Pour the second glass of wine for everyone. The Haggadah doesn’t tell the story of Passover in a linear fashion. We don’t hear of Moses being found by the daughter of Pharaoh – actually, we don’t hear much of Moses at all. Instead, we get an impressionistic collection of songs, images, and stories of both the Exodus from Egypt and from Passover celebrations through the centuries. Some say that minimizing the role of Moses keeps us focused on the miracles God...

One of most beloved songs in the Passover seder is "Dayenu". A few of us will read the stanzas one at a time, and the everyone else will respond, "Dayenu" – meaning, “it would have been enough”.How many times do we forget to pause and notice that where we are is exactly where we ought to be? Dayenu is a reminder to never forget all the miracles in our lives. When we stand and wait impatiently for the next one to...

GARLIC ON THE SEDER PLATE  Dori Midnight I began placing garlic on our seder plate a few years ago, as it has been central to my work of reconnecting to and re-enlivening Jewish folk healing traditions and a lifelong love. After the birth of Nishmat Shoom (the queer, radical, non-zionist minyan project I am part of, whose name, inspired by this work, means Breath or Soul of Garlic), many of the Garlic Eaters in our community began adopting this practice and...

CUP OF REDEMPTION At a traditional seder we fill a cup of wine for the prophet Elijah who is a symbol of redemption. At this seder we are raising a cup of water as a symbol of the redemption that women have brought through the generations. All: Water is the symbol of life. Reader: The biblical prophet Miriam saved her brother from the waters of the Nile, she led the song of victory aber the waters of the red sea parted...

THE MATZAH OF HOPE and PEACE Neal Borovitz Avadim Hayinu:  Not only were we slaves to the Pharaoh of Egypt, we have also been enslaved and persecuted by other Pharaohs.  Among these Pharaohs of every age were the Kings of Babylonia, the Emperors of Greece and Rome, the Churchmen and Nobles of Medieval Spain, Hitler and his Nazi followers, the Pharaohs of Moscow, and the dictators, potentates and terrorists of the contemporary Arab world.  The Babylonian exile was followed by a...

Reclining at dinner, drinking wine, and getting to eat karpas , a Greco-Roman appetizer, is freedom? Seriously? The first part of the seder is a wicked satire that mocks the fool's answer to the central question of the Seder, "What is freedom?" Imagine one of the great Rabbis of the Sanhedrin in antiquity, watching the Sages imprisoned and tortured by the Romans, watching senseless massacres of Jewish women and children by their Roman oppressors. Imagine him turning to a Roman citizen...

As the Israelites suffered from being given more slave work than they could accomplish with the quota of straw & bricks, and as they went hunrgy while their oppressors' bellies were full, God instructed Moses to go to Pharaoh and demand that the Israelites be allowed to go into the wilderness for a 3 day "Chag" Dance Festival [the root meaning of "Chag" is "dance in a circle"] to Y-h-v-h (shortened by some to "Jah"). Them Belly Full (But We Hungry):  ...

"Go Down Moses" (Late 19th Century African-American Spiritual) When Israel was in Egypt land: Let my people go! Oppressed so hard they could not stand: Let my people go!  Go down, Moses way down in Egypt land. Tell old Pharaoh To let my people go! Thus spoke the Lord, bold Moses said, Let my people go!  If not I'll strike your firstborn dead. Let my people go.  Your foes shall not before you stand: Let my people go! And you'll possess...