From Oppression to Redemption: Introduction to the Seder
April 3, 2017
Decalogue Society of Lawyers
Prepared by Justice Michael B. Hyman, former president, Decalogue Society of Lawyers
Welcome and Introductions
What is the meaning of the Seder?
All: “You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this day I brought you out of Egypt. You
shall observe this day for all time.” Exodus 12:7
Leader: The eight-day festival of Passoveroccurs in the early spring. Passover commemorates more than ancient historical events. In every generation, one must feel as if he, as if she, has personally been freed from oppression in Egypt.
All: Undocumented immigrants, the disabled, the LGBT, Native Americans, Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Jews and other groups, struggle against modern forms of oppression. So too, people around the globe struggle to free themselves from the oppression of tyrants, the oppression of war, the oppression of corrupt political systems, and the oppression of dissent.
Participant: None of us is free when others are oppressed.
Participant: Each generation needs to understand, as its forbearers understood, freedom is not inevitable; it must be constantly exercised, constantly defended, or it will be diminished or worse, lost.
Participant: “I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations.” James Madison
Participant: The Seder is the oldest surviving ritual in the Western world, dating back 3,300 years to
the night in Egypt when the Israelites partook of their last meal before preparing for their journey from degradation to freedom.
Participant: Passover, like Judaism generally, is not about salvation, but redemption, life shared under the sovereignty of God.
Participant: The hardships the Israelites suffered following the exodus from Egypt inspire us to stand with those who suffer from societal evils that we witness in our community, our nation, and around the world.
Participant: Pesach, the Hebrew word for the holiday, comes from a word which means “passed over." This refers to the miraculous tenth plague in which the firstborn sons of the Egyptians were killed, but the first born sons of the Israelites were spared.
Leader: Of Passover, a famous rabbi said, “Whenever and wherever there is oppression of the weak by the strong, of the poor by the rich, or of one race by another, they who are knit together by the common celebration of the Passover ought to feel righteous indignation, and do all which lies in their power to remedy the wrong. Each coming Passover should remind us to ask ourselves, have I done my best to help those whom I can help?”
Participant: “Seder” literally means “order,” a concept integral to the Jewish concept of freedom. When we create order in society, we become God’s partner in the work of creation. Society must have order to survive. Order turns individuals into a community; communities into a people.
Explanation of the Seder Plate
Participant: The wordHaggadahtranslates to tell or relate.” The rabbis of long ago in composing the Haggadah chose to tell the story of the Exodus using three primary senses. Visual, through the Seder plate. Verbal, through the narrative of the Exodus. And tactile, by experiencing and doing during the Seder. We begin with the visual—the items on the Seder plate.
Participant: The Seder plate is round, reflecting the pilgrimage through time that we journey during the Seder and the cyclical nature of Jewish history. Each item has a set position on the plate.
Participant: The roasted shank bone. The shank bone represents the lamb that was sacrificed by each household in Egypt on the eve of the exodus. Later, in the afternoon before Pesach, a lamb was sacrificed in the holy temple in Jerusalem. Also, the shank bone refers to the outstretched arm with which God delivered the Israelites from Egypt. In Hebrew, “shank bone” means “outstretched.” The shank bone is not eaten.
Participant: The karpas. Karpas means “greens,” and is a vegetable, usually parsley or celery. We dip the karpas in salt water to evoke the Israelites tears shed in times of pain. It also symbolizes almost every migration in Jewish history because, more often than not, Jews were singled out for victimization, persecution and expulsion.
All: As written in the Torah, “Do not oppress or mistreat the foreigner, for once you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
Participant: Eating poor people’s bread and bitter herbs suggest impoverished slaves. Dipping herbs and eating in a reclining position suggest a free people. So at this meal we are both poor slaves and free—but not at the same time.
Blessing over the Karpas
Cantor/All: Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the earth.
