Contributors

Rachel Luxemburg

Preface: The Two Festivals

by Rachel Luxemburg

In the beginning there were two festivals: Pesach, a shepherds’ holiday celebrating the lambing season, and Chag Hamatzot, a farmers’ holiday celebrating the year’s first grain harvest. And still the names are preserved: Passover, the Festival of Unleavened Bread. In the second half of the thirteenth century BCE Israel left Egypt, and thereafter the two celebrations became a single festival with new meanings. Pesach came to be understood as referring to the last of the Ten Plagues, when God “passed over”...

-- Cup #2 & Dayenu

Seder Obligations: Pesach, Matzah, Maror

by Rachel Luxemburg

Rabban Gamliel used to say that whoever had not explained three things on Passover had not fulfilled their obligations. These three things are: Pesach (the Passover Offering), Matzah, and Maror Pesach The Passover offering which our ancestors ate when the Second Temple stood: what is the reason for it? They ate the Pesah because the Eternal our God passed over the houses of our ancestors in Egypt because they were marked with the blood of a lamb, as it is written:...

-- Cup #2 & Dayenu

Gender Neutral Dayenu

by Rachel Luxemburg

We therefore give thanks for the many gifts that the Eternal our God has given us. Had God brought us out from Egypt and not divided the Red Sea for us Dayenu Had God divided the Red Sea for us and not brought us through it on dry land Dayenu Had God brought us out on dry land and not sustained us forty years in the desert Dayenu CHORUS Had God sustained us forty years in the desert and not fed...

The 10 Plagues (Short Version)

by Rachel Luxemburg

As we rejoice at our deliverance from slavery, we recall that our freedom was hard-earned. We regret that our freedom came at the cost of the Egyptians’ suffering, for we are all human beings made in the image of God. Therefore we do not drink a full cup of wine. We look back now upon the ancient plagues, the plagues of legend, the signs and wonders that haunt us still: Dip a finger into your wine glass and remove a drop...

-- Exodus Story

Telling the Story

by Rachel Luxemburg

Midrash The Exodus In Detail Jews are a people of memory. Perhaps more than anything else, what binds Jews together is a shared narrative, preserved and passed along through stories, teachings and rituals. In the days before the destruction of the Second Temple, families gathered together at the Temple in Jerusalem, presented their offerings, and shared in the paschal feast. After the destruction of the Temple, these practices ended, and the Passover ceremony changed to one that took place in the...

Lighting the Candles

by Rachel Luxemburg

Remember this day, the day you went forth from Egypt, from the house of bondage, for with a mighty hand Adonai the Eternal One led you forth to freedom. "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." From bondage to freedom, from darkness to light: this has been the path of our life. For this we give thanks. On Shabbat include the text in parenthesis. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה אֲדֹנָי אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר שֶׁל...

-- Four Children

The Four Children (Gender Neutral)

by Rachel Luxemburg

Blessed is the Eternal, who gave the Torah to the people Israel. Blessed is the Lord. The Torah speaks of four types of children: one who is wise, one who is rebellious, one who is simple, and one who does not know how to ask a question. The wise child asks: "What is the meaning of the rules, laws and traditions which God has commanded?" (Deuteronomy 6:20) You should teach this child all the traditions of Passover, even to the last...

-- Four Questions

The Five Rabbis

by Rachel Luxemburg

It is said that Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Joshua, Rabbi Elazar the son of Azariah, Rabbi Akibah, and Rabbi Tarfon sat all night in the town of B'ney B'rak telling the story of the departure from Egypt. The talked throughout the night, until their students came to them and said, "Rabbis, it is time for the morning Shema!" Rabbi Elazar said: I seem to be a man of seventy years, yet I did not understand why the story of the departure from...

-- Four Questions

The Four Questions Answered

by Rachel Luxemburg

This night is different because during the Seder we relive the Exodus. We eat matzah on Passover in memory of our ancestors who had no time to bake leavened bread when they fled from Egypt. We eat bitter herbs to remember the bitterness of their lives when they were slaves. We dip parsley in salt water to symbolize the tears of our ancestors in slavery. We will also dip bitter herbs in sweet charoses, representing the mortar our ancestors mixed as...

