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The four children appear in the Talmud Yerushalmi, where Rev Chyyia is quoted as bringing this parable. The text says that the Torah speaks of four children -- it uses the word " k'neged"  which has a wiggly definition but one of the meanings would be "in opposition to" or "against." So, Reb' Chyyia is saying that the Torah is speaking "against" these four kinds of children -- including the wise child, who we often valorize, but perhaps the Rabbis did...

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יִתְגַּדַּל וְיִתְקַדַּשׁ שְׁמֵהּ רַבָּא. [ אמן] בְּעָלְמָא דִּי בְרָא כִרְעוּתֵהּ וְיַמְלִיךְ מַלְכוּתֵהּ בְּחַיֵּיכון וּבְיומֵיכון וּבְחַיֵּי דְכָל בֵּית יִשרָאֵל בַּעֲגָלָא וּבִזְמַן קָרִיב, וְאִמְרוּ אָמֵן: [ אמן] קהל ואבל:   יְהֵא שְׁמֵהּ רַבָּא מְבָרַךְ לְעָלַם וּלְעָלְמֵי עָלְמַיָּא: אבל:   יִתְבָּרַךְ וְיִשְׁתַּבַּח וְיִתְפָּאַר וְיִתְרומַם וְיִתְנַשּא וְיִתְהַדָּר וְיִתְעַלֶּה וְיִתְהַלָּל שְׁמֵהּ דְּקֻדְשָׁא. בְּרִיךְ הוּא. [ בריך הוא:] לְעֵלָּא מִן כָּל בִּרְכָתָא   בעשי”ת: לְעֵלָּא לְעֵלָּא מִכָּל   וְשִׁירָתָא תֻּשְׁבְּחָתָא וְנֶחֱמָתָא דַּאֲמִירָן בְּעָלְמָא. וְאִמְרוּ אָמֵן: [ אמן] יְהֵא שְׁלָמָא רַבָּא מִן שְׁמַיָּא וְחַיִּים עָלֵינוּ וְעַל כָּל יִשרָאֵל. וְאִמְרוּ אָמֵן: [ אמן]...

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Scholars inform us that bitter herbs were eaten at the Spring festival in ancient times. The sharpness of the taste awakened the senses and made the people feel at one with nature's revival. Thus, maror is the stimulus of life, reminding us that struggle can cut through complacency.

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If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don't hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the...

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Karpas is a little bit of food with a lot of metaphors.  We take a newly-grown thing and dip it into saltwater, which is said to represent tears. Water is central to the Exodus story: not just the tears but the river, the sea which parts. It represents phase changes -- in this case from lost to found, as with Moshe who Yocheved set off on the river. Moshe's river journey parallels the Pharoh's mandate that all Hebrew children should be...

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It's clear in the Seder and in Exodus that the plagues were one element on a long list of tactics brought against the Mitzrim in order to ensure the liberation of the enslaved. But this year, especially, we see that everyone who lived through those plagues suffered together. We see the ways that extended and broad-scale catastrophe can illuminate the injustices of those suffering. Even now in the strata of our society, we see how our pandemic has exacerbated injustice and...

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Dayeinu lists the following:  Had He brought us out of Egypt Had He executed judgments against the Egyptians Had He executed judgments against their gods  Had He put to death their firstborn Had He given us their riches Had He split the Sea for us Had He led us through it on dry land Had He sunk our foes in it Had He satisfied our needs in the desert for forty years Had He fed us the manna Had He given...