---

When we break the Matzah in half, we are symbolizing the split of the red sea. When we break the Matzah, we symbolize the hope that we can eat. When the red sea split, it symbolized the permission; yes you may pass, after hearing the word NO NO NO. During the Seder we get bored and we ask “When can we eat” and until this breaking of the Matzah, we get told NO NO NO. It is hope that there is...

---

Early in the Seder we say, “All who are hungry, let them enter and eat.” We move ceremoniously through the Haggadah, reminding ourselves that we once were slaves in Egypt and explaining the meaning of each bite we eat. But millions of Americans and Israelis have only a few bites to eat, which has a very different meaning – it is a reminder that they are  still  enslaved.This year, please join MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger as we again ask...

---

The 1951 Refugee Convention clearly states that host countries must permit asylum seekers and refugees to engage in both wage-earning and self-employment. According to asylum experts, “the right [to work] has been recognized to be so essential to the realization of other rights that without the right to work, all other rights are meaningless.” Even with these legal protections, though, outside of the United States, “many of the world’s refugees, both recognized and unrecognized, are effectively barred from accessing safe and...

---

We are going to conclude our dinner tonight with a celebratory toast - a l’chaim. Rather than filling our own cup tonight, though, and focusing on us as individuals, let’s fill someone else’s cup and recognize that, as a family and group of friends, we have the resources to help each other and those in our community if we are willing to share our resources and collaborate – whether those resources are time, money, skills, or any of the other gifts...

---

Arami Oved Avi אֲרַמִי אבֵֹד אָבִי, וַיֵרֶׁד מִצְרַיְמָה, וַיָגָר שָם בִמְתֵי מְעָט . Deuteronomy 26:1-10 My ancestor was a refugee Aramean. He descended to Egypt and resided there in small numbers. There, he became a great nation, powerful and vast. The Egyptians persecuted us, and battered us, giving us severe labors. We cried out to God, who is god to our ancestors, and then God heard our voice. God saw our suffering, toil, and oppression. God took us out of Egypt...

---

By Ronnie M. Horn  Long before the struggle upward begins, there is tremor in the seed. Self-protection cracks, Roots reach down and grab hold. The seed swells, and tender shoots push up toward light. This is karpas: spring awakening growth. A force so tough it can break stone. And why do we dip karpas into salt water? To remember the sweat and tears of our ancestors in bondage. To taste the bitter tears of our earth, unable to fully renew itself...

---

After performing most of the central mitzvot of the evening (telling the story of the Exodus eating matza and maror, etc.) and just before we are about to enjoy the festive holiday meal, the haggadah structures a moment in which we symbolically repeat the practice of Hillel the Elder who would “wrap” his portion of the paschal offering with matza and maror and eat it as a type of sandwich, in literal fulfillment of the verse “it shall be eaten on...

---

Repair the World and Be’chol Lashon invite you to explore how the Jewish community, a multiracial and multiethnic people, can examine our past and present journeys from Exodus to freedom. Ask guests to read the questions aloud and share their own Passover traditions! Question: Why do Jews from Gibraltar sprinkle a little bit of brick dust into their charoset? Answer: To remind them of the bricks that the Israelite slaves were forced to make. Question: What do Hungarian Jews place on...

---

The Passover Seder is one of the most recognized and widely practiced of Jewish rituals, yet had our ancestors visited one of these modern-day celebrations, they would be baffled. Not only does our modern Seder wildly diverge from the Passover of old: during antiquity itself the holiday underwent radical changes. As the centralized Israelite state took shape about 3,000 years ago, the religion of the people varied from place to place and took variegated forms, hints of which we can see...

---

The First Cup: We drink to Ending Racism and Poverty, and Birthing Racial and Economic Justice We begin with the teaching of Dr. Martin Luther King 50 years ago, on the evening before his death. He came to Memphis, Tennessee to support the striking sanitation workers of the city, and he spoke to a gathered crowd: “The issue is the refusal of Memphis to be fair and honest in its dealings with its public servants, who happen to be sanitation workers....

---

Take turns reading the 10 quotes below, followed by a 2 minute moment of silence. Each quote is taken from a news article from the alst year.  “I can barely buy a piece of stale bread, that’s why my children are dying before my eyes.” [Yemen] “The Rakhine burned their houses down,” she said, referring to civilians from the Buddhist ethnic group that gives Rakhine State its name. “My friend is gone forever.” [Myanmar] "I don't have my son with me....

---

Reader 42: On this night, we also remember a fifth child. This is the child of the Holocaust who did not survive to ask, "Why was the night of Passover, 1943, different from all other Passover nights?" And so, we ask for that child. Reader 43: Pesakh 1943 is a historic date in modern Jewish history. At that time began the revolt against the Nazis who had come into the Ghetto of Warsaw to complete the deportation of the remaining Jews....

---

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.

---

ALL: Passover is the festival of life. It is the festival of Jewish survival. With this celebration we affirm that there is no force that can destroy our will to live. Reader 52: Khad Gadya is the symbolic little goat of Israel which others have sought to devour. But, in the end, they themselves have been devoured. KHAD GADYA Refrain:    Khad-gad-ya Khad-gad-ya (2) 1. The kid my father bought for two zuzim (refrain) 2. Then came the cat and ate the...