רַבּוֹתַי נְבָרֵךְ

All who sit around these tables,

Friends and strangers,

In peaceful conversation

And pleasant disagreement,

Those who remember and those who are remembered,

On this Pesakh,

We have shared this fine meal

And such a fine story,

We take this moment to acknowledge

That we are blessed

And, in our turn,

We bless.

בָּרוּךְ הוּא וּבָרוּך שְׁמוֹ

Blessed be the Creator and the created,

Blessed be the sustainers and the sustained.

Blessed be the eaters and the eaten,

Blessed be the feeders and the fed.

Blessed be the cooks and the meal,

Blessed be the drinkers and the water.

Blessed be the farmers and the produce,

Blessed be the baker and the bread.

Blessed be them all.

Blessed be the questioners and the questioned,

Blessed be the musicians and the songs.

Blessed the comics and the jokes,

Blessed be the artists and the illustrations.

Blessed be the maggid and the stories,

Blessed be the rabbis and the learning.

Blessed be them all.

Blessed be the doers and the done upon,

Blessed be the freers and the freed.

Blessed be the leaders and the led,

Blessed be the tellers and the told.

Blessed be the prayers and the prayed for,

Blessed be the servers and the served.

Blessed be them alll.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי הַזָּן אֶת הַכּל

נוֹדֶהלְּךָ יי אֱלהֵינוּ

Blessing us,One-ness,

We do not lack the biggest and the smallest of blessings:

Blessing us, One-ness,

With a history, ancient and current, that is never boring.

We give thanks

וְעַלהַכּל יי אֱלהֵינוּ אֲנַחְנוּ מוֹדִים לָךְ וּמְבָרְכִים אוֹתָךְ

Blessing us, One-ness,

With boundless Mercy

For all people,

All made in your image.

Those who remember and those who are remembered.

רַחֶםנָא יי אֱלהֵינוּ עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל עַמֶּךָ

Blessed One-ness

Making peace

Sustaining wholeness

For each other

And all the world

On this Pesakh

We give thanks.

וְאִמְרוּ

אָמֵן

So this is Maggid,

The part of the seder where we tell the story

Of leaving Egypt.

Actually,

We spend more time talking about talking about the story

Then telling the actual story.

Very meta is our haggadah,

With many numbers,

Lots of fours:

Four questions

Four cups of wine

Four children, 

Four ways of asking,

Why is this night different from all other nights? 

The first child, 

Book smart.

The wise child

Knows all the rules.

He's direct,

No messin' around,

This is what you do on Pesach:

Tell the story

Dip the herbs

Recline

Drink four cups

Don't eat leavened bread

Ask the questions

Know the answers.

It's obvious. 

Duh. 

The second child,

A smart ass,

Smart and an ass.

Doesn't care about the rules

Unless she knows what they're for,

She wants meaning

And is kind of obnoxious about it

Because sometimes it's hard to ask the next logical question

Without annoying someone.

What does this story mean to you? she asks.

And it comes off as a challenge, but it's not.

She really wants to know:

What does it mean?

So you tell her,

Freedom to be who you are,

To make choices, to seek God whether you find God or not,

To become a person and then a people,

To ask questions. 

The third child,

A beginner,

Doesn't know what to do

Doesn't know why we're doing it

Doen't know that he doesn't know.

A baby!

So you say to him,

We tell a really good story

With a beginning middle and end

And a hero

And a villian

And miracles and dancing and bugs and dead cows and blood,

You'll love it!

And this is why we tell the story:

So we don't forget we were slaves,

So we don't forget what God did for us,

So we don't forget Torah,

And the seder is what we do to remember.

And because we remember

We don't enslave others.

We bask in God's presence.

We study Torah

And we tell stories. 

And then there's the child who doesn't even know that she can ask a question.

Is it because she doesn't care?

Doesn't have a context?

Too assimilated to know how interesting it all is?

Or perhaps no one will let her talk

So she doesn't even try?

Sitting in the back of the bus,

Not allowed to study Torah,

Married at 17,

Popping out babies at 18.

So let's not wait for either of them to say something.

Let's hold out our hands and say,

We were slaves

And now we're not.

And there is so much to know and do

And you can know and do it

And we will help you.

You are inspired,

You just don't know it yet. 

Okay.

Contrast these four children

With the  Five Rabbis sitting around talking

In Bnai Brak.

Each of the knows the direct meaning.

All of them plumb the depths of the hidden and symbolic.

Any one of them can tell a tale that bridges a gap.

Five out of five are insipired by God's revelations.

They know the rules and the meaning and the stories

And oh my God, are they empowered to talk.

They stay up all night

And talk and talk and talk!

Each one smarter than the other

But in the morning when their students come in,

They still haven't prayed.

Because they can't stop talking.

Hey you guys, say the students,

Shema!

Listen! 

Why is this night different from all other nights? 

What was the seder table when we only had Elijah’s cup?
Incomplete.

