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“An Invitation to a Plant-Based Meal”  Adam Gorod, Jewish Veg. D.C.  Our food choices during the Exodus were so much simpler. We could subsist on manna alone. Free of animal products, manna was a bread from heaven with a taste like coriander seed. Today the options—even during Passover—are more varied. Any number of Kosher-for-Passover items sit in the curated displays of many supermarkets at the arrival of spring. These options, however, make one fact unavoidable: we are now, at all seasons,...

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WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT THIS AS A JEW? The Jewish people has been a refugee people since biblical times. In the United States, we know the devastating consequences of turning away refugees. Less than a century ago, refugees fleeing the Holocaust were marked as security threats to the U.S., denied entry, and sent back to Europe to be brutally murdered. Furthermore, the value of welcoming, protecting, and loving the stranger appears in the Torah 36 times according to the Talmud...

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Select ONE question from the list below and ask your neighbor: For what in your life do you feel most grateful? If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be? What do you value most in a friendship?

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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.” 

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At Passover each year, we read the story of our ancestors’ pursuit of liberation from oppression. When confronting this history, how do we answer our children or our contacts when they ask us how to pursue justice in our time? WHAT DOES THE REVOLUTIONARY CHILD ASK? “The Torah tells me, ‘Justice, justice you shall pursue,’ but how can I pursue justice?” Empower him always to seek pathways to advocate for the vulnerable. As Proverbs teaches, “Speak up for the mute, for...

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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 and May was most likely picked by a worker in Florida. On this night when we remember...

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I will deliver you... Just as we remember all of the times throughout history when the nations of the world shut their doors on Jews fleeing violence and persecution in their homelands, so, too, do we remember with gratitude the bravery of those who took us in during our times of need — the Ottoman Sultan who welcomed Spanish Jews escaping the Inquisition, Algerian Muslims who protected Jews during pogroms in the French Pied -Noir, and the righteous gentiles hiding Jews...

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Had G-d upheld us throughout 2,000 years of Dispersion,But not preserved our hope for return...Had G-d preserved our hope for return,But not sent us leaders to make the dream a reality...Had G-d sent us leaders to make the dream a reality, But not given us success in the UN vote  in 1947...Had G-d given us success in the UN vote  in 1947,But not defeated our attackers in 1948...Had G-d defeated our attackers in 1948,But not unified Jerusalem...Had G-d unified Jerusalem,But not...

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We are free, but we remember when we were slaves. We are whole, but we bring to mind those who are broken. The middle matzah is broken, but it is the larger part which is hidden. Because the future will be greater than the past, and tomorrow’s Passover nobler than yesterday’s exodus. The prospects for the dreamed future are overwhelming to the point of making us mute. So it is in silence, without blessing, that we break and hide the matzah...

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“Gentrification: “It’s not about race...” by Lindsay Foster Thomas, posted on the York and Fig blog on January 6, 2015. There’s no doubt about it. I am a gentrifier. So, why don’t I feel like one? Maybe no one really does, but if I may be honest, I think it’s because I’m African-American. Does that mean I get some kind of free pass to gentrify without it weighing on my conscience? Not even a little bit. I think about it a...

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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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Throughout our history, violence and persecution have driven the Jewish people to wander in search of a safe place to call home. We are a refugee people. At the Passover Seder, we gather to retell the story of our original wandering and the freedom we found. But we do not just retell the story. We are commanded to imagine ourselves as though we, personally, went forth from Egypt – to imagine the experience of being victimized because of who we are,...

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Stories of Modern Day Slavery For two years, twelve Mexican and Guatemalan field workers in south Florida were enslaved by the Navarretes, a family of traffickers. The family beat them, chained them to a pole, and at night, locked them in boxes and truck trailers, with little food and no plumbing, while keeping them in ever-increasing debt. During the day, they were taken to work in the tomato fields of two of the state’s biggest growers- Six Ls and Pacific, both...

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This new custom celebrates Miriam’s role in the deliverance from slavery and her help throughout the wandering in the wilderness. An empty cup is placed alongside Elijah’s cup. Each attendee at the Seder then pours a bit of his/her water into the cup, symbolizing Miriam’s life-giving well that followed the wandering Israelites. With this new custom, we recognize that women are equally integral to the continued survival of the Jewish community. With a social action lens, we see the pouring of...

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For the majority of the seder, the focus is to remember, retell, discuss, and experience history. As we pour this fifth and final glass of wine, our focus changes from the past to the future. This final cup is only for Elijah. We don’t share in this ceremonious final cup of wine with the prophet Elijah, because our history is not yet complete. We still have a chance to write our future. The final cup represents a change in the focus...