All Jewish celebrations, from holidays to weddings, include wine as a symbol of our joy – not to mention a practical way to increase that joy. The seder starts with wine and then gives us three more opportunities to refill our cup and drink. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הַגָּפֶן Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, borei p’ree hagafen. We praise God, Ruler of Everything, who creates the fruit of the vine. We praise God, Ruler of Everything,...

Water is refreshing, cleansing, and clear, so it’s easy to understand why so many cultures and religions use water for symbolic purification. We will wash our hands twice during our seder: now, with no blessing, to get us ready for the rituals to come; and then again later, we’ll wash again with a blessing, preparing us for the meal, which Judaism thinks of as a ritual in itself. (The Jewish obsession with food is older than you thought!) To wash your...

Passover, like many of our holidays, combines the celebration of an event from our Jewish memory with a recognition of the cycles of nature. As we remember the liberation from Egypt, we also recognize the stirrings of spring and rebirth happening in the world around us. The symbols on our table bring together elements of both kinds of celebration. We now take a vegetable, representing our joy at the dawning of spring after our long, cold winter. Most families use a...

As all good term papers do, we start with the main idea: ּעֲבָדִים הָיִינוּ הָיִינו. עַתָּה בְּנֵי חוֹרִין   Avadim hayinu hayinu. Ata b’nei chorin. We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt. Now we are free. We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and God took us from there with a strong hand and outstretched arm. Had God not brought our ancestors out of Egypt, then even today we and our children and our grandchildren would still be slaves. Even if we...

The formal telling of the story of Passover is framed as a discussion with lots of questions and answers. The tradition that the youngest person asks the questions reflects the centrality of involving everyone in the seder. The rabbis who created the set format for the seder gave us the Four Questions to help break the ice in case no one had their own questions. Asking questions is a core tradition in Jewish life. If everyone at your seder is around...

If God had only set us free, Redeemed us all from slavery, That would have been enough for me! Dayenu... If God had given us Shabbat, That really would have meant a lot, But did God stop there? No, God did not! Dayenu... God's Torah we were also given, And the Promised Land to live in, For all these things our thanks are given. Dayenu...

It is traditional at this point in the seder, to sing songs of praise. This is one of my favorites for this event.Hinei ma tov umanaimShevet achim gam yachadHinei ma tov umanaimShevet achim gam yachadBehold how good andHow pleasant it isFor brothers to dwell together

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.

The Four QuestionsWhy is it onlyon Passover nightwe never know howto do anything right?We don't eat our mealsin the regular ways,the ways that we doon all other days.'Cause on all other nightswe may eatall kinds of wonderfulgood bready treats,like big purple pizzathat tastes like a pickle,crumbly crackersand pink pumpernickel,sassafras sandwichand tiger on rye,fifty felafels in pita,fresh-fried,with peanut-butterand tangerine saucespread onto each sideup-and-down, then across,and toasted whole-wheat breadwith liver and ducks,and crumpets and dumplings,and bagels and lox,and doughnuts with one holeand doughnuts...

We are grateful that we are together on this night as a family ~ DayenuWe are grateful that we are together to share this moment ~ DayenuWe are grateful that we are together, alive and healthy ~ DayenuWe are grateful that we are able to eat together ~ DayenuWe are grateful that we have a light shining upon us ~ DayenuWe are grateful for everything and everyone that we have ~ DayenuWe are grateful for all that has touched our lives...