Who Knows One? Who knows one? I know one! One is Hashem, one is Hashem, one is Hashem in the Heavens and the Earth. Who knows two? I know two! Two are the tablets that Moses brought. One is the Hashem. . . . Who knows three? I know three! Three are the papas And two are the tablets that Moses brought. And one is Hashem. . . . Four are the mamas. . . . Five are the books of...

Leader: At the end of the seder, it is traditional to say or sing " Next Year in Jerusalem". We sometimes think of this as a literal wish, though far fewer of us have actually found ourselves in Jerusalem for seder the following year -- congratulations if you have! But Jerusalem is more than a place, it is a feeling, it is a hope. What is our own personal Jerusalem where we hope to see ourselves a year from now? (At...

Hallel הלל Adonai z'charanu y'vareich יי זְכָרָנוּ יְבָרֵךְ. יְבָרֵךְ אֶת בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל, יְבָרֵךְ אֶת בֵּית אַהֲרֹ. יְבָרֵךְ יִרְאֵי יי, הַקְּטַנִים עִם הַגְּדֹלִים. יֹסֵף יי עֲלֵיכֶם, עֲלֵיכֶם וְעַל בְּנֵיכֶם. בְּרוּכִים אַתֶּם לַיי, עֹשֵׂה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ. הַשָּׁמַיִם שָׁמַיִם לַיי,וְהָאָרֶץ נָתַן לִבְנֵי אָדָם. לֹא הַמֵּתִים יְהַלְלוּיָהּ ,וְלֹא כָּל יֹרדֵי דוּמָה. וַאֲנַחְנוּ נְבָרֵךְ יָהּ, מֵעַתָּה וְעַד עוֹלָם, הַלְלוּיָהּ. Adonai z'charanu y'vareich, y'vareich et beit yisra-el, y'vareich et beit aharon. Y'vareich yirei Adonai, hak'tanim im hag'doleem. Yoseif Adonai aleichem, aleichem v'al b'neichem. B'rucheem atem l'Adonai, oseih...

The Fourth Cup of Wine Reader: At this point we fill a cup for Elijah and open the door to let him in. Tradition states that before the Messiah comes the Prophet Elijah will come to ignite an era of peace.Let us open the door and instead of passively waiting for that era of peace think what it is we can do in our lives to bring it closer. Reader: Haggadah Haiku On Passover we Opened the door for Elijah Now...

Cups for Elijah and Miryam Reader: At this point we fill a cup for Elijah and open the door to let him in. Tradition states that before the Messiah comes the Prophet Elijah will come to ignite an era of peace.Let us open the door and instead of passively waiting for that era of peace think what it is we can do in our lives to bring it closer. Reader: Haggadah Haiku On Passover we Opened the door for Elijah Now...

What else is on the seder plate? Charoset, for the mortar the slaves used to build Pharoah's pyramids. Parsley, for Spring! A roasted egg, for the festival sacrifice in Temple times. Huh -- what's this orange doing here? There are lots of stories about the orange, but the original one is this: scholar Susanna Heschel was invited to a seder where they wanted to put a symbol on the plate for gays and lesbians. She suggested the orange, which has now...

The central imperative of the Seder is to tell the story. The Bible instructs: “ You shall tell your child on that day, saying: ‘This is because of what Adonai did for me when I came out of Egypt.' ” (Exodus 13:8) We relate the story of our ancestors to regain the memories as our own. Elie Weisel writes: God created man because He loves stories. We each have a story to tell — a story of enslavement, struggle, liberation. Be...

There are three pieces of matzah stacked on the table. We now break the middle matzah into two pieces. The host should wrap up the larger of the pieces and, at some point between now and the end of dinner, hide it. This piece is called the afikomen, literally “dessert” in Greek. After dinner, the guests will have to hunt for the afikomen in order to wrap up the meal… and win a prize. We eat matzah in memory of the...