Dear Friends, Here are some very special readings that you can use to enliven your Passover seders. They come from very diverse sources: Women of the Wall, American Jewish World Service, AIPAC, and a wonderful spiritual poet, Sarah Zadok.
Enjoy!! Rabbi Robert L. Wolkoff
Prayer for the Safety of Women of the Wall’s Priestly Blessing
Passover 5776
by Rabbi Laura Geller
Holy One of Blessing,
It is hard to leave Egypt,
the narrow places that keep us from being free.
We need courage.
We need each other.
Remind us what we learn in Talmud:
we were redeemed because of the righteousness of the women.
Bless us with the strength of Shifra and Puah…
midwives who risked their lives to save the lives of innocent babies.
Bless us with the confidence of Yocheved
who put her infant son Moses in a basket on the river.
Bless us with the compassion of the daughter of Pharaoh,
whose stretched out arms brought safety.
Bless us with the chutzpah of Miriam
who spoke truth to power..
A conspiracy of women
changed the world then.
It can change the world now.
Blessing flows through us
to our sisters at the Kotel.
Blessings flow through them
to other sisters.
A conspiracy of women
and the men who support them
reminding us
what Passover teaches:
the way things are not the way they have to be.
May God bless us and protect us
May God’s light shine on us and be gracious to us
May we feel God’s presence and may we have peace.
A Passover Prayer
By Sarah Zadok
May the wine we drink, the Torah we share, the food we eat, and the stories we tell remind us of who we have been who we are now and
Move us towards who we are intended to be.
May that knowing fill our hearts, pump through our veins, and surge into every cell of our being
Illuminating body, mind and soul with purpose and connectivity
And with gratitude.
May we lean in to all that releases us,
Rest our backs on Now’s pillow
Take a deep breath and hold her deep.
May we open our homes to all who are hungry
For love, truth, a kind word or a hot meal,
Please G-d, give us the means to feed and sustain each other.
Let our vessel be strong
And let us be brave enough to relive the story we tell.
The bitter and the sweet,
The rupture and the repair.
Let us not be afraid to feel – to break or to rebuild.
Let us pulsate with the joy that comes from whole and a broken heart.
Let us know, sweet G-d, in the deepest way that we are one people, with one heart.
Let our differences in story-telling highlight our unity.
Let us paint a communal mural on ancient stone with soul and spirit –
Let the gap between Heaven and Earth be our canvas.
Let our work until now be enough to bridge that gap.
Let each cup we drink be an elixir to both spirit and tongue.
Let us speak true – speak straight – speak wise and speak right.
Let every word shared on this blessed night bring us closer to what matters.
Closer to You.
Let freedom be a bucket You release from On High.
Let us dance and sing in it that rush.
Help us be more ready than we have ever been to hold all this and more
And let us step slowly and proud, with dignity and with grace into redemption
Together.
Amen.
The Four Children
American Jewish World Service (AJWS)
A Passover reading designed to transform questions into action.
Inspired by the Jewish commitment to justice.
American Jewish World Service (AJWS) works to realize human rights and end poverty in the developing world. We encourage you to incorporate this reading into the Four Children section of your seder.
At Passover each year, we read the story of our ancestors’ pursuit of liberation from oppression. When confronting this history, how do we answer our children when they ask us how to pursue justice in our time?
What Does the Activist Child Ask?
“The Torah tells me, ‘Justice, justice you shall pursue,’ but how can I pursue justice?”
Empower her always to seek pathways to advocate for the vulnerable. As Proverbs teaches, “Speak up for the mute, for the rights of the unfortunate. Speak up, judge righteously, champion the poor and the needy.”
What Does the Skeptical Child Ask?
“How can I solve problems of such enormity?”
Encourage him by explaining that he need not solve the problems, he must only do what he is capable of doing. As we read in Pirke Avot, “It is not your responsibility to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.”
What Does the Indifferent Child Say?
“It’s not my responsibility.”
Persuade her that responsibility cannot be shirked. As Abraham Joshua Heschel writes, “The opposite of good is not evil, the opposite of good is indifference. In a free society where terrible wrongs exist, some are guilty, but all are responsible.”
And the Uninformed Child Who Does Not Know How to Ask…
Prompt him to see himself as an inheritor of our people’s legacy. As it says in Deuteronomy, “You must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
At this season of liberation, let us work toward the liberation of all people.
Let us respond to our children’s questions with action and justice.
The AIPAC Haggadah Supplement
The AIPAC Haggadah Supplement is designed to invite discussion around your Seder table about the way each generation participates in ensuring that Israel remains secure and America strong. We hope the Supplement’s readings will inspire every generation at your seder table to share what the state of Israel means to them and how they can contribute to her well-being.
Speaking Truth to Power
When we retell the story of Passover each year, we recall the seminal moments of Jews speaking truth to power. When Moses and Aaron, in the name of G-d, tell Pharaoh to, “Let My people go!” they are continuing a long line of Jewish activism. From Abraham arguing for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, to the prophet Nathan rebuking King David, to Esther pleading to save the Jews of Persia, we have long depended on the righteous of our people speaking out. It is no different in our own day. Whether marching on Washington in support of Soviet Jewry in the 1980s or lobbying the halls of Congress for a safe and secure Israel today, the Jewish community works to make real the line in our Haggadah:
Now we are enslaved. Next year may all be free.
Embracing the Values We Stand For
by U.S. Representative Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL)
My mother worked for a Jewish family when I was growing up. I was fortunate to attend and participate in many Passover seders at their home over the years.
The message of Passover was one I could relate to – the evil of slavery, the sweetness of freedom and redemption, and the constant need for men and women of conscience to stand up against prejudice, injustice and hatred.
Passover reminds us that we must continue to heed our conscience – that we must always embrace the values we stand for – that we must strive for a world without bigotry where all people, regardless of race, religion, or creed, may live together without the threat of nuclear weapons, without the plagues of persecution, violence or indifference.
(Congressman Alcee L. Hastings represents Florida’s 20th district)