---

By Maya Kasowky What follows are short descriptions of Seder customs from around the world. For this lesson each custom can be printed out on a separate card or strip. Circling the seder plate over the heads of each participant, while saying “In Haste we left Egypt”.  The response is “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt” Where it fits in the seder: The very beginning Where it is from: Morocco and Tunisia Putting the shank bone, charoset, maror, karpas, egg,...

---

I will redeem you... ... Emboldened to welcome refugees into our communities, may we remember that true welcome is not completed upon a person’s safe arrival in our country but in all the ways we help people to rebuild their lives. As God provided for our needs on the long journey from slavery to the Promised Land, let us give the refugees in our communities the tools they need not just to survive but to thrive: safe homes to settle into,...

---

The Shehecheyanu is a prayer that Jews have been saying for over 2000 years to mark special occasions. Tonight, all of us here together is special occasion. Whether Jewish or not, we have come here under a shared belief that everyone is entitled to be free. We all believe that everyone is entitled to certain inalienable rights. We all believe that we must treat our brothers and sisters with common decency. That is special and meaningful. To mark this special and...

---

Leader: With the third cup of wine we remember God’s promise to redeem the Israelites with an outstretched arm. With this cup we turn our thoughts to those not being offered a helping hand. Scant resources are allocated within the criminal justice system to provide alternatives to incarceration and prepare incarcerated individuals for successfully reentering society. The criminal justice system has become the primary strategy by which we address many of the challenges facing members of low income and minority communities,...

---

A Cup to our Teachers: To those we have known and those whose work has inspired us, and made space for our lives. We are grateful to you who did and said things for the first time, who claimed and reclaimed our traditions, who forged new tools. Thank you to the teachers around us of all ages-- the people we encounter everyday--who live out their values in small and simple ways, and who are our most regular and loving reminders of...

---

The great sage Hillel provided us with the tradition of constructing the Hillel sandwich, combining the bitterness of the maror with the sweetness of the charoset between the fortitude of the two pieces of matzah--the symbol of freedom. Through this ritual, we think about mortar and brick. We think of the Israelites traveling through the desert with no homes, no place to land and build up their strong communities, and only the matzah as a reminder of their freedom. It is...

---

Each year at the Seder, we ask the traditional Four Questions. And each year, MAZON asks a Fifth Question to raise awareness about a particular hunger-related issue and spark important conversations around the seder table. This year, we turn our attention to our seniors, who are aging into poverty and hunger at a rapid rate. Why is it that when we talk about aging in America, we never talk about hunger? Why is this time of life different from all other...

---

Why do we eat a meal during the seder? One reason is that on Pesach we act like kings and we must have feast like kings and eat together like royalty. We also commemorate the Beit Hamikdash were everyone was required to eat the korban pesach together.

---

The whole point of the seder is to ask questions. This is your time to ask about things that confuse you, things you don’t understand, or even things you don’t agree with. There really is no is no such thing as a stupid question, especially tonight.  - Joy Levitt (age 16) Questions are not only welcome during the course of the evening but are vital to tonight’s journey. Our obligation at this seder involves traveling from slavery to freedom, prodding ourselves...

---

Traditionally, The Four Sons (or Children) include a wise son, a wicked (or rebellious) son, a simple son and one who does not even know enough to ask.  Each of the first three ask questions about the Seder, essentially "Explain all this to me - what are my responsibilities?" "What has all this nonsense you are babbling about got to do with me?" and "What IS all this anyway?" while the fourth is silent - requiring the adults to be proactive...

---

by Lisa/Leah Russ     I dreaded passover growing up. It seemed boring and oppressive and... dreadful with the emphasis on DREAD. I never really named it, but felt somewhere in my hungry gut that this wasn't a great place to be...my grandparents’ overheated undersized apartment in Queens, with these flat books in our hands, these hollow songs, this jelly on my fish. A couple of years ago I was at a workshop called L'dor V'dor (generation to generation) and I thought about...

---

Every year at the end of the Seder we say "Next Year in Jerusalem!"  But that can't mean physically. It would get overcrowded. Some of us do not have the means to get there. Some of us are too old or young or sick to travel.  No. Not physically. Mentally. We need to open our minds and hearts to a level where we can accept who we are as people on every level. These traditions we have were around for thousands...

---

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...

---

The first words in the creation of the universe out of the unformed, void and dark earth were God’s “Let there be light." Therein lies the hope and faith of Judaism and the obligation of our people: to make the light of justice, compassion, and knowledge penetrate the darkness of our time till the prophecy be fulfilled, ‘that wickedness vanish like smoke and the earth shall be filled with knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea’ (Isaiah 11:9).  Baruch...

---

Why do we eat much on this night and others eat little? Why do we eat the unleavened bread and throw our leavened bread away instead of donating it to the food pantry? Why do we dip our food into sauce and salt andcharosetwhile others may not even havea crumb to dip? Why do we lay back, relax and eat the food that comes to us so easily while others work to buy bread for their family? This clip originally appeared...

---

Time for Matzah ball soup! I HOPE we can enjoy this TOGEHER J

---

I am a Jew because, born of Israel and having lost her, I have felt her live again in me, more loving than myself. I am a Jew because, born of Israel and having regained her. I wish her to live after me, more living than myself.I am a Jew because the faith of Israel demands of me no abdication of the mind.I am a Jew because the faith of Israel requires of me all the devotion of the mind.I am...

---

Matzah. It’s flat, it has holes in it, it breaks easily, it crumbles, it’s bitter, and it’s nothing creative, yet Jewish people and Non-Jewish people that observe Passover eat it every day for at least 8 days out of the year. Sometimes more. “Something second hand and broken, still can make a pretty sound, and that second hand white baby grand still has something beautiful to give.” Megan HiltyEvery year we look at Matzah like it’s nothing special. But it represents...