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Passover, like many of our holidays, combines the celebration of an event from our Jewish memory with a recognition of the cycles of nature. As we remember the liberation from Egypt, we also recognize the stirrings of spring and rebirth happening in the world around us. The symbols on our table bring together elements of both kinds of celebration. We now take a vegetable, representing our joy at the dawning of spring after our long, cold winter. Most families use a...

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To think of time as both queer and Jewish, existing in cycles that rise, fall, fold over and under themselves, means acknowledging that there always has been and will be a place for us. The work of seder, the work of reliving time in tangible and real ways means connecting with an inherently queer sense of time. We can see past propaganda that tells us there was no room in the traditions we came from, and that the only hope for...

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What can they do to you? Whatever they want. They can set you up, they can bust you, they can break your fingers, they can burn your brain with electricity, blur you with drugs till you can’t walk, can’t remember, they can take your child, wall up your lover. They can do anything you can’t stop them from doing. How can you stop them? Alone, you can fight, you can refuse, you can take what revenge you can but they roll...

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Maror is supposed to represent the bitterness of slavery, and it does.  But this representation is less straightforward and more complicated than a simple “slavery = bad.”  The chronology of the seder is the first clue.  We would think it should be maror, pesach, matzah:  slavery, sacrifice, freedom.  But it’s not.  In the traditional Haggadah, maror appears first, before pesach and matzah. This chronological aberration is a clue to the deeper meaning of maror.  It represents the bitterness not of the...

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All Jewish celebrations, from holidays to weddings, include wine as a symbol of our joy – not to mention a practical way to increase that joy. The seder starts with wine and then gives us three more opportunities to refill our cup and drink. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הַגָּפֶן Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, borei p’ree hagafen. We praise God, Ruler of Everything, who creates the fruit of the vine. We praise God, Ruler of Everything,...

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The Four Queer/Trans Jews Adapted from “the Four Daughters” by Tamara Cohen, Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell and Ronnie Horn. Adapted and used with loving gratitude. The queer/trans Jew is in search of a meaningful, holy past through our texts, traditions, and people. Ma heh omereh? What do they say? “Why didn’t the Torah count, or acknowledge women and trans people among the ‘600,000 men on foot, aside from children,’ who came out of Egypt? And why did Moses say at Sinai,...

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Why do we eat maror? Tradition says that this bitter herb is to remind us of the bitterness of our slavery. We force ourselves to taste pain so that we may more readily value pleasure. How big a piece of maror do I have to eat to fulfill my obligation? And what if I"ve known enough pain this year already? And what if I eat the whole root and my tongue catches on fire and my ears burn? Then will I...

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V’asu li mikdash V’shachanti b’tocham V’anachnu n’varech Yah Mei-ata v’ad olam Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary Pure and holy, tried and true With thanksgiving, I'll be a living Sanctuary for You (three times)

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“Remember you are water. Of course you leave salt trails. Of course you are crying. Flow. P.S. If there happens to be a multitude of griefs upon you, individual and collective, or fast and slow, or small and large, add equal parts of these considerations: that the broken heart can cover more territory. that perhaps love can only be as large as grief demands. that grief is the growing up of the heart that bursts boundaries like an old skin or...

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The blessing over the meal and matzah | motzi matzah | מוֹצִיא מַצָּה The familiar hamotzi blessing marks the formal start of the meal. Because we are using matzah instead of bread, we add a blessing celebrating this mitzvah. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, הַמּוֹצִיא לֶֽחֶם מִן הָאָֽרֶץ Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, hamotzi lechem min ha-aretz. We praise God, Ruler of Everything, who brings bread from the land. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָֽׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתַָיו וְצִוָּֽנוּ...

