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(LEADER) The formal telling of the story of Passover is framed as a discussion with lots of questions and answers. Traditionally, the youngest person at the seder asks four questions. These questions will be answered through our telling of the Passover story. (Youngest Participant) Why is this night different from all other nights? 1. On all other nights we eat both leavened bread and matzah. Tonight we eat only matzah. Why? 2. On all other nights we eat all kinds of...

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(Participant) As we now transition from the formal telling of the Passover story to the celebratory meal, we once again wash our hands to prepare ourselves. This time, we say a blessing. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָֽׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּנוּ עַל נְטִילַת יָדָֽיִם Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al n’tilat yadayim. Blessed art Thou, Eternal our God, Ruler of the Universe, who made us holy through obligations and commanded us to wash our hands.

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(Participant)Passover, like many of our holidays, combines the celebration of an event from our Jewish memory with a recognition of the cycles of nature. As we remember the liberation from Egypt, we also recognize the stirrings of spring and rebirth happening in the world around us. The symbols on our table bring together elements of both kinds of celebration. (Participant)We now take a sprig of parsley, representing our joy at the dawning of spring after our long, cold winter. Wedip our...

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(Participant) We have answered the four traditional questions, but there are still more questions to be answered. There are other special foods on our Seder plate: a bone (z'roa), a roasted egg (beitsah), and an orange (tappuz). Why are they here? (Participant) Z'ROA - SHANKBONE OR BEET Z'ROA can mean a shankbone - the bone of a forelimb  This lamb's bone is the symbol of the ancient shepherd's festival of Pesah or Passover. It was celebrated at the time of the...

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(Participant)There are three pieces of matzah stacked on the table. We now break the middle matzah into two pieces. We wrap up the larger of the pieces and, at some point between now and the end of dinner, hide it. This piece is called the afikomen, literally “dessert” in Greek. After dinner, the guests will have to hunt for the afikomen in order to wrap up the meal… and win a prize. (Participant)We eat matzah in memory of the quick flight...

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(Participant) It is now time to begin eating. Before we do, we say a blessing for our food. בְָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, הַמּוֹצִיא לֶֽחֶם מִן הָאָֽרֶץ: Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, hamotzi lechem min ha-aretz. Blessed art Thou, Eternal our God, Ruler of the Universe, who brings bread from the land. (Participant) We share the middle matzah among us. This symbolizes that no man is better than another. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָֽׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתַָיו וְצִוָּֽנוּ...

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(LEADER) The playfulness of finding the afikomen reminds us that we balance our solemn memories of slavery with a joyous celebration of freedom. The meal cannot continue until the afikomen is found. Once it is brought to the leader, we split it up and enjoy it together. As we eat the afikomen, our last taste of matzah for the evening, we are grateful for moments of silliness and happiness in our lives.

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(Participant)In creating a holiday about the joy of freedom, we turn the story of our bitter history into a sweet celebration. We recognize this by dipping our bitter herbs into the sweet charoset. We don’t totally eradicate the taste of the bitter with the taste of the sweet, but we recognize that the sweet means more when layered over the bitter. We first eat only the maror with the charoset, and then we eat the maror and charoset together on the...

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(Participant) The plagues and our subsequent redemption from Egypt are but one example of the care God has shown for us in our history. Had God but done any one of these kindnesses, it would have been enough – dayeinu. Dayeinu also reminds us that each of our lives is the cumulative result of many blessings, small and large. אִלּוּ הוֹצִיאָֽנוּ מִמִּצְרַֽיִם, דַּיֵּנוּ (ALL) Ilu hotzi- hotzianu, Hotzianu mi-mitzrayim Hotzianu mi-mitzrayim, Dayeinu If God had only taken us out of Egypt,...

