---

Passover is a time for us to reflect on our own freedom and an opportunity to connect our lives with the struggles of others. At AVODAH, we support emerging Jewish leaders as they work to address some of the most pressing issues in the fight against poverty. We study the complex (and often overlapping) systemic issues that impact people in our country, and explore how Jewish tradition calls on us to respond. This year, we’ve collected stories and insights from members...

---

Jewish celebrations usually include wine as a symbol of joy. Wine sanctifies an occasion and makes it holy. During the Passover Seder we drink four cups of wine, why four? In the Book of Exodus, God convinced the Jews to leave Egypt using four statements: I shall take you out I shall rescue you I shall redeem you I shall bring you We toast each of these statements with a cup of wine. Pour and raise your first cup of wine/grape...

---

Leader:  We begin with the Passover plate.  The four foods on this plate symbolize the  four years of Beloit.Leader:  The first item is the bitter herbs. All:  The bitter herbs came from the hot sauce tray.Leader:  The second item is the chocolate KarpasAll:  The karpas is some lettuce that we got from the salad bar. It symbolizes prosperity. Leader:  The third item is the fruit. All:  The fruit represents the mortar that held the buildings together in Egypt. It also is...

---

Leader: Let us all refill our cups. [Take turns reading. Each person is invited to read a grouped set of lines - or to pass.] Tonight we drink four cups of the fruit of the vine. There are many explanations for this custom. They may be seen as symbols of various things: the four corners of the earth, for freedom must live everywhere; the four seasons of the year, for freedom's cycle must last through all the seasons; or the four...

---

Tonight we drink four cups of wine. Why four? Some say the cups represent our matriarchs—Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah—whose virtue caused God to liberate us from slavery. Another interpretation is that the cups represent the Four Worlds: physicality, emotions, thought, and essence. Still a third interpretation is that the cups represent the four promises of liberation God makes in the Torah: I will bring you out, I will deliver you, I will redeem you, I will take you to be...

---

6. I wasn't one of the six million who died in the Shoah, I wasn't even among the survivors. And I wasn't one of the six hundred thousand who went out of Egypt. I came to the Promised Land by sea.  No, I was not in that number, though I still have the fire and the smoke within me, pillars of fire and pillars of smoke that guide me by night and by day. I still have inside me the mad...