First Handwashing

One at a time, pour water over each others’ hands. As water is poured over your hands, share with us what you would like to let go of right now, what you would like to have “washed away”. And after each person speaks, give them support by all saying “Kayn Yihee Ratzon”, or “So Be It.”

Breaking the middle matzah | yachatz | יַחַץ

There are three pieces of matzah stacked on the table. We now break the middle matzah into two pieces. The host should 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 must hunt for the afikomen in order to wrap up...

We all know about Passover, that holiday when we Jews whip out our flat, cracker-like matzah, talk about the massive exodus from Egypt, and drink a whole lot of Manischewitz wine. As it happens, though, there are a few other things you might want to know about Passover! Here are some facts about the holiday that you probably never knew:

Passover is an...

Super-kosher Manischewitz, Exodus and Moses
(to the tune of "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious")

Super-kosher Manischewitz, Exodus and Moses
The story of the Passover our Seder meal discloses
Reminds us that the life of slaves was not a bed of roses
Super-kosher Manischewitz, Exodus and Moses

Um diddle diddle diddle um diddle ai
Um diddle diddle diddle um...

But why is there an orange and a tomato on the seder plate? This is not traditional for Passover.

Tomato - This tomato brings our attention to the oppression and liberation of farmworkers who harvest fruits and vegetables here in the United States. And it reminds of us of our power to help create justice.

A tomato purchased in the United States between November...

"For me, the recent meaning of Passover in my life has been a reclaiming of the seder ceremony away from the patriarchal tradition. My children may remember the seders of their early childhood, conducted by their grandfather entirely in Hebrew, incomprehensible to most in attendance, unvarying from year to year, except for how long it took until the children were sent away from the table for giggling. Before that, there...

Kafka once wrote in his journal: "You can hold yourself back from the sufferings of the world. That is something you are free to do and it accords with your nature. But perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could avoid."

The "you" that Kafka is addressing might be himself, or it might be each of us. But it also could be -- and here's the stunner -- the God of Exodus Himself. It accords with His...

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...

Jill Levore's book Ghettoside argues that black boys are being murdered by their peers and their murders are being ignored by the police. In following the stories of a few victims in LA she finds the good cops among the indifferent and explores how a distrust in the police and a disbelief that the police would work for the community leaves disaster in its wake.

The Plagues happened at the same time as a massive volcano eruption. The volcano Santorini sent ash in to the air effecting the surrounding area. The ash is found in Cairo and the Nile River, proven by testing the composition of the ash. This volcanic eruption happened between 1500-1650BC while the Plagues happened between 1400-1550BC. So it fits there.

1st Plague. River ran red LIKE blood. But there is a...

Four Cups Of Wine

Many people wonder why we drink four cups of wine on Passover. Well there are many reasons. First of all wine is a royal drink that symbolises freedom. So it seems appropriate to drink it on Passover because they became free. Also g-d convinced the Jews that they should leave Egypt using four statements, 1 I shall take you out, 2 I shall rescue you, 3 I shall redeem you, and 4 I shall...

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...

• Make the song “Who Knows One?” into a trivia game. Try to name the 3 fathers of Israel (hint: A…, I…, J…), the 4 mothers (S…, R…, R…, L…) the five books of the Torah (G…, E…, L…, N…, D…), the twelve tribes?

• With the song Chad Gadya, “Just One Kid,” sing it like Old MacDonald, and make the appropriate sounds for each verse. -Next Year in Jerusalem!...