---

Leader: God brought ten plagues upon the Egyptian people as part of the Israelites’ journey to freedom. Tonight we read ten modern plagues that result from unfair, inequitable, and excessive practices in the criminal justice system. As we read each plague we remove a drop of wine from our glasses to symbolize our anguish at the suffering these plagues have caused. Recite together:  The concentration of police drug enforcement resources in poor communities of color  The forfeiture laws and...

---

This is the time set aside for singing. Some of us might sing traditional prayers from the Book of Psalms. Others take this moment for favorites like Chad Gadya & Who Knows One. All of these options are below. To celebrate the theme of freedom, we might sing songs from the civil rights movement. Or perhaps your crazy Uncle Frank has some parody lyrics about Passover to the tunes from a musical. Or maybe the Maccabeats put out a new song...

---

For a well-formatted printable ritual, and for more information about Rabbis Organizing Rabbis, please visit http://www.rac.org/ror/ The traditional Ha Lachma Anya is found at the beginning of the Maggid, or “storytelling,” section of the Haggadah. This ritual connects both our Exodus story and the Jewish immigrant narrative to the reality of aspiring Americans today. This is the Bread of Affliction - Ha Lachma Anya Reader: In America, over 11 million undocumented immigrants live in our midst.We identify with their struggles from...

---

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...

---

Our eating of maror and talking about slavery might [...] carry with it a lesson about the negative power of shame. I don’t like sharing my stories of pain or difficulty. They often feel like stories of failure. It often feels like my pain is a result of my inadequacy in managing my life or lack of success. If I were a better person, more capable, wiser, more powerful, my story would be all about happiness. Sadness becomes associated with failure....

---

The Wicked Child I read the haggadah backwards this year The sea opens, the ancient Israelites slide back to Egypt like Michael Jackson doing the moonwalk Freedom to slavery That’s the real story One minute you’re dancing hallelujah, shaking your hips to the j-j-jangle of the prophetesses’ tambourines, the next you’re knee deep in brown muck in the basement of some minor pyramid The angel of death comes back to life two zuzim are refunded. When armies emerge from the sea...

---

I Want to Wash My Hands to the tune of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles Oh yeah, I’ll tell you something It’s one of God’s commands When you start the Seder You need to wash your hands You need to wash your hands You need to wash your hands Oh my what a feeling Before the paschal lamb And yes it’s appealing I want to wash my hands I want to wash my hands I want to...

---

Remember the days of old:consider the years of many generations (Deut. 32:7) Every year, hundreds of giant sea turtles swim hundreds of miles from their homes near Brazil to a tiny island in the Atlantic Ocean in order to find their mates.  For years, scientists tried to understand how the turtles could find their way every time, from so far away. It was a tiny island, and even airplanes sometimes had trouble finding it.  What do you think it was??  Once...

---

"Let All Who Are Hungry"   We are wired to give.  One of the worst feelings in the world is not being needed by others.  I once asked a group of high school kids: "When was the last time you felt really good about yourselves?" Each responded by sharing an act of kindness and selfless giving.  But a slave has nothing to offer. Drained of energy and time, the slave's emotional and physical resources are depleted. With no ability to give, the...

---

(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...

---

[Begin taking turns reading. Each person is invited to read a grouped set of lines - or to pass.] It is said, there is nothing new under the sun, yet nothing remains the same. Against the backdrop of eternity the earth displays an ever-changing countenance. The sun rises and the sun sets, yet each day and each season is fresh and new. Slowly, one season emerges from another. The harshness of ice and snow yields to gentle, nourishing showers. Inevitably, the...

---

The formal telling of the story of Passover is framed as a discussion with lots of questions and answers. The tradition that the youngest person asks the questions reflects the centrality of involving everyone in the seder. The rabbis who created the set format for the seder gave us the Four Questions to help break the ice in case no one had their own questions. Asking questions is a core tradition in Jewish life. If everyone at your seder is around...

---

Come, let us gather as one, bound together by love and the shared hope that all Jews, and all people, will one day live free and in peace. Together, let us recall the story of Passover, relived time and again by Jews throughout the world. As we move through the Seder, reaffirming our belief in a faith so rich in history and life, may we take into our hearts the memory of all who have and continue to enrich our lives...