-- Four Questions

The Four Questions

by Rachel Luxemburg

Asking questions is a core tradition in Jewish life, and we welcome questions at this table. By tradition, the youngest person present asks the Four Questions, but at this table, we all ask them together. מַה נִּשְׁתַּנָּה הַלַּֽיְלָה הַזֶּה מִכָּל הַלֵּילות שֶׁבְּכָל הַלֵּילוֹת אָֽנוּ אוֹכלין חָמֵץ וּמַצָּה הַלַּֽיְלָה הַזֶּה כֻּלּוֹ מצה שֶׁבְּכָל הַלֵּילוֹת אָֽנוּ אוֹכְלִין שְׁאָר יְרָקוֹת הַלַּֽיְלָה הַזֶּה מָרוֹר שֶׁבְּכָל הַלֵּילוֹת אֵין אָֽנוּ מַטְבִּילִין אֲפִילוּ פַּֽעַם אחָת הַלַּֽיְלָה הַזֶּה שְׁתֵּי פְעמים שֶׁבְּכָל הַלֵּילוֹת אָֽנוּ אוֹכְלִין בֵּין יוֹשְׁבִין וּבֵין מְסֻבִּין. :הַלַּֽיְלָה...

Maggid - Beginning

Maggid Opening

by Rachel Luxemburg

The leader lifts up the Matzo and says: Lo! Behold the matzah, the bread of affliction which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Let all who are hungry come and eat. Let all who are in want come and celebrate the Passover with us. Now we are here, next year may we be in the land of Israel. Now many are still enslaved, next year may all be free of bondage. The words "maggid" and "Haggadah" come from the...

Map of the Exodus

by Rachel Luxemburg

Map of the Exodus

Kiddush

by Rachel Luxemburg

All Jewish celebrations involve wine. The Torah tells us four times to recount the story of our redemption from slavery, and we will drink wine four times during the course of this Seder. There are many explanations for this custom. They represent, some have said, the four corners of the earth, for freedom must reign everywhere; the four seasons of the year, for freedom must be guarded at all times; the four empires that oppressed us in days of old, for...

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No Recent Haggadah

-- Exodus Story

English Text

by Jordan Battaglia

“And the Eternal brought us forth from Egypt”- not by a ministering angel, not by a fiery angel, not by a messenger, but by Himself, in His glory, did the Holy One, blessed be He, as the Bible records: “And I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and I will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt from the man to beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgements. It is...

-- Cup #2 & Dayenu

Cup #2 & Dayenu (Short Version)

by Rabbi Nadav Caine

Dayenu דַּיֵינוּ אִלוּ הוֹצִיאָנוּ מִמִצְרַים, וְלֹא עָשָׂה בָּהֶם שְׁפָטִים, דַּיֵינוּ. אִלוּ עָשָׂה בָּהֶם שְׁפָטִים, וְלֹא עָשָׂה בֵאלֹהֵיהֶם, דַּיֵינוּ. אִלוּ עָשָׂה בֵאלֹהֵיהֶם, וְלֹא הָרַג אֶת בְּכוֹרֵיהֶם, דַּיֵינוּ. אִלוּ הָרַג אֶת בְּכוֹרֵיהֶם, וְלֹא נָתַן לָנוּ אֶת מָמוֹנָם, דַּיֵינוּ. אִלוּ נָתַן לָנוּ אֶת מָמוֹנָם, וְלֹא קָרַע לָנוּ אֶת הַיָּם, דַּיֵינוּ. אִלוּ קָרַע לָנוּ אֶת הַיָּם, וְלֹא הֶעֱבֵירָנוּ בְּתוֹכוֹ בֶּחָרָבָה, דַּיֵינוּ. אִלוּ הֶעֱבֵירָנוּ בְּתוֹכוֹ בֶּחָרָבָה, וְלֹא שְׁקַע צָרֵנוּ בְּתוֹכוֹ, דַּיֵינוּ. אִלוּ שִׁקַע צָרֵנוּ בְּתוֹכוֹ, וְלֹא סִפֵּק צָרְכֵּנוּ בּמִדְבָּר אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה, דַּיֵינוּ. אִלוּ סִפֵּק צָרְכֵּנוּ בּמִדְבָּר...

-- Exodus Story

Magid - Telling of the story - short

by Moshe Zvi

Maggid – Exodus Story This is the heart of the Seder: the act of telling ( Haggadah ) of the history, starting with the forefathers (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob/Israel), through the enslavement in Egypt, the rescue (Exodus), the giving of the Torah in Sinai and the conquest of the land of Israel. The forefathers It is written: "Joshua said to all the people: so says the Lord God of Israel--your fathers have always lived beyond the Euphrates River, Terah the father...

-- Cup #2 & Dayenu

Second cup, obligations - short

by Moshe Zvi

Obligations of the Holiday Rabban Gamliel would teach that all those who had not spoken of three things on Passover had not fulfilled their obligation to tell the story, and these three things are: Say together : Pesach, Matzah, Maror Point to the shank bone: Pesach The Pesach which our ancestors ate when the Second Temple stood: what is the reason for it? They ate the Pesah because the holy one, Blessed be He “passed over” the houses of our ancestors...

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