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Two Cups of Our Best Natures: Elijah’s and Miriam’s Cups: Hope and growth, vision and cultivation, dreams and clarity: Elijah and Miriam bring us cups of the best of humanity. In our stories, Elijah, with his prophetic voice, draws near when a better world is in sight. And Miriam, with her well, refreshed and nourished our people throughout their wanderings,  When we fill Elijah’s cup with wine, let it be with our sweetest wine, as an offering for the possibility of...

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FOR THE FIRST CUP AND THOSE WE MISS At the seder, each cup of wine represents one of the promises God made to our people while we were enslaved:  to bring us out of Egypt,  to deliver us to safety,  to redeem us from our slavery,  and to draw us close to holiness and divinity. This year, as we see our communities opening up, we can remember the four promises of connection:  to bring us out of a narrow world,  to...

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On all other nights, we get biscuits and rolls, Fluffy and puffy and full of air holes. Why on this night, why, tell me why, Only this flat stuff that’s always so dry. On all other nights, we eat all kinds of greens, And I’m starting to like them – except lima beans. Why on this night, I ask on my knees, Do we eat stuff so bitter it makes grownups wheeze? On all other nights, we dip vegies just once...

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Fresh, crisp greens remind us of spring, of new beginnings, of hope.  Salt water reminds us of the long, sad season of our slavery. As we mix the two together, we remember that we must work to bring the hope of spring to everyone enslaved everywhere.

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When we bless the green parsley and dip it in the salty water, we remember the spring, and we remember the long, sad years of our slavery.When we left Egypt,we bloomed and sprouted,and songs dripped from our tongueslike shimmering threads of nectar.All green with life we grew,who had been buried,under toil and sorrow,dense as bricks.All green in the desert we grew,casting seeds at a promise.All green we grew.