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Praised are you, Adonai, our God, sovereign of the universe, who has taught us the way of holiness through commandments, commanding us to wash our hands.

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So Moses goes back to Egypt and he demands that Pharaoh free the Hebrews from bondage. But Pharaoh refuses! And so God sends a plague upon Egypt, turning all the rivers and streams to blood. All the fish die and the Egyptians can find no clean water to drink. Pharaoh, in desperation, agrees to free the slaves. But as soon as the waters become clear again, he changes his mind.And so God sends a second plague. Now hordes of frogs descend...

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Lighting of the Holiday CandlesMay these candles, lighted on the Festival of Freedom, bring light into our hearts and minds. May they renew our courage to act for justice and freedom here and now. May they illumine the path to truth, justice and peace. And so we repeat the ancient blessing:ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העולם אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו להדליק נר של יום טובBaruch atah Adonai Elohaynoo melech ha-olam, asher keedshanoo b’meetzvotav v’tzeevanoo l’hadleek ner shel (Shabbat v’shel) yom tov.Praised...

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The Seder PlateThe items on the seder plate are symbols of the past. By placing the seder plate on our table, we link the past with the present and look with hope toward the future.The matzo is a symbol of suffering and affliction but also of liberation.  The bitter herbs symbolize the bitterness of our lives as slaves in Egypt and the bitter lives of those exploited today.The parsley and the salt water we will dip it in remind us that...

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After the meal we search for the afikoman. When the afikoman is found and returned to the leader, an olive-sized piece is distributed to each person, and all consume the afikoman with enthusiasm!

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At this point, I will symbolically wash my hands for all of us, without saying the blessing. As I take a moment to wash my hands, imagine that you are washing away all anxiety and stress in your life, and allow yourself to be filled with the hope that the world can be a better place for us all.

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Elijah the ProphetOn the Seder night, we open the door for Elijah the Prophet, and we place a cup of wine on the table especially for him.Our hopes have long been centered on Elijah since legends has it that he will herald the time of complete human freedom. But he will come only when people have prepared the way for him. This simply means that we, all of us, are Elijah. We must liberate ourselves from prejudice and injustice. We must...

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ALL: This is the bread of affliction, the simple bread which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt.HOST: From the three matzos, I take the middle piece, break it in two. Why do we break this bread in two? Because if we hold on to the whole loaf for ourselves, it remains the bread of oppression. If we break it in order to share it, it becomes the bread of freedom.I wrap one of the two pieces in a napkin. ...

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(to the tune of "Just a spoon full of sugar")   Chorus: Just a tad of charoset helps the bitter herbs go down, The bitter herbs go down, the bitter herbs go down. Just a tad of charoset helps the bitter herbs go down, In the most disguising way.   Oh, back in Egypt long ago, The Jews were slaves under Pharaoh. They sweat and toiled and labored through the day. So when we gather Pesach night, We do what we think right....

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EXODUS IN A NUTSHELLAt the end of the biblical book of Genesis, Joseph and his eleven brothers go to Egypt to live. They have many children and their children have many children. Eventually, there are so many of them that them that Pharaoh, the kind of Egypt, begins to fear that they—the Hebrews will rise up against him. To prevent this, Pharaoh enslaves the Hebrews. According to tradition, these slaves are the ancestors of the Jewish people.  Pharaoh is cruel. He...

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Every year, Jews drink four cups of wine and then pour a fifth for Elijah. "The cup is poured, but not yet drunk. Yet the cup of hope is poured every year. Passover is the night for reckless dreams; for visions about what a human being can be, what society can be, what people can be, what history may become. That is the significance of 'Le-shanah ha-ba-a b'Yerushalayim' (Next year in Jerusalem)."

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Questioning is a healthy sign of freedom. Asking questions is so fundamen- tal that, according to the rabbis, even if one finds oneself alone on Passover, the Four Questions should be asked aloud. Traditionally, the youngest child is called upon to ask these four questions about the differences that mark this night. We encourage children to question and all who are present may ask the Four Questions. Ma nish-ta-na ha-lyla ha-zeh meekol ha-lailot? She-be-chol ha-lay-lot anu ochlin chamaytz u-matzo, ha-laila ha-zeh...

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There's No Seder Like Our Seder(Sung to the tune of "There's no Business like Show business") There's no seder like our sederThere's no seder I knowEverything about it is halachic Nothing that the Torah won't allowListen how we read the whole HaggadahIt's all in Hebrew'Cause we know howThere's no Seder like our sederWe tell a tale that is swellMoses took the people out into the heatThey baked the matzahWhile on their feetNow isn't that a story That just can't be beat?Let's...

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Tonight we dip our bitterness in the sweetness of charoset. Charoset, the sweet mixture of fruits and nuts, symbolizes the mortar of the bricks of the Israelites. It is also the mortar of commitment and interdependence that enabled the Jewish community to survive through those centuries of oppression. It is the building blocks of hope and tradition, which are sweet. We take our maror of fear, and by dipping it into the sweetness we create a new model that honors the...

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("This Old Man” by Craig) Then God sent,Plague number one, Turned the Nile into blood. All the people in Egypt were feeling pretty low They told Pharaoh "Let them Go!" Then God sent, Plague number two, Jumping frogs all over you. All the people in Egypt were feeling pretty low They told Pharaoh "Let them Go!" Then God sent, Plague number three, Swarms of gnats from head to knee. All the people in Egypt were feeling pretty low They told Pharaoh...

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ALL: This is the bread of affliction, the simple bread which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt.HOST: From the three matzos, I take the middle piece, break it in two. Why do we break this bread in two? Because if we hold on to the whole loaf for ourselves, it remains the bread of oppression. If we break it in order to share it, it becomes the bread of freedom.I wrap one of the two pieces in a napkin. ...

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Maggid means retelling the story of the exodus from Egypt.In every generation, we must see ourselves as if we personally were liberated from Egypt. We gather tonight to tell the ancient story of a people's liberation from Egyptian slavery. This is the story of our origins as a people. It is from these events that we gain our ethics, our vision of history, our dreams for the future. We gather tonight, as two hundred generations of Jewish families have before us,...

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Tonight we dip our bitterness in the sweetness of charoset. Charoset, the sweet mixture of fruits and nuts, symbolizes the mortar of the bricks of the Israelites. It is also the mortar of commitment and interdependence that enabled the Jewish community to survive through those centuries of oppression. It is the building blocks of hope and tradition, which are sweet. We take our maror of fear, and by dipping it into the sweetness we create a new model that honors the...