Contributors

Mark Hurvitz

New York , US
@rebmark

weaving together fringes of Jewish life. I published my Haggadah on the Web in 1996 at http://www.davka.org/what/haggadah

Charoset

by Mark Hurvitz

Charoset is a smooth mixture of various chopped fruits including apples, and nuts, as well as wine and spices. It represents the mixture of clay and straw from which we made the mortar during our bondage. It also calls to mind the women of Israel who bore their children in secret beneath the apple trees of Egypt, and, like the apple tree that first produces fruit and then sprouts leaves to protect the fruit, our heroic mothers first bore children without...

Sanctifying the Festival

by Mark Hurvitz

Our Bible uses different words and phrases to express the divine promises of freedom for our people. These may represent different stages of redemption. We can also read these promises as toasts to the generations of our people who committed themselves to the struggle for liberation in their own day. Like wine, we can appreciate freedom as a gift to use wisely with respect. Over the course of the Seder we will drink four cups of wine to recall each time...

Chad Gadya in Ladino

by Mark Hurvitz

Un Cavritico Un cavritico, que lo merco mi padre por dos levanim, por dos levanim. Y vino el gato y se comio el cavritico, que lo merco mi padre por dos levanim, por dos levanim. Y vino el perro y que mordio el gato, que se comio el cavritico, que lo merco mi padre por dos levanim, por dos levanim. Y vino el palo y aharvo el perro, que mordio el gato, que se comio el cavritico, que lo merco mi...

Echad Mi Yodeah in Ladino

by Mark Hurvitz

Qualo Es El Uno? Quien supiense y entendiense, Alavar al Dyo criense, Qualo es el uno, qualo es el uno? Uno es el Creador, uno es el Creador, Uno es el Creador, baruch Hu uvaruch sh’mo Quien supiense y entendiense, alavar al Dyo criense, Qualo son los dos, qualo son los dos? Dos Moshe y Aaron, uno es el Creador, Uno es el Creador, baruch Hu uvaruch sh’mo Quien supiense y entendiense, alavar al Dyo criense, Qualo son los tres, qualo...

Neertzah

by Mark Hurvitz

The tasks ahead? Once again we have recited the age-old epic of our liberation from slavery. We have tasted the new growth of a world released from winter We have celebrated advances our, and other peoples of the world, have made toward freedom from oppression. We have focused our attention on how each one of us can become strengthened to feel, think and act so as to take an active role in our own lives. Each year we repeat the same...

Drinking from Miriam's Well

by Mark Hurvitz

Empty whatever wine remains in the wine glasses into the empty bowls (see page ) then pour some water from the pitcher that has stood on the table into everyone’s wine glass. We have escaped bondage and crossed the sea. We enter the arid land before us, made hesitant by generations of servitude—mixed with our recent struggle, and yet heady in our new freedom. We have thirsted for freedom, but now we thirst for water. As with so many people in...

Zog Nit Keyn Mol

by Mark Hurvitz

Remnants in the ghettos and death camps rose up against the wicked ones and slew many of them before they themselves died. In 1943, on the first night of Pesach, remnants of the Warsaw Ghetto rose up against the adversary. They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they brought redemption to the name of Israel through all the world. In their honor this song was written and sung: Zog nit keyn mol az du geyst dem...

Miriam's Song

by Mark Hurvitz

And the women dancing with their timbrels Followed Miriam as she sang her song. Sing a song to the One whom we’ve exalted, Miriam and the women danced and danced the whole night long. And Miriam was a weaver of unique variety, The tapestry she wove was one which sang our history, With every strand and every thread she crafted her delight, A woman touched with spirit she dances toward the light. Chorus When Miriam stood upon the shores and gazed...

In Dem Land Fun Piramidn

by Mark Hurvitz

In dem land fun piramidn, Z’geven a Kenig—beyz un shlekht, Gevezen zaynen alle Yidn— Zayne diner, zayne k’nekht. Kinder hot men dan farmoyert Ven a tzigl hot gefelt Ver veis vi lang es volt gedoyert Ot di viste shklafn velt, In dem land fun piramidn Velt nit zayn a groyser held, Velkher hot gekemft far Yidn Mit zayn khokhme, un zayn shverd. There lived in the land of the pyramids a very cruel and angry king. The Jews in the land...

