It must have been pretty exhausting building the pyramids and the Children of Israel probably had very sore legs and backs. Trikonasana, or Triangle Pose, is good for increasing strength and healing injuries. We read in the Hagaddah how ‘everyone who increases the story of leaving Egypt is praiseworthy’. In other words, the more creative you are, the more points you get. So why not get creative? Whenever the word ‘slave’ is mentioned you could get everyone around the table to do Triangle Pose so that they can remember the pyramids, and whenever there is a mention of ‘freedom’, everyone has to do Camel Pose. After all, it is the camels which helped shlep our stuff to freedom, to the Holy Land, to Eretz-HaKodesh...

Marcus J Freed is a studio-trained yogi, yeshiva-trained educator, published author and classically-trained actor. Check out more Kosher Sutras at www.bibliyoga.com or email [email protected] to receive your free weekly Kosher Sutra. Discover more about his general programs at www.marcusjfreed.com.

Our Passover Things

(To be sung to the tune of "My favorite things", from The Sound of Music)

Cleaning and cooking and so many dishes
Out with the hametz, no pasta, no knishes
Fish that's gefiltered,
horseradish that stings
These are a few of our Passover things.

Matzoh and karpas and chopped up haroset
Shankbones and kidish and Yiddish neuroses
Tante who kvetches and uncle who sings
These are a few of our Passover things.

Motzi and maror and trouble with Pharoahs
Famines and locust and slaves with wheelbarrows
Matzoh balls floating and eggshell that clings
These are a few of our Passover things.

CHORUS

When the plagues strike
When the lice bite
When we're feeling sad
We simply remember our Passover things
And then we don't feel so bad.

Our first cup of wine (or grape juice) is for the physical spring that we see, hear, smell, touch. It is one of the many miracles we see every year. Green forces its way through the cracks of the hard earth. Birds begin to venture out and sing. The scent of flowers perfumes the air. Warmth begins to creep into our skin and make us feel alive again.

We raise our cups and recite:

Baruch atah adonai, elohaynu melech ha'olam, borei p'ri ha'gafen.

Urchatz is the time

We wash our hands, we wash them well

Who will be first, I will not tell?

Ok....I will choose if I must.

Whoever I pick will be neat, I trust.

Our tale to tell, both happy and sad,

like all great lore, some good, some bad

On our table the symbols abound

you needn't look far, they're all around

Look on your plate, for parsley green

a sign of Spring when it is seen.

And somewhere near there is salt water,

tears of slavery, hard work with mortar

And so together, we now recall

the green around, the tears that fall.

Ba-ruch A-tah A-do-nai, E-lo-hei-nu Me-lech Ha-o-lam,

Bo-rei pe-ree ha-a-da-mah.

Oh Holy One of Blessing, Your presence fills creation,

We praise You for creating the fruit of the ground!

The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism posted a great idea for the Afikomen.  We used it this year, and it was a blast for both the teenagers and the younger kids.

When it is time to search for the Afikomen, the leader provides the oldest child with a Tanach and a piece of paper with a chapter and verse number.  Then, the group of children must find the relevant line that will direct them to someplace in the house.  Hidden in that spot is another chapter and verse reference and so on until they find it. 

The following was p repared by Serene Victor, National Consultant for Synagogue Education, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, for use by its affiliated congregations.

Afikomen Treasure Hunt Clues

Clue #1: Exodus 35:16

"the altar of burnt offering, its copper grating, its poles and all its furnishing...."

(Location of Clue #2 - oven)

Clue #2: Ezekiel 5:1

"...take thee a sharp sword, as a barber's razor shalt thou take it unto thee, and cause it to pass upon thy head and upon they beard; then take thee balances to weigh and divide the hair.."

(Location of Clue #3 - scales)

 Clue #3: Ezekiel 1:27

"And I saw as the color of electrum, as the appearance of fire round enclosing it..."

(Location of Clue #4 - TV)

Clue #4: Amos 4:6

"And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities."

