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Our tradition speaks of four children or four attitudes: the wise child, the wicked child, the simple child, and the one who does not know how to ask. Each child has a different reaction to hearing about slavery. . . What does the wise child say? “What are the testimonies, the statutes, and the laws that apply to this situation? How are we to discern what God demands of us?” You are to answer this child: “God brought us out of...

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The Passover Haggadah recounts ten plagues that afflicted Egyptian society. In our tradition, Passover is the season in which we imagine our own lives within the story and the story within our lives. Accordingly, we turn our thoughts to the many plagues affecting our society today. Our journey from slavery to redemption is ongoing, demanding the work of our hearts and hands. Here are ten “modern plagues”:   Homelessness In any given year, about 3.5 million people are likely to experience homelessness,...

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Traditionally, The Four Sons (or Children) include a wise son, a wicked (or rebellious) son, a simple son and one who does not even know enough to ask.  Each of the first three ask questions about the Seder, essentially "Explain all this to me - what are my responsibilities?" "What has all this nonsense you are babbling about got to do with me?" and "What IS all this anyway?" while the fourth is silent - requiring the adults to be proactive...

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This is a compilation of ideas to help the seder be fun and engaging for the entire family.    Fun ideas for preparing the Passover table: 1. Include a Tzedakka box on the table. Have everyone put money in the tzedakah box before eating. 2. Yemenite Jews line the edge of the table all around with leaves of Romaine lettuce. The lettuce is then used for Maror.  3. Use maps of Egypt, Israel, and the Sinai desert as place mats.  4. Put...

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The world’s refugee camps are some of the most desolate backdrops against which people fleeing violence and persecution rebuild their lives. The Akre Refugee Camp in Iraq, which houses hundreds of Syrian families, was built out of the remains of a former Saddam Hussein prison. The Za’atari Refugee Camp in Jordan, one of the world’s most populous refugee camps, consists of endless rows of beige tents and caravans with almost no plant or animal life. Dust storms, heat, and blindingly bright...

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by  JEANNE LOHMANN All day I try to say nothing but thank you,  breathe the syllables in and out with every step I take through the rooms of my house and outside into a profusion of shaggy-headed dandelions in the garden where the tulips’ black stamens shake in their crimson cups. I am saying thank you, yes, to this burgeoning spring and to the cold wind of its changes. Gratitude comes easy after a hot shower, when my loosened muscles work, ...

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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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(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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YACHATZ Is matzo poor man's bread or the food of free men? Can it be both? If we regard it as the Bread of Affliction why did we carry dough on our backs out of Egypt, to let it bake in the hot sun without leavening and rising? Can one Matzo be both a symbol of wretchedness and deliverance? Matzo is a paradox. Not only is it so, but in breaking the middle matzo we also break with symmetry. There is...

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Ahora es el momento de partir la matza, una parte se guarda para la braja y otra se guarda para el afikoman. El afikoman es un invento, para que los chicos no se aburran, el mayor esconde el afikoman y despues el que lo encuentra tiene premio.

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We Won't Get Fooled Again: Helping Teens Identify Pharaoh A boy is tricked into being part of a game with other boys only to find out that he is the target of mockery and abuse. A girl is happy to be included as a "friend" at a lunch table until she finds it was only a ploy to get back at another girl. A boy is "hit on" as part of a practical joke. A girl is lured into an unwelcomed...

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Make Those Waters Part Let us retell the story of our struggle for the promised land Let us remember how freedom is won so our children will understand Once we were slaves in Egypt, our people and our land were apart But when Moses stood before that troubled sea, he could Make those waters part Once we were slaves in America, we were given white men’s names They scattered our families, they shattered our lives, while they kept us bound in...

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 While our tradition applies a specific meaning to the four cups found throughout the Seder, many modern Haggadot have begun to reinterpret the original four cups or add a “fifth” cup of wine. The four cups are derived from four expressions of redemption found in Exodus 6:6-7: “I will bring you out;” “I will deliver you;” “I will redeem you;” and “I will take you.” Due to the positive, redemptive focus of each phrase, each cup could come to represent current...

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This set of readings was formulated in order to highlight and celebrate Miriam’s role in the deliverance from slavery and her leadership throughout the wandering in the wilderness. When the seder table is set, we place an empty cup alongside Elijah’s cup. Each attendee at the seder then pours a bit of his or her water into the cup. This contribution symbolizes that, at every stage of her life, Miriam was integral in the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. We...