-- Four Children

The Ballad of Four Children

by Mark Hurvitz

Said the parents to their children, “From your bondage you’ll cut loose, You will eat your fill of matzah, you will drink four cups of juice.” Now these parents had four children, yes their kids they numbered four, One was wise and one was wicked, one was simple and a bore. And the fourth was sweet and winsome, was so young and also small, While the other asked the questions, this one could not speak at all. Said the wise one...

-- Exodus Story

Celebrating Spring

by Mark Hurvitz

Even before the Exodus from Egypt our ancestors probably celebrated the mystery of life and the creation of the world each spring. Now again, we remind ourselves of the greens of the earth and the salt of the sea from which all life emerged, and on which all life depends. But we do not simply celebrate spring’s renewal nor love’s warmth. Pesach celebrates our becoming free. Through the wondrous rebirth of life we can feel the precarious beginnings of the struggle...

Wash the Hands

by Mark Hurvitz

Why do we wash our hands all the time? This washing, even though it is an official task of the Seder, is done without a blessing. It is strictly for cleanliness purposes. And why not? We're about to handle food. It seems so easy for us. We turn on the tap, and there it is. But water is scarce. May we be aware of our water as we continue the Seder.

Blessing Each Other

by Mark Hurvitz

Our journey starts. The drama begins. We support one another and share one another’s strengths. This evening’s adventure will slide in and out of time, pulling together many of the stories of our people—we will leave Egypt following Moses, Miriam and Aaron. We will dine with the Rabbis of ancient Judaea as they experience the Roman occupation. We recall the suffering and creativity of the Jewish communities of Europe in their thousand year settlement there. We will share stories of our...

Candle Lighting

by Mark Hurvitz

The evening shadows lengthen. We prepare ourselves to light the holiday candles. In this act we unite and identify ourselves in time and space with all Jews in other periods and places of our history. Albert Einstein stood in awe of the universe as he struggled to formulate his theory of a unified field. He was not ready to assign consciousness to the unity he proposed. But our ancestors taught us of a Divine Unity: the Source of all things who...

Introduction

by Mark Hurvitz

We begin our Seder and join our efforts with those everywhere who celebrate the Passover searching for its meaning in their lives; as an expression of our liberation so far... There are many possible modes for understanding the events retold in the Pesach Haggadah. Of these, three are braided together so that, if we concentrate exclusively on any one of them, we diminish the special qualities of the entire story. By participating in the symbolic actions built into the order of...

Getting to Know Each Other

by Mark Hurvitz

We start by getting to know one another: As we embark on our adventure together here tonight, it is possible that some of us do not know each other. Take turns around the table as each person shares his or her name and how it is that she or he has come to this Seder. Because the Seder recounts or Exodus from slavery in Egypt, you might also share: - a value learned from the experience of slavery - an object...

The Seder Plate

by Mark Hurvitz

The Seder Plate Think of the Seder Plate as a “combination plate” dinner that formed the meal in ancient days. The foods were not merely symbolic, but were eaten—from the plate. As the Seder menu changed, the foods on the Seder Plate required explanation. (clockwise from the upper-right-of-center) Zeroa (shankbone), represents the Passover offering made in Temple times. It will be explained during the Seder. At vegetarian Seders it has become customary to use a red beet instead. No classic prooftext...

Haggadah and Liberation

by Mark Hurvitz

Through the ages, our people's Spring festival has expanded to express an ever greater understanding of the concept of liberation. The earliest meanings of the holiday relate back to pre-Israelite times and refer to two distinct holidays: the Feast of the Pascal Lamb and the Festival of Matzot, or Feast of Unleavened Bread. Each of these feasts, occurring at the lambing season and the beginning of the wheat and barley harvest respectively, celebrate the renewal of the year's growth and, so,...

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Mark Hurvitz's "A Growing Haggadah"

Mark Hurvitz's "A Growing Haggadah"

by Mark Hurvitz

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