(Location of Clue #5 - next to the toothpaste)

Clue #5: Exodus 12:7

"And thou shall take of the blood and put it on the two side posts and on the lintel above the houses..."

(Location of Clue #6 - behind mezuzah

Clue #6: Genesis 19:26

"Lot's wife looked back and she thereupon turned into a pillar of salt."

(Location of Afikomen - near salt shaker)

• In every generation, we must see ourselves as if we personally were liberated from Egypt. We gather tonight to tell the ancient story of a people's liberation from Egyptian slavery. This is the story of our origins as a people. It is from these events that we gain our ethics, our vision of history, our dreams for the future. We gather tonight, as two hundred generations of Jewish families have before us, to retell the timeless tale.

• Yet our tradition requires that on Seder night, we do more than just tell the story. We must live the story. Tonight, we will re-experience the liberation from Egypt. We will remember how our family suffered as slaves; we will feel the exhilaration of redemption. We must re-taste the bitterness of slavery and must rejoice over our newfound freedom. We annually return to Egypt in order to be freed. We remember slavery in order to deepen our commitment to end all suffering; we recreate our liberation in order to reinforce our commitment to universal freedom.

On The Importance Of Questions
The eldest reads:
Nobel Prize winning physicist Isaac Isadore Rabi’s mother did not ask him: “What did you learn in school today?” each day. She asked him: “Did you ask a good question today?”

More Questions
The oldest teenager, or the person older than 19, yet closest to the teen years reads:
Why do the same questions get asked each year?
I probably have more questions than the youngest, why does a child ask the questions?
How come we ask these questions, but you rarely give a straight answer?
Does anyone have other questions to add?

Some Answers
Questioning is a sign of freedom, and so we begin with questions.
To ritualize only one answer would be to deny that there can be many, often conflicting answers. To think that life is only black and white, or wine and Maror, bitter or sweet, or even that the cup is half empty or half full is to enslave ourselves to simplicity.
Each of us feels the challenge to search for our own answers. The ability to question is only the first stage of freedom. The search for answers is the next.
Can we fulfill the promise of the Exodus in our own lives if we do not search for our own answers?
Does every question have an answer? Is the ability to function without having all the answers one more stage of liberation? Can we be enslaved to an obsessive search for the answer?
Do you have the answer?

Mah nishtanah halaylah hazeh mikol haleilot?

Sheb’chol haleilot anu och’lin chameitz umatzah, halaylah hazeh kulo matzah.

Sheb’chol haleilot anu och’lin sh’ar y’rakot, halaylah hazeh maror.

Sheb’chol haleilot ein anu matbilin afilu pa’am echat, halaylah hazeh sh’tei f’amim.

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 to the parents,

“Would you please explain the laws...

Of the customs of the Seder,

will you please explain the cause?”

And the parents proudly answered,

“’Cause our forebears ate in speed,

Ate the Pesach lamb ’ere midnight,

and from slavery were freed.

“So we follow their example,

and ’ere midnight we must eat

The afikoman (O so tasty!)

which will be our final treat.”

Then did sneer the child so wicked,

“What does all this mean to you?”

And the parents’ voice was bitter,

as their grief and anger grew.

“If yourself you don’t consider

as a child of Yisrael,

Then for you this has no meaning,

you could be a slave as well.”

Then the simple child said simply,

“What is this?” And quietly,

The good parents told their offspring.

“We were freed from slavery.”

But the youngest child was silent,

and just could not ask at all,

but with eyes all bright with wonder,

listened to the details all.

Now dear children heed this lesson,

and remember evermore,

What the parents told their children,

told their kids that numbered four.

Every Seder tells a story that belongs to you and me,

You and I were slaves in Egypt.

Now we’re blessed with liberty.

The world's fastest haggadah for your Passover seder!

Storytelling Activities 

-Tell the story through a giant game of Jeopardy!

-Have the kids get together to put on a puppet show about Moses and the escape from Egypt. While they are putting it together, the adults can have a deeper discussion of the meaning of freedom. 

-Have volunteers role-play Moses, Miriam, Aaron, Moses mother Yochevet, and Pharaoh, and have the rest of the table interview them and ask them about their experiences. 

