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"Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow and to ruin the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism, falsehoods. The liturgical movement must become a revolutionary movement, seeking to overthrow the forces that continue to destroy the promise, the hope, the vision." —Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, 1970

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Eating the meal! | shulchan oreich | שֻׁלְחָן עוֹרֵךְ Enjoy! But don’t forget when you’re done we’ve got a little more seder to go, including the final two cups of wine!

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As we rejoice at the miraculous story of deliverance from slavery, we acknowledge that this freedom was hard-earned. We regret that this freedom came at the cost of the Egyptians’ suffering, for we are all human beings made in the image of G-d. We pour out a drop of wine for each of the plagues as we recite them. Dip a finger or a spoon into your wine glass for a drop for each plague. These are the ten plagues which...

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Passover, like many Jewish holidays, combines the celebration of an event from 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 green vegetable,...

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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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Finding and eating the Afikomen | tzafoon | צָפוּן The playfulness of finding the afikomen reminds us that under normal circumstances, we balance our solemn memories of slavery with a joyous celebration of freedom. When we eat the afikomen, our last taste of matzah for the evening, we are grateful for moments of silliness and happiness in our lives. Tonight, at this seder, we choose to not eat the afikomen, out of respect for the work to come in our quest...

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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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Eating a sandwich of matzah and bitter herb | koreich | כּוֹרֵךְ When the Temple stood in Jerusalem, the biggest ritual of them all was eating the lamb offered as the pesach or Passover sacrifice. The great sage Hillel would put the meat in a sandwich made of matzah, along with some of the bitter herbs. While we do not make sacrifices any more – and, in fact, some Jews have a custom of purposely avoiding lamb during the seder so...

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Refill everyone’s wine glass. We now say grace after the meal, thanking G-d for the food we’ve eaten. On Passover, this becomes something like an extended toast to G-d, culminating with drinking our third glass of wine for the evening: We praise G-d, Ruler of Everything, whose goodness sustains the world. You are the origin of love and compassion, the source of bread for all. Thanks to You, we need never lack for food; You provide food enough for everyone. We...

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Water is refreshing, cleansing, and clear, so it’s easy to understand why so many cultures and religions use water for symbolic purification. We will wash our hands twice during our seder: now, with no blessing, to get us ready for the rituals to come; and then again later, we’ll wash again with a blessing, preparing us for the meal, which Judaism thinks of as a ritual in itself.  To wash your hands, you don’t need soap, but you do need a...

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We begin our service in the remembrance of the Holocaust in silence. Let us surround our worship, our community in prayer, with silence in preparation for the presence of G-d. Silence does not just bring to a standstill words and noise. Silence is more than the temporary renunciation of speech. It is a door opening before prayer, toward the very realms of the spirit and the heart. Silence is the beginning of a reckoning of the soul, the prelude to an...

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Nirtzah marks the conclusion of the seder. Our bellies are full, we have had several glasses of wine, we have told stories and sung songs, and now it is time for the evening to come to a close. At the end of the seder, we honor the tradition of declaring, “Next year in Jerusalem!” To some, "Next year in Jerusalem!" is an affirmation of hope and of connectedness with Klal Yisrael, the whole of the Jewish community. Still others perceive in...