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Caitlin Burgess

US

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-- Cup #2 & Dayenu

Dayenu - Today's Refugees

by HIAS

Dayenu - Today's Refugees

-- Exodus Story

What is meant by Pesach?

by Ari Moss

“People of our time are losing the power of celebration. Instead of celebrating we seek to be amused or entertained. Celebration is an active state, an act of expressing reverence or appreciation. To be entertained is a passive state--it is to receive pleasure afforded by an amusing act or a spectacle.... Celebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent meaning of one's actions. ― Abraham Joshua Heschel This is what every Seder is about. Celebration of freedom, expressing reverence, appreciation,...

The Shehecheyanu

by Leigh Nusbaum

The Shehecheyanu is a prayer that Jews have been saying for over 2000 years to mark special occasions. Tonight, all of us here together is special occasion. Whether Jewish or not, we have come here under a shared belief that everyone is entitled to be free. We all believe that everyone is entitled to certain inalienable rights. We all believe that we must treat our brothers and sisters with common decency. That is special and meaningful. To mark this special and...

-- Four Children

The Four Children

by Lisa Gitelson

In recounting our story, let us consider that we tell it to four children, one wise, one simple, one wicked and one innocent. The wise child asks: How can I learn more about our people? To that child you shall direct our wealth of literature so that they may seek out this knowledge for themself. The simple child asks: What is this all about? To that child you shall say simply , because we had faith we were redeemed from slavery....

-- Four Children

The Four Daughters

by Alon Ferency

Around our tables sit four daughters: Wise Daughter The wise daughter understands that not everything is as it appears. She is the one who speaks up, confident that her opinion counts. She is the one who can take the tradition and ritual that is placed before her, turn it over and over, and find personal meaning in it. She is the one who can find the secrets in the empty spaces between the letters of the Torah. She is the one...

Maggid - Beginning

Maggid - family friendly

by Victoria Pinsky

A long time ago in the land of Egypt, there was a king, called Pharaoh. He was very mean to the Jewish people. He forced them to work all day long. They were not free to do what they wanted; they could eat only what Phar-aoh wanted. They didn’t have much time to eat and they hardly had any time to sleep. They could not spend time with their families and friends- all they did was make bricks out of mud...

1st Hand Washing

by Irene Tenenbaum

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. This beginning of the seder seems strange. We start with kiddush as we...

Pesach is a time of Inclusion

by JoAnn F

Pesach is a time of inclusion. On Seder night, we metaphorically open our doors and invite others in. We say, “All who are hungry come and eat.” Today especially this is an important message. We were once slaves; poor and hungry, we honor our redemption by sharing what we have with others. We also open the door for Elijah the Prophet as a statement of our faith in the goodness of others and ourselves and thus in our responsibility to contribute...

Fill Somone's Cup

by Baumann Aizenstein Family

We are going to conclude our dinner tonight with a celebratory toast - a l’chaim. Rather than filling our own cup tonight, though, and focusing on us as individuals, let’s fill someone else’s cup and recognize that, as a family and group of friends, we have the resources to help each other and those in our community if we are willing to share our resources and collaborate – whether those resources are time, money, skills, or any of the other gifts...

Maggid - Beginning

The Story of the Birthday of the World

by Shalom Bond

Rachel Naomi Remen, physician and author, shared this story as she heard it from her grandfather, an Orthodox rabbi. In the beginning there was only the holy darkness, the Ein Sof (No End), the source of life. And then, in the course of history, at a moment in time, this world, the world of a thousand thousand things, emerged from the heart of the holy darkness as a great ray of light. And then, perhaps because this is a Jewish story,...

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