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(Participant) As we come to the end of the seder, we drink one more glass of wine. With this final cup, we give thanks for the experience of celebrating Passover together, for the traditions that help inform our daily lives and guide our actions and aspirations. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הַגָּפֶן: Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, borei p’ree hagafen. Blessed art Thou, Eternal our God, Ruler of the Universe, who created the fruit of the vine....

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(LEADER) Our Passover meal is called a seder, which means “order” in Hebrew, because we go through 14 specific steps as we retell the story of our ancestors’ liberation from slavery in Egypt. As we eat tonight, we remember the suffering our ancestors endured, the journey they took to be free, and we rejoice in our freedom today.

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(Leader) Before dinner is served, we must remember our slavery and celebrate our freedom. We do the by mixing the sweet charoset with the bitter maror to remind us of the bitterness of slavery and the sweetness of freedom. We must never forget that while we are free, not everyone enjoys the same freedom. [Everyone places charoset and maror on matzoh and eats]

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(LEADER) Our story starts in ancient times, with Abraham. God had made a promise to Abraham that his family would become a great nation, but this promise came with a frightening vision of the troubles along the way: “Your descendants will dwell for a time in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and afflicted for four hundred years; however, I will punish the nation that enslaved them, and afterwards they shall leave with great wealth."...

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Time to eat!

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(Participant) As we tell the story, we think about it from all angles. Our tradition speaks of four different types of children who might react differently to the Passover seder. It is our job to make our story accessible to all the members of our community, so we think about how we might best reach each type of child. (Participant) The wise child asks, What are the laws that God commanded us? This child understands that God has given us commandments...

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(Participant) We now take a minute to explain the symbols on our seder plate. The shank bone represents the Pesach, the special lamb sacrifice made in the days of the Temple for the Passover holiday. The holiday is called the pesach, from the Hebrew word meaning “to pass over,” because God passed over the houses of our ancestors in Egypt when visiting plagues upon our oppressors. (Participant) The matzah reminds us that when our ancestors were finally free to leave Egypt,...

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(Participant) Our seder starts with the first cup of wine. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הַגָּפֶן (ALL) Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, borei p’ree hagafen. Blessed art Thou, Eternal our God, Ruler of the Universe, who created the fruit of the vine. (Participant) We praise God, Ruler of Everything, who chose us from all peoples and languages, and sanctified us with commandments, and lovingly gave to us special times for happiness, holidays and this time of celebrating...

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Refill everyone’s wine glass. (Participant) We now say grace after the meal, thanking God for the food we’ve eaten. On Passover, this becomes something like an extended toast to God, culminating with drinking our third glass of wine for the evening: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הַגָּפֶן (ALL) Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, borei p’ree hagafen. We praise God, Ruler of Everything, who creates the fruit of the vine. Drink the third glass of wine!

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(Leader)It is now time for the second cup of wine. But first, we recite a prayer that reminds us that we are connected to our ancestors. בְּכָל־דּוֹר וָדוֹר חַיָּב אָדָם לִרְאוֹת אֶת־עַצְמוֹ, כְּאִלּוּ הוּא יָצָא מִמִּצְרָֽיִם (ALL) B’chol dor vador chayav adam lirot et-atzmo, k’ilu hu yatzav mimitzrayim. In every generation, everyone is obligated to see themselves as though they personally left Egypt. (Participant)The seder reminds us that it was not only our ancestors whom God redeemed; God redeemed us too...

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(Leader) Before dinner is served, we must remember our slavery and celebrate our freedom. We do the by mixing the sweet charoset with the bitter maror to remind us of the bitterness of slavery and the sweetness of freedom. We must never forget that while we are free, not everyone enjoys the same freedom. [Everyone places charoset and maror on matzoh and eats]

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(LEADER) The playfulness of finding the afikomen reminds us that we balance our solemn memories of slavery with a joyous celebration of freedom. The meal cannot continue until the afikomen is found. Once it is brought to the leader, we split it up and enjoy it together. As we eat the afikomen, our last taste of matzah for the evening, we are grateful for moments of silliness and happiness in our lives.