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[Resume taking turns reading. Each person is invited to read a grouped set of lines - or to pass.] Passover is the celebration of life. The story of the Jewish people is truly a triumph of life. Against the odds of history, the Jewish people have done more than survive - we have adapted creatively to each new time, each new place, from the birth of our people to the present day. Even though death has pursued us relentlessly, time and...

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Leader:  We begin with the Passover plate.  The four foods on this plate symbolize the  four years of Beloit.Leader:  The first item is the bitter herbs. All:  The bitter herbs came from the hot sauce tray.Leader:  The second item is the chocolate KarpasAll:  The karpas is some lettuce that we got from the salad bar. It symbolizes prosperity. Leader:  The third item is the fruit. All:  The fruit represents the mortar that held the buildings together in Egypt. It also is...

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by Miriam Grossman May it be your will Our God and God of our ancestors that you lead us in peace and direct our steps (our marching, Rebellious, organized, queer dance-partying, prayerful steps) in peace and guide us in peace and support us in just peace (and in the tearing down of walls, and in the rising up of peoples), and cause us to reach our destination in life and joy and peace (all of us together, no one left behind)....

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Why is there no orange on our Seder plate?      In the early 1980s, while speaking at Oberlin College Hillel, Susannah Heschel was introduced to an early feminist Haggadah that suggested adding a crust of bread on the Seder plate, as a sign of solidarity with Jewish lesbians (there's as much room for a lesbian in Judaism as there is for a crust of bread on the seder plate). Heschel felt that to put bread on the Seder plate would be to...

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Praising as a spiritual practice How is this Hallel on seder night different from all other Hallels? What are we aiming to accomplish in this Hallel of seder night? Unlike every other holiday Hallel, the Hallel of the seder (and in synagogue) is sung at night. Unlike other Hallels, it is sung without an introductory blessing, and it is recited sitting down. Unlike every other Hallel, this Hallel is divided into two parts by eating!  Why is Hallel sung at night?...

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We Won't Get Fooled Again: Helping Teens Identify Pharaoh A boy is tricked into being part of a game with other boys only to find out that he is the target of mockery and abuse. A girl is happy to be included as a "friend" at a lunch table until she finds it was only a ploy to get back at another girl. A boy is "hit on" as part of a practical joke. A girl is lured into an unwelcomed...

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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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THE BITTER HERB Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al achilat maror. Blessed are You, Spirit of the universe who commands us to eat bitter herbs.

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(to the tune of “Just a Spoon Full of Sugar”) Oh, back in Egypt long ago, the Jews were slaves under Pharaoh They sweated and toiled and labored through the day So when we gather pesach night, we do what we think right Maror, we chew, to feel what they went through Just a tad of charoset helps the bitter herbs go down, the bitter herbs go down; the bitter herbs go down Just a tad of charoset helps the bitter...