The Passover seder is traditionally divided into 15 steps, sometimes viewed as the steps from slavery toward freedom. In addition to the traditional 15 steps, our listing provides the constituent parts of maggid, the telling of the Passover story, as well as several other rituals commonly found at the seder. One of the crucial elements of slavery was that the Jews were not able to form themselves as a viable community. Egyptian taskmasters rigidly regulated their lives, preventing any sense of communion and solidarity. And so, on Pesakh night, the essence of the seder is to constitute ourselves as a Jewish community. Three quintessential acts define Jewish community, and all three of those are at the core of our seder experience: we break bread, demonstrating our covenantal relationship to each other and to God; we learn Torah; and we invite the poor and hungry to share our meal with us, demonstrating that our community is one which extends itself to those in need.
Shefoch Chamatcha reminds us that open—even public—display, discussion, recognition, and validation of anger, rather than avoidance, can be both healthy and necessary
A poem encouraging us to ask “what needs to change” so that we may all truly be free
Try these thoughtful additions from T’ruah to infuse your Passover seder with human rights awareness and action
“Wine or grape juice?” and why we should make both available at our communal celebrations
A mindfulness teaching on matzah, includes a downloadable PDF for inclusion in your seder
Transforming the bread of affliction into the matzah of hope and imagining a world where all are born into freedom
Watch this video or download the MP3’s to learn this chant by Rabbi Shefa Gold
Praying for strength to emerge from our narrow places in order to enter into the promised land
An invitation for each of the four cups to move us from the narrow places
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