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Water is refreshing, cleansing, and clear, so it’s easy to understand why so many cultures and religions use water for symbolic purification. We will wash our hands twice during our seder: now, with no blessing, to get us ready for the rituals to come; and then again later, we’ll wash again with a blessing, preparing us for the meal, which Judaism thinks of as a ritual in itself. (The Jewish obsession with food is older than you thought!) To wash your...

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Refill everyone’s wine glass. The third cup of juice represents G’d’s declaration of redemption: וגאלתי / v’go’alti “I will liberate you with an outstretched arm…”  As we bless the third cup of juice, let yourself fill with gratitude for the meal we’ve just eaten together. Let us notice the nutrients from the food settling into our body, being processed through our stomachs. May we use this energy to care for one another, to continue our work of building a more whole...

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As we now transition from the formal telling of the Passover story to the celebratory meal, we once again wash our hands to prepare ourselves. In Judaism, a good meal together with friends and family is itself a sacred act, so we prepare for it just as we prepared for our holiday ritual, recalling the way ancient priests once prepared for service in the Temple. Some people distinguish between washing to prepare for prayer and washing to prepare for food by...

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Who knows one? I know one. One is our God in Heaven and Earth Who knows two? I know two. Two are the tablets of the covenant One is our God in Heaven and Earth Who knows two? I know two. Three are the patriarchs Two are the tablets of the covenant One is our God in Heaven and Earth Who knows four? I know four. Four are the matriarchs Three are the patriarchs Two are the tablets of the covenant...

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Miriam’s Cup Reader 1: The story has always been told of a miraculous well of living water which has accompanied the Jewish people since the world was spoken into being. The well comes and goes, as it is needed, and as we remember, forget, and remember again how to call it to us. In the time of the exodus from Mitzrayim, the well came to Miriam, in honor of her courage and action, and stayed with the Jews as they wandered...

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Maror is supposed to represent the bitterness of slavery, and it does.  But this representation is less straightforward and more complicated than a simple “slavery = bad.”  The chronology of the seder is the first clue.  We would think it should be maror, pesach, matzah:  slavery, sacrifice, freedom.  But it’s not.  In the traditional Haggadah, maror appears first, before pesach and matzah. This chronological aberration is a clue to the deeper meaning of maror.  It represents the bitterness not of the...

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All Jewish celebrations, from holidays to weddings, include wine as a symbol of our joy – not to mention a practical way to increase that joy. The seder starts with wine and then gives us three more opportunities to refill our cup and drink. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הַגָּפֶן Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, borei p’ree hagafen. We praise God, Ruler of Everything, who creates the fruit of the vine. We praise God, Ruler of Everything,...

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To think of time as both queer and Jewish, existing in cycles that rise, fall, fold over and under themselves, means acknowledging that there always has been and will be a place for us. The work of seder, the work of reliving time in tangible and real ways means connecting with an inherently queer sense of time. We can see past propaganda that tells us there was no room in the traditions we came from, and that the only hope for...

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Eating a sandwich of matzah and bitter herb | koreich | כּוֹרֵךְ When the Temple stood in Jerusalem, the biggest ritual of them all was eating the lamb offered as the pesach or Passover sacrifice. The great sage Hillel would put the meat in a sandwich made of matzah, along with some of the bitter herbs. While we do not make sacrifices any more – and, in fact, some Jews have a custom of purposely avoiding lamb during the seder so...

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What can they do to you? Whatever they want. They can set you up, they can bust you, they can break your fingers, they can burn your brain with electricity, blur you with drugs till you can’t walk, can’t remember, they can take your child, wall up your lover. They can do anything you can’t stop them from doing. How can you stop them? Alone, you can fight, you can refuse, you can take what revenge you can but they roll...

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V’asu li mikdash V’shachanti b’tocham V’anachnu n’varech Yah Mei-ata v’ad olam Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary Pure and holy, tried and true With thanksgiving, I'll be a living Sanctuary for You (three times)

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1.Once upon a time our people went into galut, exile, in the land of Egypt. During a famine, our ancestor Jacob and his family fled to Egypt where food was plentiful. Through a complicated set of plot twists, his son Joseph had risen to high position in Pharaoh's court, and our people were well-respected and well-regarded, secure in the power structure of the time.2.Generations passed and our people remained in Egypt. As rulers came and went, a new Pharaoh ascended to...

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by Miriam Grossman May it be your will Our God and God of our ancestors that you lead us in peace and direct our steps (our marching, Rebellious, organized, queer dance-partying, prayerful steps) in peace and guide us in peace and support us in just peace (and in the tearing down of walls, and in the rising up of peoples), and cause us to reach our destination in life and joy and peace (all of us together, no one left behind)....

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Olam chesed yibaneh עוֹלָם חֶסֶד יִבָנֶה  I will build this world from love... yai dai dai  And you must build this world from love... yai dai dai  And if we build this world from love... yai dai dai  Then G-d will build this world from love... yai dai dai

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[Open the door as a sign of hospitality; lift up matzah for all to see.] Are all who are hungry truly able to eat anywhere, let alone with us? How many of us would really invite a hungry stranger into our house today? How can we correct the systemic problems that create hunger, poverty, and oppression? (Rabbah Emily Aviv Kapor). The Bread of Affliction This is the bread of affliction which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Let all...

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May Our Anger Be Holy Oppression breeds anger to which we must attend. Once, we recited this text out of powerlessness. We asked God to pour forth wrath because we were unable to express our own. But in today's world, where we enjoy agency to an unprecedented degree, we must resist the temptations of perennial victimhood and yearning for revenge. And yet we know that rage, unexpressed, will fester. Let us therefore acknowledge our communal pain. Let us recognize the intersecting...

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May Our Anger Be Holy Oppression breeds anger to which we must attend. Once, we recited this text out of powerlessness. We asked God to pour forth wrath because we were unable to express our own. But in today's world, where we enjoy agency to an unprecedented degree, we must resist the temptations of perennial victimhood and yearning for revenge. And yet we know that rage, unexpressed, will fester. Let us therefore acknowledge our communal pain. Let us recognize the intersecting...

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בריך רחמנא  מלכא דעלמא  מריה דהאי פיתא  Brikh raḥamana  Malka d'alma  Ma'arey d'hi (oh!) pita    Thank you (x3) For this beautiful food  May it nourish us  To build a world that's whole

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To think of time as both queer and Jewish, existing in cycles that rise, fall, fold over and under themselves, means acknowledging that there always has been and will be a place for us. The work of seder, the work of reliving time in tangible and real ways means connecting with an inherently queer sense of time. We can see past propaganda that tells us there was no room in the traditions we came from, and that the only hope for...