Praise the Contrary and Its Defenders

Haggadah Section: Commentary / Readings

For the chief musician, on common instrument: a song of rebellion.

Praise rising up. Praise unlawful assembly.
Praise the road of excess and the palace of wisdom.
Praise glass houses. Praise the hand that cradles the stone.
Praise refusal of obedience. Praise the young on Raamses Street.
Praise Galileo. Praise acceleration.
Praise bombshells and en masse.
Praise sit-down strikes. Praise outside agitators.
Praise Red Emma. Praise her pistol and praise her restraint.
Praise living your life. Praise Joan of Arc.
Praise wayward daughters. Praise their wayward sons.
Praise the power of indulgence.
Praise Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses. Praise the nail
and the printing press. Praise the First Amendment.
Praise free verse. Praise yellow sunflowers.
Praise red wheelbarrows and transcendental leanings.
Praise illicit beauty. Praise the poets of Guantanamo.
Praise the poets of Burma. Praise the noisy streets.
Praise those who tear down walls and climb fences.
Praise Letters from Prison. Praise those who say yes.
Praise the bound notebook and what is within.
Praise Legal Aid attorneys. Praise kitchen-table conspiracies.
Praise insomnia. Praise our hunger. Praise days
we are the bread. Praise farmers’ markets.
Praise Al Gore and quantum physics.
Praise Schrödinger and his cat. Praise jumping in.
Praise talking snakes. Praise history & run-on sentences.
Praise what are the odds? Praise purposeful wandering.
Praise the best minds of any generation. Praise John Brown.
Praise Newt Gingrich. Praise enough is enough.
Praise Walt Whitman and the self. Praise the body’s
wild intelligence. Praise ACT UP and Vagina Monologues.
Praise getting satisfaction. Praise Gertrude Stein.
Praise cross-dressing. Praise untouchables,
partisans and riffraff. Praise slackers. Praise those
who talk back. Praise sympathy for the devil.
Praise the oldest profession. Praise mothers of the disappeared.
Praise mothers of the found. Praise mothers not yet mothers.
Praise not looking away. Praise realists and Cubists.
Praise prohibitionists & remorse. Praise hitting your head
against the wall. Praise giving peace a chance.
Praise Zionist conspiracies. Praise free elections.
Praise Selma, Alabama and early voting. Praise mutiny.
Praise backyard whiskey and those who cook with fire.
Praise Priscilla the Monkey Girl. Praise her admirers.
Praise Freud and Marx and Sinatra. Praise Earhardt.
Praise those who remember what they are told to forget.
Praise agnostics. Praise what we are not supposed to praise.
Praise the electrical storm and the still small voice.
Praise all the proverbs of hell. Praise those
who see it coming. Praise those who do it anyway.
Praise whatever happens next.

