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Pour the second glass of wine for everyone. The Haggadah doesn’t tell the story of Passover in a linear fashion. We don’t hear of Moses being found by the daughter of Pharaoh – actually, we don’t hear much of Moses at all. Instead, we get an impressionistic collection of songs, images, and stories of both the Exodus from Egypt and from Passover celebrations through the centuries. Some say that minimizing the role of Moses keeps us focused on the miracles God...

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One of most beloved songs in the Passover seder is "Dayenu". A few of us will read the stanzas one at a time, and the everyone else will respond, "Dayenu" – meaning, “it would have been enough”.How many times do we forget to pause and notice that where we are is exactly where we ought to be? Dayenu is a reminder to never forget all the miracles in our lives. When we stand and wait impatiently for the next one to...

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GARLIC ON THE SEDER PLATE  Dori Midnight I began placing garlic on our seder plate a few years ago, as it has been central to my work of reconnecting to and re-enlivening Jewish folk healing traditions and a lifelong love. After the birth of Nishmat Shoom (the queer, radical, non-zionist minyan project I am part of, whose name, inspired by this work, means Breath or Soul of Garlic), many of the Garlic Eaters in our community began adopting this practice and...

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CUP OF REDEMPTION At a traditional seder we fill a cup of wine for the prophet Elijah who is a symbol of redemption. At this seder we are raising a cup of water as a symbol of the redemption that women have brought through the generations. All: Water is the symbol of life. Reader: The biblical prophet Miriam saved her brother from the waters of the Nile, she led the song of victory aber the waters of the red sea parted...

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THE MATZAH OF HOPE and PEACE Neal Borovitz Avadim Hayinu:  Not only were we slaves to the Pharaoh of Egypt, we have also been enslaved and persecuted by other Pharaohs.  Among these Pharaohs of every age were the Kings of Babylonia, the Emperors of Greece and Rome, the Churchmen and Nobles of Medieval Spain, Hitler and his Nazi followers, the Pharaohs of Moscow, and the dictators, potentates and terrorists of the contemporary Arab world.  The Babylonian exile was followed by a...

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We have come together this evening for many reasons. We are here because spring is all around, the Earth is reborn, and it is a good time to celebrate with family and friends. We are here because we are Jews and friends of Jews. We are here to honor the Jewish people’s deep historic roots and to remember the story of the liberation of ancient Jews from slavery in Egypt—a great struggle for freedom and dignity. We are here because the...

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Our Passover meal is called a seder, which means “order” in Hebrew, because of how we retell, step by step, the story of our ancestors’ liberation from slavery in Egypt. Our Seder celebrates the first liberation struggle of our people, overcoming slavery and proclaiming to the world that the "way things are" is not the only way things can be. In the face of oppression, we proclaimed to the Pharaoh’s empire that there is a force that makes possible the transformation...

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We are gathered here tonight to affirm our continuity with the generations of Jews who kept alive the vision of freedom in the Passover story. We not only remember the Exodus, but actually relive it, bringing its transformative power into our own lives. The Jewish people, according to the Torah, left Egypt with “a mixed multitude.” We began as a multicultural mélange of people attracted to a vision of social transformation. What makes someone Jewish is not a biological fact, but...