The story we recall tonight is the product of Israelite imagination. It does not describe actual events.  There are aspects that are somewhat disturbing. Some parts of the narrative even suggest that Pharaoh is not completely responsible for his own behavior. Just when it seems that he might relent, the Israelites’ God actually “hardens his heart!”  In any case, both Pharaoh and the God of the Israelites are responsible for much torment. To our modern sensibilities, neither of them comes out...

  In this time of corona/COVID-19, we are thankful that not only do we have the power of fire and light, but that we have the contemporary power of electricity. Without electricity we would not be able to connect over our phones for virtual seders or other virtual family gatherings.  Let’s light our candles and plug in our phones or computers if we need to :) and say: Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha’olam, asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu l'hadlik ner shel Yom...

Choose from among the spring vegetables on the Seder table and dip one in salt water. The spring vegetable reminds us to pay attention to this season, the time in the northern hemisphere when we again see flowers blooming and hear birds chirping.  The salt water in which we dip the vegetable recalls the salty tears our ancestors shed when they were enslaved as well the tears of those today who are oppressed or enslaved.  The blessing we recite heightens our...

Once again, we pass around a clean bowl of water to pour over our fingers and a towel for drying. This time we make a blessing. ,בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה עוֹלָמֵנוּ, יָחִיד וּמְיוּחָד אֲשֶׁר לִמֵּד אֶת אֲבוֹתֵינוּ וְאוֹתָנוּ  .עַל נְטִילַת יָדָיִם Blessed are you, unique world of ours, for teaching our ancestors and us to make a sacred custom of washing our hands before meals.

The Torah Speaks of Four Kinds of People Who Use Zoom: The Wise, the Wicked, the Simple, and the One Who Does Not Know How to “Mute.” The Wise Person says: “I’ll handle the Admin Feature Controls and Chat Rooms, and forward the Cloud Recording Transcript after the call.” The Wicked Person says: “Since I have unlimited duration, I scheduled the meeting for six hours—as it says in the Haggadah, whoever prolongs the telling of the story, harei zeh ‘shubach, is...

As we sit down to this Seder it's impossible to ignore that this is our *second annual* Zoom Seder. In the time between last Seder and this Seder, our beloved planet has lost more than two and a half million people to a virus which has laid bare so many of the difficulties, discriminatory structures, and pressure points in our world and its economies and varied governments. Even with movements for justice around the world continuing and taking on even more...

We must acknowledge this pain and suffering and allow ourselves the space to grieve. Yet, as the karpas ritual beckons, we must also look toward the future with a sense of hope and possibility. Passover arrives on the precipice of spring, when new growth is just around the corner. All over the world, resilience, strength, compassion and innovation will grow from under this tragedy. We honor the tears, but we also bless the hope. Raise the karpas, dip it in saltwater...