---

[Begin taking turns reading. Each person is invited to read a grouped set of lines - or to pass.] It is said, there is nothing new under the sun, yet nothing remains the same. Against the backdrop of eternity the earth displays an ever-changing countenance. The sun rises and the sun sets, yet each day and each season is fresh and new. Slowly, one season emerges from another. The harshness of ice and snow yields to gentle, nourishing showers. Inevitably, the...

---

By Rabbi & Dina Brewer Dayeinu is a highly counter-intuitive hymn. Among its fourteen stanzas it proclaims that: Had God taken our ancestors out of Egypt, but not rescued them at the Red Sea, it would have been sufficient. And had God rescued them at the Red Sea, but not nourished them in the dessert, it would have been sufficient. And had God brought them to Sinai, but not given them the Torah, it would have been sufficient. These statements make...

---

Leader: With the second cup of wine we remember God’s promise to save the Israelites from the forced labor of the Egyptian taskmasters. With this cup we turn our thoughts to those in our community who have been forced back into the underground economy. We think about the returning citizens among us who so desire a fresh start and a family- sustaining job, but who are forced by society’s discrimination to return to the illegal drug trade so that they can...

---

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 table tonight with one another and with all the generations who have come before us. Let us rise, and sanctify this singular moment. HOW? We will drink four cups of wine at the Seder in celebration of our...

---

There is a word in Hebrew — Teshuvah — that means return. It is an acknowledgement that there is always a chance for forgiveness, redemption and change. Our traditions teach that Passover is open to all. Everyone is welcome at this table. There is always room. Because no one is ever turned away, there is always an opportunity for a rebirth of spirit. As a sign of hospitality to all, we open the door to our homes and symbolically invite anyone...

---

The MaNishtana traditionally asks us, “What is unique or different about tonight?” and, “Why do we eat Matzah, why do we dip and eat Bitter Herbs not just once, but twiceand why do we recline?” These elements are symbolic themes that mirror the reflection our ancestor’s liberation from slavery, the hardships they experienced and theoppression that infringed on their freedoms. Tonight at our GLBT Passover Seder we incorporate a fifth question and answer. “What is unique or different about tonight’s seder,...

---

Sam Solomon 3-12-15 The symbols of Passover The Symbols of Passover The bone that represents the sacrifice.  It is weird to me that we sacrifice a lamb.  How can we sacrifice such a sweet and innocent animal? A hard boiled egg? A hard boiled egg? how can something so small have so much meaning? We eat bitter herbs to remind us of our ancestors work as slaves.  But why do we eat food that many love? I love the bitter herbs,...

---

Leader: We have come together this evening for many reasons. We are here because Spring is all around, the Earth is reborn, and it is a good time to celebrate with family and friends. We are here because we are Jews, because we are members of the Jewish nation, with its deep historic roots and its valuable old memories and stories. We are here to remember the old story of the liberation of the ancient Hebrews from slavery in Egypt -...

---

Break the middle matzah on the matzah plate. We break the matzah and hide one part (the Afikomen). We recognize that liberation is made by imperfect people, broken, fragmented — so don’t be waiting until you are totally pure, holy, spiritually centered, and psychologically healthy to get involved in tikkun (the healing and repair of the world). It will be imperfect people, wounded healers, who do the healing as we simultaneously work on ourselves. The Bread of Affliction Raise the middle...

---

We have passed through more than one Egypt. Hatred and prejudice have set A heavy yoke around our necks, But through the darkness of misery and oppression A ray of your grace has continually shone above us And has at last brought a morning of redemption In which our human dignity is recognized And we live free and undisturbed Under the protection of mild and just laws. Oh, may you, O God, continue to be with us. As in the days...

---

Freedom. It isn’t once, to walk outunder the Milky Way, feeling the riversof light, the fields of dark—freedom is daily, prose-bound, routineremembering. Putting together, inch by inchthe starry worlds. From all the lost collections."For Memory,"  A Wild Patience Has Taken Me This Far

---

The Haggadah and the story of Passover is about God fulfilling his promise to Abraham and maintaining the Jewish people's status as the chosen people and delivering them forth from Egypt, even after the cruel genocidal practices of the Pharaoh. History has a way of repeating itself, even though many Jews have come to believe that the Holocaust has broken that promise irrevocably and justify atheism through the religious lens of the broken covenant. Either way, if you are not particularly...