Temple Ohabei Shalom Community Seder 2021/5781
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Temple Ohabei Shalom Community Seder Page | 1 Temple Ohabei Shalom Community Seder 2021/5781 Together on the Journey: Retelling, Remembering, and Renewing Temple Ohabei Shalom Community Seder Page | 2 Temple Ohabei Shalom Community Seder Page | 3 On This Night We retrace our steps from then to now, reclaiming years of desert wandering. On this night, We ask questions, ancient and new, speaking of servitude and liberation, service and joy. On this night, We welcome each soul, sharing stories of courage, strength and faith. On this night, We open doors long closed, lifting our voices in songs of praise. On this night, We renew ancient hopes and dream of a future redeemed. On this night, We gather around Seder tables, remembering passage from bondage to freedom. On this night, We journey from now to then, telling the story of freedom. Source: JewBelong Haggadah, Author Unknown Temple Ohabei Shalom Community Seder Page | 4 Candle Blessing May the light of the candles we kindle together bring radiance to all who live in darkness. May this season, marking the deliverance of our people from Pharaoh, rouse us to strive to bring about the liberation of all people everywhere. Lighting these candles, we create the sacred space of the Festival of Freedom; we sanctify the coming together of our community. בָּרוְּך אַתָּ ה יְיָ,אֱ ֹלהֵ ינוּ מֶ לְֶך הָ עוֹלָם, א ֲֹשֶ ר קִ דְּשָ נוּ בְּ מִצְוֹתָ יו, וְצִ וָּנוּ לְהַ דלִיק נֵר שֶ ל יוֹם טוֹב. Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav, v’tzivanu l’hadlik ner shel Yom Tov. Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the Universe, who hallows us with mitzvot, commanding us to kindle the light of this festival. The Order of the Seder Our Passover meal is called a seder, which means “order” in Hebrew, because we go through 14 specific steps as we retell the story of our ancestors’ liberation from slavery in Egypt. We begin our seder by singing the names of the 14 steps – this will help us keep track of how far away the main course is! קַדֵּ ׁש | Kiddush (the blessing over wine) | kadeish וּרְ חַ ץ | Ritual hand-washing in preparation for the seder | urchatz כַרְ פַס | Dipping a green vegetable in salt water| karpas יַחַ ץ | Breaking the middle matzah | yachatz מַגִ יד | Telling the story of Passover | magid רָחְ צָה | Ritual hand-washing in preparation for the meal | rachtza מוֹצִיא מַצָ ה | The blessing over the meal and matzah | motzi matzah מָ רוֹר | Dipping the bitter herb in sweet charoset | maror כוֹרֵ ְך | Eating a sandwich of matzah and bitter herb | koreich ןׁשֻׁלְחָ עוֹרֵ ְך | Eating the meal! | shulchan oreich צָ פוּן | Finding and eating the Afikomen | tzafoon בָּרֵ ְך | Saying grace after the meal and inviting Elijah the Prophet | bareich הַ לֵל | Singing songs that praise God | hallel נִרְ צָ ה | Ending the seder and thinking about the future | nirtzah Temple Ohabei Shalom Community Seder Page | 5 קַדֵּ ׁש | Kiddush (the blessing over wine) | kadeish Tonight we drink four cups of wine. Why four? The four cups represent the four promises of liberation God makes in the Torah: I will bring you out, I will deliver you, I will redeem you, I will take you to be my people (Exodus 6:6-7.) The four promises, in turn, have been interpreted as four stages on the path of liberation: becoming aware of oppression, opposing oppression, imagining alternatives, and accepting responsibility to act. בָּרוְּך האַתָּ יְיָ, אֱ ֹלהֵ ינוּ מֶ לְֶך הָ עוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵ א פְרִ י הַ גָפֶן: Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, borei p’ree hagafen. We praise God, Source of All Life, who creates the fruit of the vine. We praise God, Source of All Life, who gave us a heritage that endures through the ages, ever changing and ever meaningful. We thank You for the opportunities for holiness, the obligations of Your commandments, and the happiness of joyful holidays. We praise God, who sanctifies the family of Israel and the holidays. Drink the first glass of wine! וּרְ חַץ | Ritual hand-washing in preparation for the seder | urchatz Too often during our daily lives we don’t stop and take a moment to prepare for whatever it is we’re about to do. We wash our hands at the beginning of the evening to create the spirit of a sacred gathering conducted in purity and devotion. Temple Ohabei Shalom Community Seder Page | 6 כַרְ פַס | Dipping a green vegetable in salt water| karpas As we remember the liberation from Egypt this Passover, we also recognize the stirrings