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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...

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(1) How big of a problem is this? According to the U.S. department of state, there are over 12 million slaves around the world. (2) What is being done about the problem? The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services assists victims of trafficking in the United States by funding service programs and through public information campaigns. (3) Why isn't more being done? Money doesn't grow on trees (and politics). (4) What can you do to help? Go to this government...

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This cup is not for Elijah. Elijah knows he is welcome here. We welcome him in our traditional seders, and we sing Eliyahu Hanavi throughout the year. This cup is for the queer Jew who has not yet found this community. They may not know they are queer yet. They may not know that there are out and proud and healthy queer Jews. They may know we exist, but haven’t build up the courage to attend an LGBTQ seder yet. So...

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Together as we wash our hands, they move into the bowl of water, and back out of the water. Why do we do this? Are our hands really getting clean without soap? We won’t be eating for some time, why do we do this so early? The washing of our hands suggests that we are open to question. One question that is always asked is about hope. Rick Recht answers in his song: This is the hope that holds us together,...

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This piece was written by Rabbi Elliot Kukla, the first out transgender rabbi. He was ordained in 2006 at HUC-JIR’s Los Angeles campus, and now works as a chaplain at the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center. A few years ago at Kol Nidre I delivered a sermon on the power of diversity to my congregation in Toronto. Afterwards, in the swirling crowd I felt someone tug at my jacket. I turned around to find a nine-year-old by in lavender shiny “Powerpuffs”...

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The beginning of the seder seems strange. We start with kiddush as we normally would when we begin any festive meal. Then we wash, but without a blessing, and break bread without eating it.What’s going on here?It seems that the beginning of the seder is kind of a false start. We act as if we are going to begin the meal but then we realize that we can’t – we can’t really eat this meal until we understand it, until we...

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Around our tables sit four daughters: Wise Daughter The wise daughter understands that not everything is as it appears. She is the one who speaks up, confident that her opinion counts. She is the one who can take the tradition and ritual that is placed before her, turn it over and over, and find personal meaning in it. She is the one who can find the secrets in the empty spaces between the letters of the Torah. She is the one...

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Octavia Butler quote: "All that you touch you change. All that you change, changes you. The only lasting truth is change. God is change."

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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...

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FOUR QUESTIONS [asked in sarcasm with big eye rolls] Like seriously why is this night like soooo different from all the other nights? They’re just nights. Like seriously why is it – are you kidding me? - that like on all the other nights – every single night – all the time – we eat either leavened bread or matza – no, we don’t but, if that’s like what you want to believe than fine, go ahead - , but on...

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The wicked person reminds me of the quote from Hillel in Pirkei Avot which says that you should not separate yourself from the community. The haggadah seems to know that the person is wicked before they have done anything wrong just because they distance themselves from their community. This shows us how important the value of community is and also suggests that someone without the support of a community is more likely to wind up doing evil things Daniel S, Los...

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As much as we’d like to, perhaps the idea that we are enslaved to objects like our facebook pages and Iphones belittles the inconceivable maltreatment and backbreaking labor to which the Israelites were subjected. Though not as extreme an instance as slavery, perhaps we also cannot relate to poverty and hunger for the same reason. Anonymous, Los Angeles #globalbeitmidrash #globalteenagershaggadah