Baruch Atah Adonai Elo-heinu Melech Haolam Boreh Pree Ha’adamah.
The karpas is dipped in salt water and eaten.
Participant: A roasted or hard-boiled egg. The egg has two symbolic meanings. First, an egg is the traditional food mourners eat on returning from a funeral, and symbolizes mourning for the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. In addition, the roundness of the egg represents the cycle of life — even in the most dire times, there is always hope for a new beginning.
Participant: The maror. The maror, or bitter herbs, usually horseradish made with red beets, symbolizes the bitter enslavement and toil of the Israelites.
Participant: Haroset. Haroset represents the mortar that the Israelite slaves used to construct buildings for Pharaoh. The name comes from the Hebrew word for clay. Haroset consists of a mixture of fruit (usually, apples), nuts, spices, and a little wine.
Participant: Matzah. Three pieces of matzah in a special covering are next to the Seder plate. On Sabbath and festivities, Jews typically bless two loaves of bread. On Passover, a third piece of matzah represents the special obligation of this holiday. Matzah contains just flour and water.
Participant: The middle matzah is broken in half, and the smaller piece is returned to matzah cover, and is known as the bread of affliction.
Leader: During the Seder the leader picks up the smaller piece and says, “This is the bread of poverty that our ancestors at in the land of Egypt. All who are hungry, let them enter and eat. All who are in need, let them enter and partake of the Passover.
Participant: The larger half is wrapped in a napkin, and becomes the afikomon. Afikomon is a Greek word referring to dessert. The portion is hidden for children to find it after the meal. Traditionally, it is broken up into enough pieces for everyone to eat at the end of the Seder.
Participant: The Hillel Sandwich. Named for Rabbi Hillel, one of the most important ancient rabbis, each participant places maror and haroset between pieces of matzah. There are many ways to interpret the meaning of the Hillel Sandwich—one holds that it symbolizes a lingering paradox: the sweetness of freedom tempered by the bitterness of oppression.
Participant: And, with freedom, we are also commanded each year never to forget the taste of slavery, so that we should not take liberty for granted, nor forget those who are still afflicted.
Blessing over eating matzah
Cantor/All: Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who brings bread from the earth.
Baruch Atah Ado-nai Elo-heinu Melech Ha-olam Hamotzi Lechem Min Ha-aretz.
Eat matzah with maror and haroset
Four Cups of Wine and the Fifth Cup for the Prophet Elijah
Leader: Wine symbolizes celebration and freedom, and this custom dates back over 2,000 years. We drink four cups of wine, each at a specific point of the Seder. A fifth cup is poured for the Prophet Elijah who is linked to the ultimate redemption of the Jewish People. Tradition holds that Elijah visits very Jewish home on the night of the Seder to drink wine from his own cup.
Participant: Elijah faced down the radical evildoers of his time, and is forever concerned with Jewish suffering. He is the chronicler, the historian of Jewish distress.
Cantor/All: Eliyahu Hanavi
Eliyahu HaNavi
Eliyahu HaTishbi
Eliyahu, Eliyahu,
Eliyahu Hagiladee.
(Elijah the prophet, Elijah of Tishbi, Elijah of Gilead, may he soon come to us along with the Messiah, son of David.)
Participant: The four cups of wine is associated with four stages of the redemption found in Exodus 6:6-7: “I will bring you out;” “I will deliver you;” “I will redeem you;” and “I will take you.”
Participant: The first cup takes us back to the beginning of the story, from the time the Jewish People descend to Egypt through their enslavement.
Participant: The second cup takes us forward 210 years to the final night that the Jewish People were in Egypt.
Participant: The third cup will transport us seven days later to the shore of the Sea of Reeds.
Participant: And the fourth cup leaves us six weeks after that, standing at the foot of Mt. Sinai, where the Jewish People witness the Divine Presence revealing the Ten Commandments and coming to symbolically dwell among the Jewish People.
Cantor/All: Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.
