human rights for everyone, everywhere. Like Nachshon standing at the shore of the Red Sea, we are not waiting for a miracle but rather proceeding with faith that G-d will support us and give us the strength and resolve to work together to heal the world.

We close our Seder by saying, "L'Shanah Haba'ah B'Yerushalyim", which means "Next Year in Jerusalem." For centuries, this declaration expressed the Jewish people's goal to return to our homeland. Even after the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, these words still resonate with us. We all have our own personal aspirations and dreams that we are striving for. As we conclude our Seder, may we have the strength and the will to continue working toward our personal Jerusalem and toward a world where all people will live in shalom -- peace, safety and freedom.

MAZON’s Fifth Question:

Why on this night are millions of people going hungry?

Passover is a magical time when we gather with family and friends to retell the story of our people’s freedom from bondage. We read from a prayer book, perform rituals that are thousands of years old, and eat. We eat A LOT. Many of us eat far more than we should, but the food is so delicious, it’s nearly impossible to resist. Unfortunately, not everyone is lucky enough to have that luxury.

Hunger in America is at an epidemic level, despite how it might seem at first glance. 50 million Americans – including 17 million children – struggle with hunger every day. One out of every six people in this country can’t be sure when or if they’ll have their next meal. Hungry people live in every community in the country and come in all colors, shapes and sizes. They wrestle with impossible choices no one should have to make: buy my daughter’s asthma medication or feed my family? Whose turn is it to eat: the children or the adults? 

America is a nation of abundance and wealth, and Jews are a people dedicated to fighting on behalf of the vulnerable. How could this injustice possibly happen here?

There is another way – an end to hunger is within our reach. Early in the seder we say, “All who are hungry, let them enter and eat.” More than an invitation to join us at the dinner table, we at MAZON see these words as a rallying cry – a call to do more to help those who so desperately need it; to fight for responsible government policies that promote the health and security of everyone in our nation; to provide access to resources that allow people to pick themselves up and build (or rebuild) their lives; to give every man, woman and child a chance not only to live their lives, but to thrive.