---

To uprooting oppression and transforming all of our living cultures. We refuse to give up our voices, our histories, our blood to the corporations and the governments, to the pharaohs of the present day. We refuse to leave behind any of our people who do not look or desire or move or speak or believe the way we do. We refuse to be left behind ourselves. We are powerful agents of change, and we are transforming our cultures to be so...

---

ECHAD MI YODEA אֶחָד מִי יוֹדֵעַ? אֶחָד אֲנִי יוֹדֵעַ: אֶחָד אֱלֹהֵינוּ שֶׁבַּשָּׁמַיִם וּבָאָרֶץ. Echad mi yodea? Echad ani yodeaEchad EloheinuEloheinu, Eloheinu, Eloheinu, Eloheinu Shebashamayim uva'aretz שְׁנַיִם מִי יוֹדֵעַ? שְׁנַיִם אֲנִי יוֹדֵע: שְׁנֵי לֻחוֹת הַבְּרִית, Shnayim mi yodea? Shnayim ani yodea Shnei luchot habrit שְׁלֹשָה מִי יוֹדֵעַ? שְׁלֹשָה אֲנִי יוֹדֵעַ: שְׁלֹשָׁה אָבוֹת, Shlosha mi yodea? Shlosha ani yodea Shlosha avot אַרְבַּע מִי יוֹדֵעַ? אַרְבַּע אֲנִי יוֹדֵעַ: אַרְבַּע אִמָּהוֹת, Arbah mi yodea? Arbah ani yodea Arbah imahot Chamisha mi yodea? Chamisha ani yodea...

---

This is the Bread of Affliction - Ha Lachma Anya Reader 1: In America, over 11 million undocumented immigrants live in our midst.We identify with their struggles from our memory as Jews freed from Egyptian servitude, and as Americans living in a country built by immigrants. As we look upon the broken middle matzah before us, this is our story - an immigrant story -- in three parts: Memory, Action, Vision. Memory All read: Ha lachma anya -- this is the...

---

Dayenu means “it would have sufficed” or “we would have been satisfied.” Perhaps “grateful” would be a better translation. Dayenu is the song of our gratitude. A Jewish philosopher was once asked, “what is the opposite of hopelessness?” And he said, “Dayenu,” the ability to be thankful for what we have received, for what we are. The first prayer that a Jew is expected to recite upon waking expresses hir gratitude for being alive. This holds for all generations, and surely...

---

Miriam’s Cup Reader 1: The story has always been told of a miraculous well of living water which has accompanied the Jewish people since the world was spoken into being. The well comes and goes, as it is needed, and as we remember, forget, and remember again how to call it to us. In the time of the exodus from Mitzrayim, the well came to Miriam, in honor of her courage and action, and stayed with the Jews as they wandered...

---

Israel When found in the liturgy (religious text) does not refer to the modern nation/state of Israel, rather it derives from the blessing given to Ya’akov (Jacob) by a stranger with whom he wrestles all night. When the stranger is finally pinned, Ya’akov asks him for a blessing. The stranger says, “Your name will no longer be Ya’akov but Yisrael for you have wrestled with G-d and triumphed.” Therefore when we say “Yisrael” in prayer we are referring to being G-d-wrestlers,...

---

Rituals are inherently meaningless. Met superficially, they remain superficial. We give them meaning by choosing what qualities to entertain in our consciousness. But myths are more than they appear. The stories are coded messages, heard by whatever part of our consciousness is open to receive them. Met with authenticity, a ritual can be transformative. They are as relevant to our lives as we allow them to be. The goal, then, is to look beyond the ritual for the deeper meaning. Holiness...

---

Exodus and Liberation translate many different ways for different communities, religious groups, and individuals. Chief Tom Dostou of the Wabanaki Nation of Massachusetts offers the following prayer in an excerpt from a larger piece describing his journey across his ancestral homeland of “Turtle Island.” "...we will pray for the American Indian people who are now exiled in our own homelands. We will pray that the spiritual connection which the indigenous peoples of this land have cherished and maintained despite overwhelming odds...

---

In some Ashkenazi traditions, the Afikomen is hidden during the meal, for the ‘children’ to find later. This ceremony reminds us that what is broken can be repaired and that what is lost can be regained, as long as we remember it and search for it

---

In Hopes of Freedom From Abuse For All Author unknown. Adapted by Hannah Litman and Rachel Novick. CW: Abuse Sometimes, we cannot say Dayenu. We have the right to say, “No, this is not enough, I will not settle for this.” Sometimes, we wish we could say Dayenu. What would be enough? When we can make choices about our own bodies, our own identities, and our own lives, Dayenu When courts, law enforcement and mental health professionals stop blaming the survivor,...

---

In lighting the candles at dusk we symbolize the end of an ordinary day and the beginning of an extra-ordinary ritual, a moment which reminds us of the first day of creation. ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העולם אשר קדשנו במצותין וציונו להדליק נר של שבת ויום טוב Brucha Yah Shechinah, eloheinu Malkat ha-olam, asher kid’shatnu b’mitzvotayha vitzivatnu l’hadlik ner shel (Shabbat v’) Yom Tov. (Ashkenazi pronunciation, fem.) Baruch atah Adonai, eloheinu Melekh ha-olam, asher kid-shatnu b’mitzvotav v’tsivanu l’hadlik ner shel...

---

In some Mizrahi traditions, the Seder Leader lifts the Seder plate over the heads of all the participants, while chanting: Bibhilu yasanu mi-Misrayim benei horeem. In haste we left Miszrayim, a free people.

---

To uprooting oppression and transforming all of our living cultures. We refuse to give up our voices, our histories, our blood to the corporations and the governments, to the pharaohs of the present day. We refuse to leave behind any of our people who do not look or desire or move or speak or believe the way we do. We refuse to be left behind ourselves. We are powerful agents of change, and we are transforming our cultures to be so...

---

This symbolic washing of the hands recalls the story of Miriam's Well. Legend tells us that this well followed Miriam, sister of Moses, through the desert, sustaining the Jews in their wanderings. Filled with mayim chayim, waters of life, the well was a source of strength and renewal to all who drew from it. One drink from its waters was said to alert the heart, mind and soul, and make the meaning of Torah become alive. In Hebrew, urchatz means “washing”...

---

Hinei ma tov umanaim Shevet achim gam yachad  (x2)  Behold how good and How pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together Avadeem Hayinu עֲבָדִים הָיִינוּ עַתָּה בְּנֵי חוֹרִין Avadeem hayinu atah bnei chorin. We were slaves to Pharoah in Egypt  -- now we are free

---

“So who has found the afikomen?” we ask. The finders hold the napkin-covered matzah tightly in their hands and are determined to bargain. It is a part of our lesson plan—this small rebellion. Each year we teach a new generation to resist bondage, to envision someplace better, to savor freedom, and to take responsibility for the journeys of their lives. And each year with the afikomen ritual, they hold power in their hands, just long enough to say, “yes” or “no”...

---

FOR EXAMPLE HUNTER'S TRADITION ABOUT HOLOCAUST KIDS

---

---

"A Not-So-Serious Passover Play for the Classroom or the Dining Room" by S. Mitchell CHARACTERS: Slave Narrator, G_d (as a voice offstage), Moses, Aaron, Burning Bush, Pharoah SLAVE NARRATOR: In Egypt we Hebrews had a difficult life. All day we worked under the whips of the taskmasters, making bricks and stacking them into giant pyramids, using nothing but our bare hands and a mixture of apples, raisins and nuts to bind the bricks together. We ate nothing but horseradish and drank...