Midrash teaches that, while watching the Egyptians succumb to the ten plagues, the angels broke into songs of jubilation. God rebuked them, saying, "My creatures are perishing, and you sing praises?"As we recite each plague, we spill a drop of wine - symbol of joy - from our cups. Our joy in our liberation will always be tarnished by the pain visited upon the Egyptians.BloodFrogsLiceInsect SwarmsCattle PlagueBoilsHailLocusts DarknessDeath of the First-BornToday's world holds plagues as well. Let us spill drops of...

1.Once upon a time our people went into galut, exile, in the land of Egypt. During a famine, our ancestor Jacob and his family fled to Egypt where food was plentiful. Through a complicated set of plot twists, his son Joseph had risen to high position in Pharaoh's court, and our people were well-respected and well-regarded, secure in the power structure of the time.2.Generations passed and our people remained in Egypt. As rulers came and went, a new Pharaoh ascended to...

6. I wasn't one of the six million who died in the Shoah, I wasn't even among the survivors. And I wasn't one of the six hundred thousand who went out of Egypt. I came to the Promised Land by sea.  No, I was not in that number, though I still have the fire and the smoke within me, pillars of fire and pillars of smoke that guide me by night and by day. I still have inside me the mad...

We come together from our separate lives, each of us bringing our concerns, our preoccupations, our hopes, our dreams. We are not yet fully present: The traffic, the last-minute cooking, the final details still cling to us. Our bodies hold the rush of the past few hours.It is now time to let go of these pressures and really arrive at this seder. We do this by meditating together. Make yourself comfortable; you can close your eyes if you wish. Now take...