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On this night we retrace our steps from then to now, reclaiming years of desert wandering. On this night we ask questions, ancient and new, speaking of servitude and liberation, service and joy. On this night we welcome each soul, sharing stories of courage, strength, and faith. On this night we open doors long closed, lifting our voices in songs of praise. On this night we renew ancient hopes and dream of a future redeemed. On this night we gather around...

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AS WE BEGIN TONIGHT’S SEDER, let’s take a moment to be thankful for being together. We make a small community of storytellers. But, why this story again? Most of us already know the story of Passover. The answer is that we are not merely telling, or in tonight’s case, singing a story. We are being called to the act of empathy. Not only to hear the story of the Exodus but to feel as if we too were being set free....

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(to the tune of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”) Take us out of Egypt, free us from slavery Bake us some matzo, in a haste Don’t worry ‘bout flavor, give no thought to taste Oh it’s rush, rush, rush, to the Red Sea If we don’t cross it’s a shame For it’s ten plagues, down and you’re out At the Pesach game

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Pack Nothing. Bring only your determination to serve and your willingness to be free. Don’t wait for the bread to rise. Take nourishment for the journey, but eat standing, be ready to move at a moment’s notice. Do not hesitate to leave your old ways behind - fear, silence, submission. Do not take time to explain to the neighbors.Tell only a few trusted friends and family members. Then begin quickly, before you have time to sink back into the old slavery....

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(to the tune of “There’s No Business Like Show Business”) There’s no Seder like our Seder, Like no Seder I know. Everything about it is halachic Nothing that the Torah won’t allow. Listen how we read the whole Haggadah It’s all in Hebrew ‘Cause we know how. There’s no Seder like our Seder, We tell a tale that is swell; Moses took the people out into the heat They baked the matzo While on their feet Now isn’t that a story...

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Cleaning and cooking and so many dishes Out with the chametz, no pasta, no knishes Fish that's gefillted, horseradish that stings These are a few of our Passover things. Matzo and karpas and chopped up charoset Shankbones and kiddish and Yiddish neurosis Tante who kvetches and uncle who sings These are a few of our Passover things. Motzi and maror and trouble with Pharaohs Famines and locusts and slaves with wheelbarrows Matzah balls floating and eggshell that cling These are a...

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The day ends. The earth turns from sunshine to dusk and then to darkness. We assume for ourselves the task of kindling candles in the night, to enlighten the dark corners of our world. We still live in perilous times. Behind us, though receding into the memories of even the oldest among us, we can still sense the fires of Auschwitz and Hiroshima. Before us, the threat of acts of terrorism and gun violence. We gather tonight to create from fire,...

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May you grant my family and all Israel a good and long life. Remember us with blessings and kindness. Give me the opportunity to raise my children and grandchildren to be truly wise and people of truth. Please hear my prayer at this time. Regard me as a worthy descendant of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, and let my candles never be extinguished. Let the light of Your face shine upon us. Amen.

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On this Seder night, we recall with anguish and love our martyred brothers and sisters, the six million Jews of Europe who were destroyed at the hands of a tyrant more fiendish than Pharaoh. Their memory will never be forgotten. Trapped in ghettos, caged in death camps, abandoned by an unseeing or uncaring world, Jews gave their lives in acts that sanctified God’s name and the name of the people Israel. Some rebelled against their tormentors, fighting with makeshift weapons, gathering...

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THESE WORDS ARE DEDICATED TO THOSE WHO DIED Because they had no love and felt alone in the world Because they were afraid to be alone and tried to stick it out Because they could not ask Because they were shunned Because they were sick and their bodies could not resist the disease Because they played it safe Because they had no connection Because they had no faith Because they felt they did not belong and wanted to die THESE WORDS...

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They marched us down the length of Pozohony Street, toward the Margaret Bridge and that was when we understood they were bringing us to the edge of the Danube, where they would shoot us and leave us to die under the ice. When we arrived at the foot of the bridge, a Soviet reconnaissance aircraft appeared out of nowhere over our heads. The death march stopped, and there was a moment of chaos while the Nazi guards sought refuge in the...

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What do these words mean? We are slaves because yesterday our people were in slavery and memory makes yesterday real for us. We are slaves because today there are still people in chains around the world and no one can be truly free while others are in chains. We are slaves because freedom means more than broken chains. Where there is poverty and hunger and homelessness, there is no freedom; where there is prejudice and bigotry and discrimination, there is no...

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MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. AND ABRAHAM J. HESCHEL LEADER Prejudice is like a monster which has many heads, an evil which requires many efforts to overcome. One head sends forth poison against the people of a different race, another against the people of a different religion or culture. Thus the evil of prejudice is indivisible. GROUP Human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals who are...

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RITUAL HAND-WASHING IN PREPARATION FOR THE SEDER Water is refreshing, cleansing, and clear, so it’s easy to understand why so many cultures and religions use water for symbolic purification. Washing hands can take place twice during our Seder: now, with no blessing, to get us ready for the rituals to come; and then later, with a blessing, preparing us for the meal.

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DIPPING A GREEN VEGETABLE IN SALT WATER Passover, like many of our holidays, combines the celebration of an event from our Jewish memory with 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. We now take a vegetable, representing spring, and dip it into salt water, a symbol of the tears our ancestors shed as slaves. Before we eat it, we recite...

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BREAKING THE MIDDLE MATZO There are three pieces of matzo stacked on the table. We now break the middle matzo into two pieces. One piece is called the Afikomen, literally “dessert” in Greek. The Afikomen is hidden and must be found before the Seder can be finished. We eat matzah in memory of the quick flight of our ancestors from Egypt. As slaves, they had faced many false starts before finally being let go. So when the word of their freedom...

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On this night we retrace our steps from then to now, reclaiming years of desert wandering. On this night we ask questions, ancient and new, speaking of servitude and liberation, service and joy. On this night we welcome each soul, sharing stories of courage, strength, and faith. On this night we open doors long closed, lifting our voices in songs of praise. On this night we renew ancient hopes and dream of a future redeemed. On this night we gather around...

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Our Seder is over, according to Jewish tradition and law. As we had the pleasure to gather for a Seder this year, we hope to once again have the opportunity in the years to come.We pray that God brings health and healing to Israel and all the people of the world, as we say… ְ לָשָׁנה ַהָבָּאה ִבּירוּ ָשָׁ ֽלִים L’shana haba-ah biy’rushalayim Download full PDF here: http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53597ea6e4b0bf5eba03de3f/t/550dc2c...