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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...

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URCHATZ  The Leader of the Seder only, now washes his/her hands from an ewer into a bowl held by another celebrant, wiping them dry on a hand towel. We have accepted the need for leadership, we wash the leaders's hands. This small, formal act of service is a symbol of our recognition of their leadership. This is an ancient Jewish ritual in and of itself.  At this point in the Seder, washing the hands has a specific purpose other than to...

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We were slaves in Egypt, now we are free. Let’s have a Seder! What’s on the Seder plate? Egg, herbs, bone, greens, charoset Let’s drink some wine. Why is this night different? Why is this child different? Ten plagues on the Egyptians. Enough already – Dayeinu! Drink wine again. Matzah, Maror, Hillel sandwich, let’s eat! Where’s the Afikoman? Thanks for the food! Drink some more Wine. Open the door for Elijah! Drink some wine – last one. Thanking and singing. Next...

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The seder plate holds the main symbols of a traditional Passover seder-- the shank bone, egg, karpas, charoset, and maror. The Kabbalists of the Middle Ages added hazeret, another kind of bitter lettuce. And in recent years feminists have added an orange on the seder plate to symbolize women's leadership roles and full empowerment in Jewish life. The artichoke however is a new development. What is an artichoke? Surely a work of God's imagination! Many petals, with thistle and a heart....

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야핫츠 (yachatz) – 맛자 조각내기  Contributed by Jewish Boston 식탁위에 세 개의 맛자가 쌓여 있습니다. 우리는 이제 두 번째 맛자를 잡고 가운데를 반으로 나눕니다. 주인은 큰 쪽 조각들을 싸서, 저녁식사 하는 동안 그것을 숨깁니다. 이 조각은 아피코멘(afikomen), 그리스어로 후식이라는 의미입니다. 손님들이 저녁 식사를 마무리하기 위해 아피코멘을 찾을 예정이며, 상을 받게 될 것입니다. 우리는 이집트에서 탈출한 선조를 기념하며 맛자를 먹습니다. 노예였던 선조들은 해방되기 전에 많은 그릇된 출발에 직면했습니다. 그래서 자유라는 단어를 들을 때 가지고 있던 반죽이 어떤 것이든지 간에 그 반죽을 부풀기...

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Use this piece before singing Hallel and think about what it means to transition from slavery to freedom. Exodus and Liberation translate many different ways for different communities, religious groups, and individuals. Chief Tom Dostou of the Wabanaki Nation of Massachusetts offers the following prayer in an excerpt from a larger piece describing his journey across his ancestral homeland of “Turtle Island.” "We will pray for the American peoples who send their sons and daughters out to foreign lands to be...

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Our God and God of our ancestors, help those who are fleeing persecution today, as our ancestors did thousands of years ago.  Show loving kindness and compassion to those hemmed in by misery and captivity, to those who take to the open seas or traverse treacherous landscapes seeking freedom and liberty.  Rescue and recover them -- deliver them from gorge to meadow, from darkness to light.  Inspire us to act on behalf of those we do not know, on behalf of...

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Who can say we’ve actually left? “Wherever you live, it is probably Egypt,” Michael Walzer wrote. Do you live in a place where some people work two and three jobs to feed their children, and others don’t even have a single, poorly paid job? Do you live in a community in which the rich are fabulously rich, and the poor humiliated and desperate? Do you live among people who worship the golden calves of obsessive acquisitiveness, among people whose children are...

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The second cup of wine is dedicated not only to the struggles of the Jewish people, but to all people seeking a secure life free of fear and persecution. With that in mind, let us drink the second glass of wine.