Baruch Atah Ado-nai Elo-heinu Melech Ha-olam Boreh Pree Ha-ga-fen.
The Four Questions
Leader: Before proceeding with the Exodus story, the youngest person(s) present ask the four questions. Questioning, it has been said, is at the heart of Jewish spirituality.
All: How does this night differ from all other nights?
Participant: On all other nights we eat either leavened or unleavened bread. Why on this night do we eat only unleavened bread?
Participant: On all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs. Why on this night do we eat only bitter herbs?”
Participant: On all other nights we need not dip our herbs even once. Why on this night do we need to dip twice?
Participant: On all other nights we eat either sitting or reclining. Why on this night must we all recline?
Song Leader: Mah nishtana
Participant: The Passover Seder is a time for asking questions, all sorts of questions, beyond these four, and so in the spirit of this occasion we ask:
Participant: Why do human beings oppress other human beings?
Participant: Why do some people take a stand against prejudice while others choose to participate in it?
Participant: Why aren’t lawyers doing more for the tens of thousands of undocumented and unrepresented children from South American countries who traveled alone at great personal peril only to be confined in U.S. detention facilities?
Participant: Why do so many lawyers fall short of spending even 50 hours a year on pro bono legal services for those who cannot afford a lawyer?
All: “Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.” (Exodus 23:9)
The Narrative of Redemption
Leader: Our story begins with degradation; our telling ends with glory.
All: We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and God led us out from there with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm. Had not the Holy One led our ancestors out of Egypt, we and our children and our children’s children would still be enslaved.
Participant: Once upon a time the Jewish people journeyed to the land of Egypt. They lived there in peace and prosperity with Joseph rising to a high position in Pharaoh’s court.
Participant: Generations passed. In time a new pharaoh ascended who found the Israelites threatening, different, inferior, and ordered they be enslaved.
Participant: Fearing rebellion, Pharaoh decreed all Hebrew newborn males be killed. A family placed a newborn boy in a basket which floated down the Nile and was found by Pharaoh’s daughter. She adopted the baby who she named Moses.
Participant: Although a child of privilege, as he grew he became aware of the slaves who worked in the brickyards. When he saw an overseer mistreat a slave, he struck and killed him. Fearing retribution, he fled across the Sinai.
Participant: God spoke to Moses from a burning bush, which though it flamed was not consumed. The Voice called on Moses to lead the Jewish People to freedom. Moses argued with God, pleading inadequacy.
Participant: Moses returned to Egypt with his brother Aaron. They went to Pharaoh and argued the injustice of slavery. What Moses told Pharaoh resounds though history: “Let my people go!”
Participant: Today it is we who must become the redeemers. Our freedom comes with the responsibility for liberating those enslaved to poverty and powerlessness, liberating those constrained by dire circumstances or cruel fate beyond their control, liberating those shackled with the chains of historical evils and embedded injustices.
Leader: When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist.
All: When they came for undocumented workers, I remained silent; I was not an undocumented worker.
Leader: When they locked up the socialists, I remained silent; I was not a socialist.
All: When they locked up young Black males, I remained silent; I was not a young Black male.
Leader: When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist.
All: When they came for child migrants, I did not speak out; I was not a child migrant.
Leader: When they came for the Jews, I remained silent; I wasn’t a Jew.
All: When they came for the Muslims, I remained silent; I wasn’t a Muslim.
Leader: When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.
All: When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.
Pastor Martin Niemoller/Justice Michael B. Hyman
Cantor: Let My People Go
All: When Israel was in Egypt land
Let my people go
Oppressed so hard they could not stand
Let my people go.
Chorus: Go down Moses, Way down to Egypt land Tell old Pharaoh To let my people go!
And God told Moses what to do
Let my people go!
To lead the children of Israel through
Let my people go!
Chorus: Go down Moses, Way down to Egypt land Tell old Pharaoh To let my people go!