Why do we lean when we drink the wine? Because tonight we are a free people; we are not standing behind our guests as servants would, but rather lounging as only people with leisure can. We have told the story, we have made it our own through song and ritual, but have we fully answered the opening four questions?   Not completely.  We have delayed some of the answers until just before we eat the symbolic foods on the table and dip...

FOR DISCUSSION:  JEWS & JUSTICE Can someone at the table say something about liberation struggles of the last century in which Jews participated, motivated by empathy for those who suffer injustice?

MAKING THE STORY OUR OWN Our story has been an inspiration for peoples around the world who have overthrown their oppressors.  A proposed design for the Great Seal of the United States featured an image of the Israelites crossing the sea on dry land. The newly independent Americans understood that they too had freed themselves from a tyrannical power, Great Britain's king. Africans enslaved in America for two hundred and fifty years by white slave-owners also saw themselves in the story...

THE SLAVES GET REPARATIONS The Egyptians concluded that all these terrible things were the consequence of not letting the Hebrews go, as Moses and Aaron had demanded. Under a lot of popular pressure, the Pharaoh capitulated, telling Moses and Aaron that the Hebrews could finally leave Egypt. The Hebrew slaves knew that they deserved to be paid for their years of unpaid labor, so they went throughout the cities of Egypt asking for their back pay.  Your son is dead, your...

Choose from among the spring vegetables on the Seder table and dip one in salt water. The spring vegetable reminds us to pay attention to this season, the time in the northern hemisphere when we again see flowers blooming and hear birds chirping.  The salt water in which we dip the vegetable recalls the salty tears our ancestors shed when they were enslaved as well the tears of those today who are oppressed or enslaved.  The blessing we recite heightens our...

We mark the specialness of the day with blessings over candles and over the first of four cups of wine. (On Friday nights, we add the words in parentheses הַדְלָקַת נֵרוֹת לְיוֹם טוֹב Had-la-kat nay-rot l'yom tov  ,בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה עוֹלָמֵנוּ, יָחִיד וּמְיוּחָד אֲשֶׁר לִמֵּד אֶת אֲבוֹתֵינוּ וְאִמֹתֵינוּ וְאוֹתָנוּ  .לְהַדְלִיק נֵר שֶׁל (שַׁבַּת וְ)יוֹם טוֹב                                        Ba-rooch ata o-la-may-noo, ya-cheed oo-m'you-chad, a-sher lee-made et a-vo-tay-noo v'ee-mo-tay-noo v'o-ta-noo le-had-leek nayr shel (shab-bat v') yom tov.  Blessed are you, our unique world, for teaching our...

More than the Jewish people have kept Passover, Passover has kept the Jewish people. More than any other Jewish ritual, the Seder continues to be observed. There is something profound about what we do when we participate in a Seder, which both expresses and shapes who we are. This applies both to Jews and to non-Jewish family members and friends who celebrate Passover. Most Jews who say 'I am Jewish, but not religious' mean that they identify with the values and...