We open the door for Elijah,
Angry prophet of the world to come.
And we ask God to pay attention
To the fire from the sky that was Elijah’s gift.
Regretted necessity.
Elijah announces the Moshiach
Who then saves the Jews!
Elijah, the bringer of justice.
When you open the door don’t just say the prayer
Read the translation,
It’s a little scary
So invite that in.
Bring the anger,bring the plagues
Sometimes we need them,
It’s part of the story.
We were slaves in Egypt and it was horrible.
But
If there is a child at the table
Let her open the door for Uncle Elijah
And hope that there’s some wind tonight
And when it blows
Tell her that’s Elijah as he comes inside
Visiting each Jewish home on Pesach
To have his cup of wine.
And when the child sits back down
Jiggle the table just a little
And tell her to watch the wine shake in the cup
So the kid thinks Elijah is there, taking a sip.
The anger will wait.
We lift Miriam’s cup,
Dancing prophet celebrating the world that is now.
And we tell God we are grateful
For the water from the earth that was Miriam’s gift,
Welcome necessity,
On God’s behalf.
Miriam announces joy!
And teaches us to save ourselves.
Miriam, the bringer of mercy,
There’s no prayer for her in the haggadah-
So make one up!
It’s a little scary
But what the heck.
Bring up the water, start the party
Sometimes we need it
And it’s part of the story:
We were slaves in Egypt and now we are free.
But
If there is a child at the table
Let him take a sip from Miriam’s cup,
If all the talking makes him thirsty,
And while he drinks
Tell him about Miriam the artist
Singing MiChamochah on the Red Sea Shore
Making sure we have fun at the table.
And when the child is finished
Remember that Miriam was a truth teller
And for that the prophet paid a heavy price
Make sure the kid respects Miriam, and values her water. 
The fun will wait.

So together on the seder table
Fire and Water,
Justice and Mercy,
Tzedejk v’ Rachameem.
The cup of wine to stir the flame
The cup of water to quench it.
Only with both cups are we complete.
So for all this, 
Baruch Atah Adonai,
Brucha At Shechinah
Elijah and Miriam
We are blessed this Pesach night.
Amen.

The top Matzoh

And bottom Matzoh are,

it is said,

Pesach substitutes

For the two loaves of challah on Shabbat,

Supposedly a reminder

Of the two portions of manna

They received  in the dessert

Every Friday before Shabbat.

But the middle matza?!

Ah,

That's for the seder.

We break it in half

And call it the bread of affliction,

Just like the unleavened bread

We ate as we fled slavery

Matza Number Two,

The afflicted matza,

We break it in half

And separate ourselves from joy

So we don't forget the pain

That has been ours.

We break it in half

And separate ourselves from the joy

So we can remember the pain

Of others.

All this pain

Lives in this first half of the afflicted matzoh

And we eat this half now,

So that we do not forget that we were slaves

So that we do not enslave others.

But--

We separate the second half of the afflicted matza

(The Afikomen)

From all that hurt

So that we don't forget the  joy that can follow the sorrow.

So that we don't forget the times that we changed things for the better.

And after the meal we will search for that happiness

And we will find it.

And then we eat the Afikomen together

So we don't forget that it is good to be alive

 And we are obligated to share that joy.

Blessed One-ness, we are so grateful for the obligations to remember pain and share joy.

Amen

We will drink the first of four cups of wine

And give up control

To the wine, to the story, to God.

We are in Mitzrayim, the narrow place, And God says to us:

I Shall Take You Out,

I Shall Rescue You,

I Shall Redeem You,

I Shall Take You to Me.

Sanctify the day with the First Cup.

I Shall Take You Out, sez God,

From the burdens of Egypt.

That's nice.  But what about 

The burdens of now?

War, sex slavery, exploitation, inequality,

Not much changes.

We better get out from under,

Resist the oppressor

And make our own places free.

So drink from the Cup of Sanctification.The fruit of our hopes and prayers.

Tell the Story of a People's Creation with the Second Cup.

I Shall Rescue You, sez God,

From someone else's definition 

Of you are, of what you can be.

Inspired by God, we free ourselves.

Moses or Abraham Lincoln or Betty Friedan

Freedom is not something we can be given

Freedom is something we must create.

So drink from the Cup of Deliverance

The fruit of our arduous journey.

Thank the chain of work that created the Seder meal with the Third Cup.

I Shall Redeem You, sez God

With an outstretched arm

Scattering the seeds

To the earth to the vineyard to the farmworker  to the winemaker to the bottle to the grocer,

All for this glass of wine.

Redemption is hard work,

Forgivenss requires self awareness,

Teshuvah ain't for babies.

So drink from the Cup of Redemption

The fruit of our many labors.

Praise God's Awesome Glory with the Fourth Cup.

I Shall Take You to Me, sez God

For a people

And be your GodIn eternal covenant.

Gosh, can I get a job description first?

Commitment to obligation

Requires freedom to choose

And freedom to disobey.

So drink from the Cup of Restoration

The fruit of our Holy Connection

God says to us:

I Shall Take You Out.

I Shall Rescue You.

I Shall Redeem You.

I Shall Take You to Me.Drink.

Amen

As we wash our hands
We pray,
Blessed is the Soul of the Universe,
Breathing us in and breathing us out.
May our breaths continue
And our health and the health of all
Be preserved
In this time of sickness and fear of sickness.
Holy Wholeness,
We take as much responsibility for this as we can
By observing the obligation to wash our hands
Thoroughly:
For as long as it takes to say this prayer.
Amen

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה הָ׳ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ עַל נְטִילַת יָדַיִם