Source:  
Sue Swartz, compiled in Velveteen Rabbi's Haggadah by Rachel Barenblat
Edit Clip
Greatest Hits Haggadah
HA
Haggadot
Table of contents
    Introduction
  • OurJewishCommunity.org Introduction
  • Seder Plate
  • Silent Meditation on Candelighting
  • A Seder plate for current events
  • Passover Themes Meaningful to Interfaith Families
  • The Cup of Deliverance- Second Cup of Wine
  • Matzah
    • Kadesh
  • Wine
  • Four Cups of Wine
  • Traditional - Kadesh
  • Kadesh
    • Urchatz
  • Handwashing - Urchatz
  • Urchatz
  • Hand Washing
  • Urchatz
    • Karpas
  • Karpas
  • Karpas
  • Karpas Kavannah
  • Dip Parsley in Saltwater
    • Yachatz
  • Breaking the matzah - hunger
  • The Middle Matzah Horcrux
  • Entering the Broken World
  • Yachatz - Break the Middle Matzah
    • Maggid - Beginning
  • Maggid
    • -- Four Questions
  • Traditional - Four Questions
  • Four Questions in Fictional Languages
    • -- Four Children
  • Four Daughters
  • Four Children
  • the four children
  • Four Children
  • The Four Adults
  • Golden Girls Wise Child
    • -- Exodus Story
  • Natalia Kadish
  • Exodus Story
  • Geulah
  • The Memory of Pesach: A Tale of Two Stories
  • Min Hametzar - Calling Out from the Narrow Place
  • The 21 Jump Street
  • Letter to My Old Master
  • DAYENU: An Exercise in Gratitude
    • -- Ten Plagues
  • Ten ancient and modern plagues
  • Circle of Plagues
  • The Journey Towards Liberation - The Hard Parts
  • Ten Plagues - Frog
  • 10 Plagues, Amsterdam Haggadah, 1738, NLI
    • -- Cup #2 & Dayenu
  • dayeinu graph
  • Maggid Closing - Dayenu
  • Pesach Matzah Maror
  • The Passover Symbols, The Orange & Miriam's Cup
  • Dayenu with English Hebrew and Transliteration
  • love
  • Opening the door for Elijah
    • The Second Cup
    • Who Knows One?
      • Rachtzah
    • Rachtzah
      • Motzi-Matzah
    • Motzi-Matzah
    • DIY Matzoh Baking
    • What is the meaning of matzah?
    • Eating the Matza
    • Why Flatbread?
      • Maror
    • Horseradish
    • The Journey Towards Liberation - The complicated parts
    • Marror- Daniela Hojda
    • maror
    • Maror
    • Maror Cocktail
      • Koreich
    • Hillel Sandwich
    • Mixing the Bitter and the Sweet
    • The Future, the Past, and the Present
    • who invented the sandwhich
    • Hillel's Sandwich
      • Shulchan Oreich
    • A Fish Tale
    • The Meal
    • Shulchan Orech
    • Passover Around The World Trivia
    • Dinner is Served
      • Tzafun
    • Afikomen - bread of subjectivity
    • The Afikoman
      • Bareich
    • Opening the Door for Elijah
    • After Such A Fine Story: Blessing After Eating the Seder Meal
    • Blessing for the third cup of wine
    • Miriam's Cup
    • Miriam's Cup by Miriam Jerris
    • Ruth's Cup: A New Passover Ritual Celebrating Jewish Diversity
      • Hallel
    • Sharing Responsibility
    • To Say Nothing But Thank You
    • Zeroah
      • Commentary / Readings
    • Praise the Contrary and Its Defenders
      • Nirtzah
    • NEXT YEAR IN... : A Note to my Future Self
    • won't you celebrate with me, by Lucille Clifton
    • Nirtzah
    • Nirtzah
    • Neertzah
    • Echad Mi Yodea -- Who Knows One -- Hebrew / English / Transliteration
    • Counting the Omer
      • Songs
    • One Little Goat - חַד גַּדְיָא
    • Miriams Song
    • Adir Hu
    • Hatikva
    • Ki Lo Naeh
    • Inspired to create
      your own Haggadah?

      Make your own Haggadah and share with other Seder lovers around the world

      Have an idea
      for a clip?

      People like you bring their creativity to Haggadot.com when they share their ideas in a clip

      Support Us
      with your donation

      Help us build moments of meaning and connection through
      home-based Jewish rituals.

      OUR TOP CONTRIBUTORS

      contributor image
      Esther Kustanowitz
      4 Haggadahs38 Clips
      contributor image
      JQ International
      1 Haggadah40 Clips
      contributor image
      MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger
      5 Haggadahs109 Clips
      contributor image
      18Doors
      1 Haggadah13 Clips
      contributor image
      JewishBoston
      1 Haggadah78 Clips
      contributor image
      Truah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
      1 Haggadah36 Clips
      contributor image
      American Jewish World Service
      1 Haggadah44 Clips
      contributor image
      JewBelong
      3 Haggadahs57 Clips
      contributor image
      Repair the World
      12 Clips
      contributor image
      HIAS
      5 Haggadahs48 Clips
      contributor image
      Be'chol Lashon
      2 Haggadahs27 Clips
      contributor image
      PJ Library
      1 Haggadah17 Clips
      contributor image
      Jewish World Watch
      3 Haggadahs42 Clips
      contributor image
      Secular Synagogue
      10 Clips
      contributor image
      SVIVAH
      1 Haggadah9 Clips
      contributor image
      The Blue Dove Foundation
      12 Clips
      contributor image
      ReformJudaism.org
      24 Clips
      contributor image
      Jewish Emergent Network
      1 Haggadah22 Clips

      Passover Guide

      Hosting your first Passover Seder? Not sure what food to serve? Curious to
      know more about the holiday? Explore our Passover 101 Guide for answers
      to all of your questions.

      Haggadot

      Haggadot.com by Recustom, is a free resource for all backgrounds and experiences. Consider making a donation to help support the continuation of this free platform.

      Copyright © 2024 Custom and Craft Jewish Rituals Inc, dba Recustom, dba Haggadot.com.
      All Rights Reserved. 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. EIN: 82-4765805.