of spring and rebirth happening in the world around us. We now take a vegetable, representing our joy at the dawning of spring after our long, cold winter and dip it into salt water, a symbol of the tears our ancestors shed as slaves. Before we eat it, we recite a short blessing: בָּרוְּך אַתָּ ה יְיָ,אֱ ֹלהֵ ינוּ מֶ לְֶך הָ עוֹלָם, אבּוֹרֵ יפְרִ הָאֲֹדָמָ ה: Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, borei p’ree ha-adama. We praise God, Source of All Life, who creates the fruits of the earth. We look forward to spring and the reawakening of flowers and greenery. They haven’t been lost, just buried beneath the snow, getting ready for reappearance just when we most need them. FOOD FOR THOUGHT: • Karpas symbolizes hope for the future. Jewish tradition always embraces hope, even during uncertain times. What makes you hopeful this year? Why? • What signs of spring are you noticing today, wherever you live? If someone at your virtual seder lives in another place, are they seeing different signs of the season? • What experiences in your life have given you hope? When were you successful in a struggle to change? What did you learn from the experience? Temple Ohabei Shalom Community Seder Page | 7 יַחַץ | Breaking the middle matzah | yachatz There are three pieces of matzah stacked on the table. In a moment, we will break the middle matzah into two pieces. The larger piece is called the afikomen, literally “dessert” in Greek. The afikomen will be hidden and eaten when retrieved by the children. It will be the last taste of food at the seder! We eat matzah in memory of the quick flight of our ancestors from Egypt. When word of their freedom came, they took whatever dough they had and ran with it before it had the chance to rise, leaving it looking something like matzah. מַגִ יד| The Telling Begins | magid Uncover and hold up the three pieces of matzah and say: הא לחמא עניא Ha Lachma Anya This is the bread of poverty which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. All who are hungry, come and eat; all who are needy, come and celebrate Passover with us. This year we are here; next year we will be in Israel. This year we are still slaves; next year we will be free. MATZAH: Bread of Affliction, Bread of Hope and Possibility As we go through the seder, the matzah will be transformed. It will cease to be the bread of affliction and it will become the bread of hope, courage, faith and possibility. And it begins with a breaking. YACHATZ: Breaking the Matzah Reader: Each person is invited to hold a piece of matzah, to mindfully feel its weight, notice its color, its shape and texture. Resting the matzah on our open palms, we remember that the Passover story teaches that oppression and suffering result from fear and the unwillingness to open one’s heart to the pain and the experiences of others. It was fear that brought about the enslavement of the Israelites and it was the hardening of the heart that kept the Israelites, the Egyptians and the Pharaoh in bondage. From fear and a hardened heart came violence, anguish and grief. One person lifts the plate of three matzot. We all take a moment of silence and then call out the beginning of the prayer: Ha lachma anya – This is the bread of affliction our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Temple Ohabei Shalom Community Seder Page | 8 We return to silence and each raise up a piece of matzah. We maintain silence while all, at the same time, break our matzot in half. We listen to the sound of the bread of affliction cracking open. As we hold the two pieces in our hands we set an intention to break open and soften our hearts: All: May our eyes be open to each other’s pain. May our ears be open to each other’s cries. May we live with greater awareness. May we practice greater forgiveness. And may we go forward as free people—able to respond to ourselves and each other with compassion, wonderment, appreciation and love. We place the matzah back on the plate and continue the prayer: Let all who are hungry come and eat. Let all who are in need join us in this Festival of Liberation. May each of us, may all of us, find our homes. May each of us, may all of us, be free. Later in the seder, after we have told the story, we say the blessing over the matzah and prepare to eat it for the first time. We take a moment and acknowledge our capacity for healing and love: Reader: Every time we make a decision not to harden our hearts to our own pain or to the pain of others, we step toward freedom. Every time we are able to act with compassion rather than anger, we stop the flow of violence.