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"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 were the Vietnam-era seders when we got into fights with relatives...

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Scene 1:  In the Desert  Moses is galloping (skipping on foot while clopping coconuts together to sound like hoofbeats) across the desert. He comes to a burning bush. Bush: Halt! Who goes there! Moses: A shrubbery! A talking shrubbery! One that looks nice, but is not too expensive. It is a good shrubbery. I like the laurels particularly. Bush: Moses! Moses, Leader of the Israelites!  (Moses looks stunned, drops to his knees in awe and bows his head to the ground...

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By Rabbi Tamara Cohen We sit down for our seders this year at a powerful cultural moment when the voices of women and girls are rising – the collective activism of #metoo, Emma Gonzales’s six minutes of silence and 11-year-old African American Naomi Wadler’s speech at the March for Our Lives, and even the truth telling of Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels. All this makes the absence of women’s voices in the Passover Haggadah more glaring. Thirty years ago,...

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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 will have to hunt for the afikomen in order to wrap up the meal… and win a prize. We eat matzah in memory of the...

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The Generous Child The generous child knows all about food justice and donates much of their monthly allowance to charity. This child encourages their parents to volunteer, brings the most cans in during school food drives, and never eats too much. The Spoiled Child The spoiled child knows and understands food justice, but chooses not to care. This child is selfish, easily upset by not getting what they want, and is likely a picky eater. This child's catch phrases are “So...

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“If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer, and more loving." -James Baldwin

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Freedom. It isn’t once, to walk outunder the Milky Way, feeling the riversof light, the fields of dark—freedom is daily, prose-bound, routineremembering. Putting together, inch by inchthe starry worlds. From all the lost collections."For Memory,"  A Wild Patience Has Taken Me This Far

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The Paschal Lamb reminds us that the Holy One, praised be God, passed over the houses of our ancestors in Egypt. The Matzah is to remind us that before the dough our ancestors prepared for bread had time to rise, God revealed the might, power and presence of God unto them and redeemed them. The Bitter Herbs are to remind us that the Egyptians embittered the lives of our ancestors in Egypt. In gratitude for the miracles which God has performed...

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Just about everybody experiences the sense of being foreign sometime in their lives. Most of the adults at this table have immigrated from a foreign country. But even if you have lived in the same city your entire life, as an adult you no longer live in the same neighborhood you lived in when you were growing up. Your home is defined not only by place but also by time. People have changed; circumstances have changed. As a foreigner in that...

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The Seder is all about answering questions. But one question remains unanswered, and that’s the most important question – Why? We are taught, “ In every generation, each person must see him/​herself as if s/​he were redeemed from Egypt.”  But why? Why return to Egypt year after year? Why re-taste the bitterness of slavery? Ask the Torah – What difference does this experience make for me? How am I shaped by the experience of slavery and liberation? Here is the Torah’s...

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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: What does the wise child say? The wise child asks, What are the testimonies and laws which God commanded you? You must teach...

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עַל אַחַת, כַמָה וכַמָה , טוֹבָה כְפולָה ומְכֻפֶלֶת לַמָקוֹם עָלֵינו: שֶהוֹצִיאָנו מִמִצְרַים, וְעָשָה בָהֶם שְפָטִים, וְעָשָה בֵאלֹהֵיהֶם, וְהָרַג אֶת בְכוֹרֵיהֶם, וְנָתַן לָנו אֶת מָמוֹנָם, וְקָרַע לָנו אֶת הַיָם, וְהֶעֱבִירֶנו בִתוֹכוֹ בֶחָרָבָה, וְשִקַע צֶַָרֵנו בְתוֹכוֹ , וְסִפֵק צָרְכֵנו במִדְבָר אַרְבָעִים שָנָה, וְהֶאֱכִילָנו אֶת הַמָן, וְנָתַן לָנו אֶת הַשַבָת, וְקֵרְבָנו לִפְנֵיהַר סִינַי, וְנַָתַן לָנו אֶת הַתוֹרָה, וְהִכְנִיסָנו לְאֶרֶץ יִשְרָאֵל, ובָנָה לָנו אֶת בֵית הַבְחִירָה לְכַפֵר עַל כֹל עֲוֹנוֹתֵינו.

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One might think that the Haggadah should be recited on the first day of the month of Nisan, but the Torah says: “You shall tell your son on that day” [the first day of Passover]. One might think that the phrase on that day means that the story of the Exodus should be recited in the daytime; therefore, the Torah says: “This is on account of what the Lord did for me.” The word this refers to the time when this...

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Nor for our sake, O Lord, not for our sake, but for your name’s sake give glory, because of your kindness and your truth. Why should the nations say: “Where is their God?” Our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases! Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have a mouth, but they cannot speak; they have eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but they cannot hear; they have a nose,...