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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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The seder officially begins with a physical act: lighting the candles.  In Jewish tradition, lighting candles and saying a blessing over them marks a time of transition, from the day that is ending to the one that is beginning, from ordinary time to sacred time.  Lighting the candles is an important part of our Passover celebration because their flickering light reminds us of the importance of keeping the fragile flame of freedom alive in the world. Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu melech...

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A Story about StoriesRheingold Family HaggadahWhen the great founder of the modern Hasidim, Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, saw misfortune threatening the Jews, it was his custom to go into a certain part of the forest to meditate. There he would light a fire, say a special prayer, and the miracle would be accomplished, and the misfortune or trouble averted. Later, when his disciple, the celebrated Rabbi Maggid of Mezritch, had occasion, for the same reason, to intercede with heaven, he...

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“Remember you are water. Of course you leave salt trails. Of course you are crying. Flow. P.S. If there happens to be a multitude of griefs upon you, individual and collective, or fast and slow, or small and large, add equal parts of these considerations: that the broken heart can cover more territory. that perhaps love can only be as large as grief demands. that grief is the growing up of the heart that bursts boundaries like an old skin or...

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Dipping the bitter herb in sweet charoset | maror  |מָרוֹר      In creating a holiday about the joy of freedom, we turn the story of our bitter history into a sweet celebration. We recognize this by dipping our bitter herbs into the sweet charoset. We don’t totally eradicate the taste of the bitter with the taste of the sweet… but doesn’t the sweet mean more when it’s layered over the bitterness? בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָֽׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּֽנוּ עַל...

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The blessing over the meal and matzah | motzi matzah | מוֹצִיא מַצָּה The familiar hamotzi blessing marks the formal start of the meal. Because we are using matzah instead of bread, we add a blessing celebrating this mitzvah. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, הַמּוֹצִיא לֶֽחֶם מִן הָאָֽרֶץ Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, hamotzi lechem min ha-aretz. We praise God, Ruler of Everything, who brings bread from the land. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָֽׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתַָיו וְצִוָּֽנוּ...

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וְאָכַלְתָּ וְשָׂבָעְתָּ וּבֵרַכְתָּ  V’achalta, V'savata, Oo-vay-rach-ta  We ate when we were hungry  And now we’re satisfied  We thank the Source of Blessing  for all that She provides  Hunger is a yearning  In body and soul  Earth Air Fire Water  And Spirit makes us whole.  Giving and receiving  We open up our hands  From Seedtime through Harvest  We’re partners with the land  We all share a vision  Of wholeness and release  Where every child is nourished  And we all live in peace...

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One: What would it take for this community to be different from all other communities? What would it mean to commit to leaving no on behind in our exodus from the narrow places to freedom?  Two: What is one way you can nourish/take care of yourself starting tonight? (On this night we eat matzah.)  Three: What is one way you can make the sometimes bitter work of fighting for freedom sweeter for yourself and others? (On this night we eat maror.)  ...

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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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“Why on this night when we remember the oppression and resistance of Jews should we also think about the lives of people of color?” Because many Jews are people of color. Because racism is a Jewish issue. Because our liberation is connected. White Ashkenazi Jews have a rich history but are only a part of the Jewish story. Mizrahi & Sephardi Jews; Yemeni Jews; Ethiopian Jews; Jews who trace their heritage to the Dominican Republic, to Cuba & Mexico; to Guyana...

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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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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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MaggidMarge PiercyThe courage to let go of the door, the handle.The courage to shed the familiar walls whose veryStains and leaks are comfortable as the little moles Of the upper arm; stains that recall a feast,A child’s naughtiness, a loud battering stormThat slapped the roof hard, pouring through.The courage to abandon the graves dug into the hill, The small bones of children and the brittle bonesOf the old whose marrow hunger had stolen;The courage to desert the tree planted and only...

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To open seder, we must acknowledge not only what the Egyptians stole, but also the stolen land under our feet. This seder is complicated by our presence here on Dakota land. Land that was never ceded. Our pursuit of liberation as LGBTQIA+ Jews and allies rings hollow without acknowledging and knowing where and when we stand.

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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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The Four Queer/Trans Jews Adapted from “the Four Daughters” by Tamara Cohen, Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell and Ronnie Horn. Adapted and used with loving gratitude. The queer/trans Jew is in search of a meaningful, holy past through our texts, traditions, and people. Ma heh omereh? What do they say? “Why didn’t the Torah count, or acknowledge women and trans people among the ‘600,000 men on foot, aside from children,’ who came out of Egypt? And why did Moses say at Sinai,...

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עמר Omer means “measures”. When the Temple stood, it was customary to bring harvest offerings three times a year, at Sukkot, Pesach, and Shavuot. The tradition of counting the Omer dates back to those days, like many of our holidays. It’s measured by the agricultural calendar, helping us live fruitfully in relationship to the land. We measured the seven weeks of the Omer between planning new barley and harvesting it; then offered a measure, in thanks, to our source. Now that...

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The plagues and our subsequent redemption from Egypt are but one example of the care God has shown for us in our history. Had God but done any one of these kindnesses, it would have been enough – dayeinu. אִלּוּ הוֹצִיאָֽנוּ מִמִּצְרַֽיִם, דַּיֵּנוּ Ilu hotzi- hotzianu, Hotzianu mi-mitzrayim Hotzianu mi-mitzrayim, Dayeinu If God had only taken us out of Egypt, that would have been enough! אִלּוּ נָתַן לָֽנוּ אֶת־הַתּוֹרָה, דַּיֵּנוּ Ilu natan natan lanu, natan lanu et ha-Torah, Natan lanu et...

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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