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בְּכָל־דּוֹר וָדוֹר חַיָּב אָדָם לִרְאוֹת אֶת־עַצְמוֹ, כְּאִלּוּ הוּא יָצָא מִמִּצְרָֽיִם B’chol dor vador chayav adam lirot et-atzmo, k’ilu hu yatzav mimitzrayim. In every generation, everyone is obligated to see themselves as though they personally left Egypt. With each generation LGBTQIA+ Jews continue to struggle for the world to recognize our stories and the reality of our lives. With each generation queer people continue to struggle against the tides of transmisogyny, homophobia, transphobia, racism, and misogyny that seek to keep us on...

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וְאָכַלְתָּ וְשָׂבָעְתָּ וּבֵרַכְתָּ  V’achalta, V'savata, Oo-vay-rach-ta  We ate when we were hungry  And now we’re satisfied  We thank the Source of Blessing  for all that She provides  Hunger is a yearning  In body and soul  Earth Air Fire Water  And Spirit makes us whole.  Giving and receiving  We open up our hands  From Seedtime through Harvest  We’re partners with the land  We all share a vision  Of wholeness and release  Where every child is nourished  And we all live in peace...

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Singing songs that praise God | hallel | הַלֵּל This is the time set aside for singing. Some of us might sing traditional prayers from the Book of Psalms. Others take this moment for favorites like Chad Gadya & Who Knows One, which you can find in the appendix. To celebrate the theme of freedom, we might sing songs from the civil rights movement. Or perhaps your crazy Uncle Frank has some parody lyrics about Passover to the tunes from a...

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Seder Plate Symbols Maror – The bitter herb reminds us of the bitterness inside of all of us. Living in a racially discriminatory society means that racism infects our thoughts and actions, even if we don’t want it to. We must call attention to the prejudiced ideas we all carry inside us in order to actively resist and uproot them. Egg – The egg in its shell reminds us that we can choose how we identify ourselves, but we can’t always...

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As we now transition from the formal telling of the Passover story to the celebratory meal, we once again wash our hands to prepare ourselves. In Judaism, a good meal together with friends and family is itself a sacred act, so we prepare for it just as we prepared for our holiday ritual, recalling the way ancient priests once prepared for service in the Temple. Some people distinguish between washing to prepare for prayer and washing to prepare for food by...

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עמר Omer means “measures”. When the Temple stood, it was customary to bring harvest offerings three times a year, at Sukkot, Pesach, and Shavuot. The tradition of counting the Omer dates back to those days, like many of our holidays. It’s measured by the agricultural calendar, helping us live fruitfully in relationship to the land. We measured the seven weeks of the Omer between planning new barley and harvesting it; then offered a measure, in thanks, to our source. Now that...

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Refill everyone’s wine glass. The third cup of juice represents G’d’s declaration of redemption: וגאלתי / v’go’alti “I will liberate you with an outstretched arm…”  As we bless the third cup of juice, let yourself fill with gratitude for the meal we’ve just eaten together. Let us notice the nutrients from the food settling into our body, being processed through our stomachs. May we use this energy to care for one another, to continue our work of building a more whole...

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“Remember you are water. Of course you leave salt trails. Of course you are crying. Flow. P.S. If there happens to be a multitude of griefs upon you, individual and collective, or fast and slow, or small and large, add equal parts of these considerations: that the broken heart can cover more territory. that perhaps love can only be as large as grief demands. that grief is the growing up of the heart that bursts boundaries like an old skin or...

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May Our Anger Be Holy Oppression breeds anger to which we must attend. Once, we recited this text out of powerlessness. We asked God to pour forth wrath because we were unable to express our own. But in today's world, where we enjoy agency to an unprecedented degree, we must resist the temptations of perennial victimhood and yearning for revenge. And yet we know that rage, unexpressed, will fester. Let us therefore acknowledge our communal pain. Let us recognize the intersecting...

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Queen’s Attitude as It Bears Upon the Matter: The Three of Cups (excerpt) Marge Piercy Taste what is in your mouth, if it is water, still taste it. Wash out the cups of your fingers, clean your eyes with new tears for your sister. We are not worse revolutionaries if we remember that the universe itself pulses like a heart; that the blood dances within us; that joy is a power treading with hoofs and talons on our flimsy bodies; that...