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Reader 40: In recent history, we have added an additional piece of matza in our Seder. This matza is set aside as a symbol of hope for the Jews of the World. It reminds us of the links that exist amongst us. While we observe this festival of freedom, we know that there are some areas in the world where discrimination towards Jews still exist. ALL: We hope that all Jews and all people can enjoy freedom.

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Have Yourself a Piece of Bitter Maror By Gary Teblum (sung to the tune of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”) Have yourself a piece of bitter maror On each seder night Then we’ll feel The toils and our people's plight. Have yourself a piece of bitter maror Hillel sandwich way, We'll recall, Our troubles weren’t so far away. Here we are as in a olden days, Such sad slavin' days of yore. Family, friends who are dear to us gather...

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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...

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Welcome to Sinai. As you have just crossed the Red Sea, you have had to make many hard choices: freedom or slavery? Pettiness or tolerance? Materialism or life. In many ways, we are in shock of our recent actions. We find ourselves reflecting on what we’ve done. Did we really just leave Egypt? Did a band of slaves—no—ex-slaves really push the leader of one of the greatest empires of our time to let his workforce just leave? Many of us are...

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This song was written to be part of Fiddler on the Roof, but was cut from the show before it made its Broadway debut for being too slow, and comic at a moment in the show when the people of Anatevka are experiencing tragedy. It imagines a world in which the Messiah is coming, but lost, and worried about us. Words and music by Sheldon Harnick When Messiah comes he will say to us, “I apologize that I took so long.”...

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Imagine you are standing on the bank of the sea of reeds and you look forward and all you see is water. Suddenly, you look behind you and you see the Egyptian army quickly approaching you. The Israelites pled to Moses and Moses spoke to God. God told Moses, raise your staff over the water and I will split the seas. So Moses did, and nothing happened. Suddenly a man named Nachshon started walking into the water.  The water was up...

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Ahora es el turno de lavarse las manos "baruj ata adonai eloheinu melej aholam, asher quitchanu ve mitisvotahv, be tzivanu al netilat iadaim" Hace muchos años, Alugnos pueblos no judios, creían que, a los judíos no les llegaban las epidemias por su simple condición de judíos. Pero, en realidad, era porque ellos se "lavavan las manos" antes de que esté científicamente comprobado que era beneficial para la salud.

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by  JEANNE LOHMANN All day I try to say nothing but thank you,  breathe the syllables in and out with every step I take through the rooms of my house and outside into a profusion of shaggy-headed dandelions in the garden where the tulips’ black stamens shake in their crimson cups. I am saying thank you, yes, to this burgeoning spring and to the cold wind of its changes. Gratitude comes easy after a hot shower, when my loosened muscles work, ...

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As we wash our hands for the first time this evening, we remember that we have the freedom to access resources that many do not. Ask yourself these questions: In what ways are we free today? What does freedom mean for Jews in America? For Jews around the world? What does freedom mean for people of all backgrounds around the world? Are there many who are not free?

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By: Rabbi Ari Weiss At the close of the Haggadah, after moving from past humiliations to future hopes, a surprise! A piyut, or liturgical poem, first quoted in Sefer Rokeach (1160-1238), that returns to the Haggadic theme of retribution but on a deeper, more fundamental register. Nature is a "war of all against all."[1]  The cat that attacks is attacked just as the Egyptians who oppressed are oppressed. "Nature red in tooth and claw."[2]  And so it goes. Violence always escalating,...

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Anger is very much a part of grieving. What are some of the things which have happened around the death of your loved one, and in the time since that have made you feel angry? On Anger By Rabbi Ira Stone Anger results from our inability to admit the disparity between what we want and what is. It is a consequence of the impossibility of perfection in the created world in which the idea of perfection nevertheless exists...Following the example of...

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A GUIDED VISUALIZATION © Rabbi Susan Freeman, 2003 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE VISUALIZATION FOR THE LEADER In this guided visualization, slavery is likened to what is unhealed in one’s life, and freedom is likened to healing. What do we mean by “healed” and “unhealed?” In being expansive in our understanding of these words, we may say that being “healed” does not necessarily mean the eradication of illness, grief or difficult circumstances. By drawing on the analogy of slavery to freedom, we...

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The traditional haggadah speaks of Ten Plagues by which God accomplished our liberation from Egypt. Tonight, we enumerate plagues of psychiatric conditions, which hinder our sense of wholeness, health, and freedom. For each one, our cup of joy is diminished by one drop: ANXIETY EATING DISORDERS IMPULSIVITY MEDICATIONS STIGMA DEPRESSION FEAR OF DISAPPROVAL LOSS MOOD SWINGS YEARS OF THERAPY And some say: LOW SELF-ESTEEM OBSESSIVE-COMPULSION PARANOIA GRANDIOSITY DISASSOCIATION ISOLATION MELANCHOLY HOPEFULNESS PSYCHOSIS SUICIDAL IDEATION