וְעָנִ֨יתָ וְאָמַרְתָּ֜ לִפְנֵ֣י ׀ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֗יךָ אֲרַמִּי֙אֹבֵ֣ד אָבִ֔י וַיֵּ֣רֶד מִצְרַ֔יְמָה וַיָּ֥גָר שָׁ֖ם בִּמְתֵ֣ימְעָ֑ט וַֽיְהִי־שָׁ֕ם לְג֥וֹי גָּד֖וֹל עָצ֥וּם וָרָֽב And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God: ‘A wandering Aramean was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there, few in number; and he became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous. We are Commanded to recite this on Passover as the priests recited it when bringing the sacrifice of first fruits to the temple, but...

Having an orange on the Seder plate is a new tradition, and not found in every household. It all started with a story from Oberlin College in the early 1980's. Dr. Susannah Heschel was speaking at the Hillel, and while there, she came across a  haggadah  written by some Oberlin students to bring a feminist voice into the holiday. In it, a story is told about a young girl who asks a  Rebbe  what room there is in Judaism for a...

Dayenu is a song of praise referencing different historical contexts we experienced, from slavery in Egypt to the building of the Temple in Israel. After each verse, we sing the chorus, stating that if this was the total of God’s miraculous intervention into our lives, it would have been sufficient. One of the primary purposes of the Passover Seder is to make us feel as if we personally experienced the exodus from Egypt and the redemption from slavery to freedom. This...