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Avadim Hayinu(Purchase Fair Trade Kosher for Passover chocolate through: http://fairtradejudaica.org/make-a-difference/fair-trade-jewish-holidays/fair-trade-your-seder/fair-trade-chocolate-you-can-eat-on-passover/)The Haggadah reminds us that “we were slaves to Pharoah in Mitzrayim, and then Adonai brought us out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.” We were freed from slavery, yet slavery is not an institution only of the past; it still exists among us.The Passover Seder celebrates our liberation as a people from the oppressive slavery we experienced in ancient Egypt. It recounts the story of the Jewish...

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Why is there no orange on our Seder plate?      In the early 1980s, while speaking at Oberlin College Hillel, Susannah Heschel was introduced to an early feminist Haggadah that suggested adding a crust of bread on the Seder plate, as a sign of solidarity with Jewish lesbians (there's as much room for a lesbian in Judaism as there is for a crust of bread on the seder plate). Heschel felt that to put bread on the Seder plate would be to...

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When God sent the plague of the firstborn...all the firstborn Egyptians went to speak to their fathers and said "Everything which Moses has said has come true, don't you want us to live? Let us get the Hebrew slaves out of our homes now. Otherwise we are dead." The fathers answered "even if all of Egypt dies they are not leaving." All the firstborn gathered in front of Pharaoh and screamed "Please remove the Hebrews, because of them evil will befall...

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In Talmud Pesachim, Rava teaches, "A person who swallows matzah without chewing fills the mitzvah, the commandment, to eat matzah. However, a person who swallows maror without chewing doesn't fulfill the mitzvah to eat maror." Matzah is Biblical fast food. Matzah is flat because the Hebrews were in such a hurry to get out of Egypt, they didn't wait for their bread to rise. They rushed out, eating crackers, because they had to eat something. Matzah is optimistic, portable, light and...

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Is there really any reason for a sprig of parsley to be on the Seder Table? What is the connection between karpas and the Jewish People leaving Egypt? Winter, with its bleak landscape and cold, short days, can lead to gloom and despondency. In contrast, spring breeds hope. Seeds that have been frozen in the earth haven't died, and in the spring they re-awaken. Even when all is cold and dark, the indomitable force of spring and life works beneath the...

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Pesach is many things to many people. Its customs are familiar and can be viewed with many lenses. The symbols are universal and are subject to almost any reading: social justice, class, the Holocaust, Middle East politics, American politics, agriculture, the environment, the list is endless, and the proliferation of interpretations is evidence that this is fertile territory. A few things – maybe only two – about the holiday are unavoidable, as in, Pesach wouldn't be Pesach if not for these...

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In Hopes of Freedom From Abuse For All Author unknown. Adapted by Hannah Litman and Rachel Novick. Sometimes, we cannot say Dayenu. Wehave the right to say, “No, this is not enough, I will not settle for this.” Sometimes, we wish we could say Dayenu. What would be enough? Together: When we can make choices about our own bodies, our own identities, and our own lives, Dayenu When courts, law enforcement and mental health professionals stop blaming the victim, Dayenu When...

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PASSOVERTell me: how is this night different From all other nights?How, tell me, is this PassoverDifferent from other Passovers?Light the lamp, open the door wideSo the pilgrim can come in,Gentile or Jew;Under the rags perhaps the prophet is concealed.Let him enter and sit down with us;Let him listen, drink, sing and celebrate Passover;Let him consume the bread of affliction,The Paschal Lamb, sweet mortar and bitter herbs.This is the night of differencesIn which you lean your elbow on the table,Since the forbidden...

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At a traditional seder, there is a cup of wine left on the table for the prophet Elijah. Toward the end of the night, the door is opened for Elijah, symbolizing that all are welcome at the seder, all can take refuge here. In this spirit, consider symbolically setting aside a table setting or opening the door to the 60 million refugees and displaced people around the world still waiting to be free — for all those who deserve to be...

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A HEBREW LESSON ON THE ROOT-WORD S-D-RHow is the festival meal of Passover different from the meal eaten at other holiday celebrations? For one thing, the Passover repast is consumed in the context of a scripted dramatic arrangement, a (seder), from the Hebrew verb (le-sadder), "to arrange." There are, to be sure, similar arrangements in Jewish ritual and textual life. The daily prayer book, which contains a sort of script for the performance of devotional texts, is called a (siddur). One...

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YACHATZ Is matzo poor man's bread or the food of free men? Can it be both? If we regard it as the Bread of Affliction why did we carry dough on our backs out of Egypt, to let it bake in the hot sun without leavening and rising? Can one Matzo be both a symbol of wretchedness and deliverance? Matzo is a paradox. Not only is it so, but in breaking the middle matzo we also break with symmetry. There is...

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Los 4 hijos son un "simbolo" de pesaj. Esta el Sabio, El Malvado, El Simple y El que no sabe preguntar. El sabio pregunta: cuales son todas las mitzvhot de pesaj? el mayor responde con todo detalle cada una de ellas El malvado pregunta: que es esto que hacen ustedes? el padre responde: ustedes!? como que ustedes? si vos tambien sos judio, si no fuese por D'os que nos saco de egipto, no estuvieramos aqui!. El simple pregunta: que es esto?...

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Ahora es el momento de partir la matza, una parte se guarda para la braja y otra se guarda para el afikoman. El afikoman es un invento, para que los chicos no se aburran, el mayor esconde el afikoman y despues el que lo encuentra tiene premio.

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(to the tune of “I Could Have Danced All Night”) I could have eaten more, I could have eaten more, but it’s afikomen time. The Seder rituals and all those victuals, the evening was sublime. I had my matzo with charoset and matzo dipped in chocolate too. I drank down all my wine and now I’m feeling fine. How good to share this meal with you!

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So let’s bring Dayeinu into the present. We are grateful, and yet what miracles and accomplishments would be suffcient (Dayeinu) in today’s world for us to be truly satisfied? 1. When all workers of the world receive just compensation and respect for their labors, enjoy safe, healthy and secure working conditions and can take pride in their work. . . DAYEINU 2. When governments end the escalating production of devastating weapons, secure in the knowledge that they will not be necessary....

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It’s time to wash hands again, but this time with the blessing. It’s customary not to speak at all between washing your hands and saying the blessings over the matzo: Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al n’tilat yadayim. We praise God, Spirit of Everything, who commands us to wash our hands.