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We will now wash our hands with the blessing בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ עַל נְטִילַת יָדַיִם​ Blessed are You, Yah, our G-d, breath of all life, who has sanctified us with your commandments and commanded us to wash our hands ?OK, enough being formal. Seriously. God must REALLY  want us to be healthy. But hey, who's complaining

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It is customary to drink four cups of wine on Passover. Is that to make us drunk enough to think we can digest Matzah? --Elena Jawitz

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Being a Jewish prophet is a pretty sweet deal. You don't have to deliver presents or hide eggs and you get wine just for showing up.  --Elena Jawitz 

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YACHATZ Is matzo poor man's bread or the food of free men? Can it be both? If we regard it as the Bread of Affliction why did we carry dough on our backs out of Egypt, to let it bake in the hot sun without leavening and rising? Can one Matzo be both a symbol of wretchedness and deliverance? Matzo is a paradox. Not only is it so, but in breaking the middle matzo we also break with symmetry. There is...

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The central imperative of the Seder is to tell the story. The Bible instructs: “ You shall tell your child on that day, saying: ‘This is because of what Adonai did for me when I came out of Egypt.' ” (Exodus 13:8) We relate the story of our ancestors to regain the memories as our own. Elie Weisel writes: God created man because He loves stories. We each have a story to tell — a story of enslavement, struggle, liberation. Be...

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בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ עַל אֲכִילַת מַצָּה. Blessed is the maker of bread. Blessed is God who commanded us to eat Matzah! Baruch ata adonai eloheinu melech ha olam, ha motzi lechem min haaretz, Baruch ata adonai eloheinu melech haolam asher kidshanu b mitzvotav v tzivanu al achilat matzah. [ ∆ everyone eat matzah ]

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How is this night different from other nights?  On other nights we are not obligated to ask the questions of what separates us from redemption.  Tonight we are so obligated.1)  Why are women not yet universally recognized as being created in the divine image?2)  Why are Israelis still living in a state of war?3)  Why are millions of people still suffering from hunger?4)  Why are there still dictators who prevent the voices of their people from being heard?Like the traditional Four...

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So I'm trying to be more health conscious and decided on a whim to try some gluten free matzah. And it was good. Weirdly surprisingly good. Like better than any matzah I have ever had. Then I looked at the box and it said "Not a substitute for Matzah at the seder." I guess that makes sense. The bread of affliction should have a certain level of affliction. --Elena Jawitz

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The Four Cups of the Seder are structurally connected to the four verbal performances this evening: (1) Kiddush, sanctifying the holiday (2) Maggid, the storytelling (3) Birkat HaMazon, completing the Pesach meal; and (4) Hallel, completing the festival Psalms. The Talmud connects the Four Cups to God's Four Promises to Israel: "Tell the children of Israel: I am Adonai! I will take them out... I will rescue them… I will redeem them… and I will marry them taking them as my...

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In this part of the seder you dip greens in salt water. It is salt water because we can remember the tears of the jews while they were slaves.

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I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free... so other people would be also free. -Rosa Parks Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. -George Orwell Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. -JFK If you're not ready to die for it, put the word 'freedom' out of your vocabulary. -Malcolm X

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SHANA HABA B’ YERUSHALAYIM NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM!

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said:  "Moses might not get to see Canaan, but his children will see it. He even got to the mountaintop enough to see it and that assured him that it was coming. But the beauty of the thing is that there's always a Joshua to take up his work and take the children on in. And it's there waiting with its milk and honey, and with all of the bountiful beauty that God has in store...

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Use this piece before singing Hallel and think about what it means to transition from slavery to freedom. Exodus and Liberation translate many different ways for different communities, religious groups, and individuals. Chief Tom Dostou of the Wabanaki Nation of Massachusetts offers the following prayer in an excerpt from a larger piece describing his journey across his ancestral homeland of “Turtle Island.” "We will pray for the American peoples who send their sons and daughters out to foreign lands to be...

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Oh GodI am almost afraid to look over my shoulderTo see how far I’ve comeThe expanse seems impossibly wideAnd yetHere I amDancingSinging Your NameSurrounded by love and familyBreathing hope in and outI raise my eyes to the horizon and it feels so closeI am giddy with reliefYour sea is calm now at our backsThe line of the brown rocksFrom which we leaptOnly hours agoSeems a distant memoryThis moment is all joy and wonderWe sing and we singCircles within circles of men...

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This night is indeed different from all other nights. It is the one night of the year I dip my greens instead of smoking them. --Elena Jawitz

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The Afikomen is a piece of Matzah that is broken then hidden somewhere in the house for the kids to find. The tradition is that the seder cannot be completed without the Afikomen and when the kids do find it they are supposed to hold it for ransom. We have been doing this for generations. No wonder Bugsy Siegel built Las Vegas...  --Elena Jawitz 

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Jerry Seinfeld is half Jewish and half Arab. What would happen if he were around during the Passover Story? Would he only have to make pyramids part time? Maybe he would try get out of it with standup. "What's the deal with pyramids? They are just overly elaborate tombstones!" --Elena Jawitz