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On Passover, the Jewish community asks ourselves, friends, family and neighbors, What makes this night different from all other nights?   Four Jewish racial justice leaders shared their answers.  "As Jews, we remember and we cannot let injustice happen again in this country. This is our moment to bend the moral arc and to move racial justice work forward through advocacy, activism, and engagement." -- Tiffany Harris "Our relative safety in American has allowed many of us to consider the fight for...

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Egypt, no sleet or snow for sure, not even rain or the usually hail.Nourished only from an ancient wide stream,On which women secretly shared the boy of redemption.Our Seder recalls the signs and marvels, the plagues, the costly victory.We will honor our timeless bread and play with sweet mortar; taste bitterness and tears. We drink past our fill.God will split their sea.Egypt will give chase and drown.The tragedy and the victory mixed like a Hillel sandwich.Yet, we open with an even...

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The question of why we eat maror would at first glance appear to be an obvious one. When I probe a little deeper, however, two questions emerge for me. First, why would I want to evoke pain and suffering on a night when I want to feel celebratory? My second question goes to the ritual itself. How is eating lettuce or horseradish supposed to help me experience or relate to the bitterness of slavery? No matter how much fiery hot horseradish...

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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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Why is there no orange on our Seder plate?      In the early 1980s, while speaking at Oberlin College Hillel, Susannah Heschel was introduced to an early feminist Haggadah that suggested adding a crust of bread on the Seder plate, as a sign of solidarity with Jewish lesbians (there's as much room for a lesbian in Judaism as there is for a crust of bread on the seder plate). Heschel felt that to put bread on the Seder plate would be to...

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We all know about Passover, that holiday when we Jews whip out our flat, cracker-like matzah, talk about the massive exodus from Egypt, and drink a whole lot of Manischewitz wine. As it happens, though, there are a few other things you might want to know about Passover! Here are some facts about the holiday that you probably never knew:Passover is an oldie. Judaism celebrates a lot of holidays. Some are fairly recent, such as Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, founded...

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The Four QuestionsWhy is it onlyon Passover nightwe never know howto do anything right?We don't eat our mealsin the regular ways,the ways that we doon all other days.'Cause on all other nightswe may eatall kinds of wonderfulgood bready treats,like big purple pizzathat tastes like a pickle,crumbly crackersand pink pumpernickel,sassafras sandwichand tiger on rye,fifty felafels in pita,fresh-fried,with peanut-butterand tangerine saucespread onto each sideup-and-down, then across,and toasted whole-wheat breadwith liver and ducks,and crumpets and dumplings,and bagels and lox,and doughnuts with one holeand doughnuts...

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For us (Ken and Gisela), the story of Pesach is a story of constant struggle at many levels: At the most basic level, struggle between security and certainty of remaining a slave in Egypt and uncertainty and potential freedom of following the path of faith. It is also a struggle between faith and doubt. Am I willing to leave everything I’ve known for the total unknown? Abandoning a known way of life for something unknown? Many Jews in Egypt remained, and...

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Arami Oved Avi אֲרַמִי אבֵֹד אָבִי, וַיֵרֶׁד מִצְרַיְמָה, וַיָגָר שָם בִמְתֵי מְעָט . Deuteronomy 26:1-10 My ancestor was a refugee Aramean. He descended to Egypt and resided there in small numbers. There, he became a great nation, powerful and vast. The Egyptians persecuted us, and battered us, giving us severe labors. We cried out to God, who is god to our ancestors, and then God heard our voice. God saw our suffering, toil, and oppression. God took us out of Egypt...

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In recounting our story, let us consider that we tell it to four children, one wise, one simple, one wicked and one innocent. The wise child asks: How can I learn more about our people?  To that child you shall direct our wealth of literature so that they may seek out this knowledge for themself. The simple child asks: What is this all about?  To that child you shall say simply , because we had faith we were redeemed from slavery....

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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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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...