-Ask everyone to share a special seder memory. Find examples of great seders in history.

-Don’t taste your finger after dipping it in the wine! The suffering of any people, even enemies, should never taste sweet to us

-Make a family tree of the Biblical characters to help with the telling of the story, from Abraham to Moses

-Make a family tree of your own family, as far back as you can go!

-Invite people to recount a story when they felt or witnessed discrimination or bullying. What did you do? What did you wish you did?

-Have the adults put on a puppet show for the kids!

-Tell the story of the Exodus in a dramatic manner, and have the children mime or interpretive dance the events as you tell them.

-Play a memory game. Go around the table asking everyone to fill in the black, “When I left Egypt, I took with me my most treasured possession……” The participants in turn must repeat the objects mentioned and add their own!

-Make many different kinds of charoset and have a taste and compare. Use the charoset to paste together the sugar cube pyramids.

Taken near Israel, this is what I imagine was the view while wandering through the desert.

- Prepare card with the names of the plagues on them. Have guests select a card and then pantomime the plague while others try to guess which one it is.

- Divide the kids into three group, give each group either “blood” “frogs” or “animals,” the first, second, and fourth plagues. Give them five or ten minutes to create a short dramatization. The parents will then award the best performance (ideally all of them!) with an Oscar, or better yet, a Moses!

- Have the children draw the ten plagues. If done earlier, these can be laminated and wine can be placed on top of the plagues as each is recited.

In the following rap, each seder guest is assigned a number. When the leader calls out their number, they do their assigned plague. 

CHORUS:

Moses at the Red Sea, like “who’s gonna follow me?”
Pharaoh’s in the tide, we gonna ride, to our destiny,
In back of me, so sad to see, them bodies in the Red Sea
chariots get buried, b-b-buried in the Red Sea
Pharaoh sat and laughed when a staff became a snake,
too long we’ve been your slaves, just let us go and pray,
said "don’t make this mistake,"no pardon his heart was hardened,
so started what we regard as: the days of 10 plagues...

One: blood in the river gonna shiver, gonna freak outlips take a sip now there's blood in your mouth

Two: frogs on your beds in your house on your platedon't matter what's for dinner better like frog legs

Three: gnats buzz buzz watch the dust turn to bugsitch itch hard to think with all the lice in your mugs

Four: beasts roam your streets when you step outsidethere's a tiger on your tail nowhere to hide

Five: death of your livestock, flesh dries upb-b-bodies in your barn Pharaoh when you gonna wise up?

CHORUS

Six: boils on your flesh no less than torturecareful bout the ash in the air it'll scorch ya

Seven: hail rains down beats your brains downlike a message from the heavens better lay our chains down

Eight: locusts from the coast you can hear their wings clickeating crops eating trees til they're used as toothpicks

Nine: darkness, dispatch, 3 days pitch blackremember when this started and you thought it was just witchcraft

Death of the first born how did it come to this ten is what it took so we all would remember it

CHORUS

Ilu hotzi hotzianu hotzianu mimitzrayim, hotzianu mimitzrayim, DAYENU.

Ilu natan natan lanu, natan lanu et hashabat, natan lanu et hashabat, DAYENU.

Ilu natan natan lanu, natan lanu et hatorah, natan lanu et hatorah, DAYENU.

The moment's near when we shall eat

a snack, a meal, a Seder treat

Our customs held in high esteem

that when we eat our hands be clean

For all that we can do or say

a blessing must precede the way

(Participants should wash their hands and recite the following blessing:) 

Ba-ruch A-tah A-do-nai, E-lo-hei-nu Me-lech Ha-o-lam,

a-sheer keed-sha-nu be-meetz-vo-tav, vee-tzee-va-nu

al n'tee-lat ya-da-yeem.

O Holy One of Blessing, Your Presence fills creation;

You made us special with your mitzvot, and You have

instructed us to wash our hands.

