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As we wash our hands for the first time this evening, we remember that we have the freedom to access resources that many do not. Ask yourself these questions: In what ways are we free today? What does freedom mean for Jews in America? For Jews around the world? What does freedom mean for people of all backgrounds around the world? Are there many who are not free?

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The traditional haggadah speaks of Ten Plagues by which God accomplished our liberation from Egypt. Tonight, we enumerate plagues of psychiatric conditions, which hinder our sense of wholeness, health, and freedom. For each one, our cup of joy is diminished by one drop: ANXIETY EATING DISORDERS IMPULSIVITY MEDICATIONS STIGMA DEPRESSION FEAR OF DISAPPROVAL LOSS MOOD SWINGS YEARS OF THERAPY And some say: LOW SELF-ESTEEM OBSESSIVE-COMPULSION PARANOIA GRANDIOSITY DISASSOCIATION ISOLATION MELANCHOLY HOPEFULNESS PSYCHOSIS SUICIDAL IDEATION

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Water is life.  For those who travel on foot through the borderlands, water is an essential component of the journey. No More Deaths hikes water into active migration corridors because we believe that everyone deserves access to water. It is a privilege to be able to use water for a ritual like urchatz, and as we purify our hands, we think of those who thirst in the desert.  We wash our hands now, with no blessing, to help us prepare for...

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We will wash our hands twice during our seder: now, with no blessing, to get us ready for the rituals to come; and then again later, we’ll wash again with a blessing, preparing us for the meal. Too often during our daily lives we don’t stop and take the moment to prepare for whatever it is we’re about to do. Let's pause as we wash our hands to consider what we hope to get out of our evening together. 

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The seder plate holds the main symbols of a traditional Passover seder-- the shank bone, egg, karpas, charoset, and maror. The Kabbalists of the Middle Ages added hazeret, another kind of bitter lettuce. And in recent years feminists have added an orange on the seder plate to symbolize women's leadership roles and full empowerment in Jewish life. The artichoke however is a new development. What is an artichoke? Surely a work of God's imagination! Many petals, with thistle and a heart....

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As we remember this struggle, we honor the midwives who were the first Jews to resist the Pharaoh.  our legends tell us that Pharaoh, behaving in a way common to oppressors, tried to get Jews to collaborate in murdering their own people.  He summoned the two chief midwives, Shifra and Pu'ah, and commanded them to kill newborn Jewish males at birth.  He threatened the midwives with death by fire if they failed to follow his commands. But the midwives did not...

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KIDDUSH Before the blessing over the first cup of wine, say: We are gathered here tonight to affirm our continuity with the generations of Jews who kept alive the vision of freedom in the Passover story. For thousands of years, Jews have affirmed that by participating in the Passover Seder, we not only remember the Exodus, but actually relive it, bringing its transformative power into our own lives. The Hebrew word for Egypt, Mitzrayim, means “narrow straits.” Traditionally, Mitzrayim has been...

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I'm in hour three of cleaning my kitchen and there's still no end in sight.Crouching on my kitchen floor, refrigerator door open, food stuffs spoiling around me, I wonderIs this what the Israelites did? Did they throw out their moldy jars of pasta sauce and shriveled vegetables, so rotten I'm not sure what some of the things once were?I have taken my kitchen apart in a rather manic fashion.  Pots to scour sit on the countertops, cabinet doors are open, their...

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THE FIRST CUP OF THE FRUIT OF THE VINE     Leader: Let us all fill our glasses with the fruit of the vine. [Resume taking turns reading. Each person is invited to read a grouped set of lines - or to pass.] Spring is the season of new growth and new life. Every living thing must either grow, or die; growth is a sign and a condition of life. Human beings are perhaps unique among the Earth's inhabitants. Our most significant growth...

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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 Eliyahu KitovIt is a mitzvah that the Passover matzot be made specifically for the purpose of fulfilling the obligation to eat matzot on Passover, as the verse (Exodus, 12:17) states: You shall guard the matzot. The matzah must be guarded to ensure that it does not become chametz; matzah which was not guarded may not be used on Passover.How do we "guard" the matzah used on Passover? From the time that the wheat is taken to the mill to be...

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Kadesh: Blessings over Cup #1 of wine and marking sacred time. Urchatz: Ritually washing hands without offering a blessing. Karpas: Eating green vegetable dipped in salt-water. Yachatz: Breaking the middle matzah (of the ceremonial 3) to create the Afikoman. Maggid: Telling the story. Why is this night different? 4 sons! 10 plagues! Enough already! Pascal lamb, matzah and bitter herb explanations. Cup #2. Rachtzah: Ritually washing hands with a blessing before breaking bread. Motzi: Blessing over bread. Matzah: Blessing over matzah....

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The tasks ahead? Once again we have recited the age-old epic of our liberation from slavery. We have tasted the new growth of a world released from winter We have celebrated advances our, and other peoples of the world, have made toward freedom from oppression. We have focused our attention on how each one of us can become strengthened to feel, think and act so as to take an active role in our own lives. Each year we repeat the same...

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Qualo Es El Uno? Quien supiense y entendiense, Alavar al Dyo criense, Qualo es el uno, qualo es el uno? Uno es el Creador, uno es el Creador, Uno es el Creador, baruch Hu uvaruch sh’mo  Quien supiense y entendiense, alavar al Dyo criense, Qualo son los dos, qualo son los dos? Dos Moshe y Aaron, uno es el Creador, Uno es el Creador, baruch Hu uvaruch sh’mo  Quien supiense y entendiense, alavar al Dyo criense, Qualo son los tres, qualo...

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We start by getting to know one another: As we embark on our adventure together here tonight, it is possible that some of us do not know each other. Take turns around the table as each person shares his or her name and how it is that she or he has come to this Seder. Because the Seder recounts or Exodus from slavery in Egypt, you might also share: - a value learned from the experience of slavery - an object...