Two times so far we've talked about

this matzah here to figure out

And now's our chance to take a bite

to remind us of the slaves rushed flight

But first some blessings say we should

Thank God for our gifts so good

Ba-ruch A-tah A-do-nai, E-lo-hei-nu Me-lech Ha-o-lam,

Ha-mo-tzee le-chem meen ha-a-retz.

O Holy One of Blessing, Your Presence fills creation;

Thank you for the nourishing goodness of bread.

Ba-ruch A-tah A-do-nai, E-lo-hei-nu Me-lech Ha-o-lam,

a-sher keed-sha-nu be-meetz-vo-tav, vee-tzee-va-nu

al a-chee-lat ma-tzah.

O Holy One of Blessing, your Presence fills creation;

You have made us special with your Mitzvot, and You have

Instructed us to eat Matzah during Pesach

 maror

Eating a sandwich of matzah and bitter herb | koreich | כּוֹרֵךְ

When the Temple stood in Jerusalem, the biggest ritual of them all was eating the lamb offered as the pesach or Passover sacrifice. The great sage Hillel would put the meat in a sandwich made of matzah, along with some of the bitter herbs. While we do not make sacrifices any more – and, in fact, some Jews have a custom of purposely avoiding lamb during the seder so that it is not mistaken as a sacrifice – we honor this custom by eating a sandwich of the remaining matzah and bitter herbs. Some people will also include charoset in the sandwich to remind us that God’s kindness helped relieve the bitterness of slavery.

At the end of the meal the children are invited to hunt for the Afikoman (the piece of matzah that was hidden earlier) and it is redeemed from the children who have found it, since it is necessary to have this taste of matzah as the last taste at the end of the meal. One way of redeeming it is to ask the children to name an organization that is working for social justice, freedom, peace, or healing of the earth, and the adults agree to contribute to that group in accordance with their own means.] [The Afikoman is distributed among the Seder company, and every one eats a bite of it.]

At times such as this, we pause and reflect

we thank God for the good that surrounds

our families, our friends,

the great blessings of freedom

and of course all the food that abounds

We make sacred the moment

with a prayer truly said

as we celebrate the blessings

of our feast of unleavened bread

Baruch Atah Adonai, ha-zan eit ha -kol.

O Holy One of blessing, we thank you for the blessings of food.

A third cup of wine we now shall drink

as we recall again to think

God's great promise of redemption

our ancestor's saw

V'ga-alti et-chem beetz-roah n'too-yah.

(Our Torah teaches that God said:  

"I will redeem you with an outstretched arm." Shemot 6:6)

Ba-ruch A-tah A-do-nai, E-lo-hei-nu Me-lech Ha-o-lam

Bo-rei, pe-ree ha-ga-fen.

O Holy One of Blessing, our Presence fills creation,

we praise you for creating the fruit of the vine.

A special guest we welcome now

the prophet Elijah to take his bow

Our custom at each Seder meal

to invite our friends, our joy to feel

One day quite soon, we all pray

Elijah will really come our way

And peaceful times he'll bring about

with joy and gladness all will shout

And so this cup for him we leave

our warm hospitality he might receive

Empty Eliyahu's cup.  Pass it around and have everyone pour in a drop of wine from their own cups to fill it.  This represents everyone being a part of contributing to perfecting the world.  

You can also do this with wine already in the cup and/or using extra wine to fill the cup to the top.

Beth Flusser

2011

Now's the time to say good bye

we soon depart, our head held high

We pray a day when we shall see

that all God's children will be free

Perhaps next year we'll celebrate

an end to war and fear and hate

We pray as well, dear Chaya and Chaim

L'shana ha-ba-ah b'Ye-ru-sha-la-yeem

Next year in Jerusalem!!!

The Building Song (Shirley Cohen)

Bang, bang, bang Hold your hammer low

Bang, bang, bang Give a heavy blow

 For it's work, work, work Every day and every night, 

For it's work, work, work When it's dark and when it's light. 

Dig, dig, dig Get your shovel deep 

Dig, dig, dig There's no time for sleep 

For it's work, work, work Every day and every night 

For it's work, work, work When it's dark and when it's light.