Social Action Connections at the Seder Table

In the Book of Exodus, we are taught how to observe the annual festival of Passover. We retell the story of our enslavement and subsequent redemption as an integral part of the observance. Torah commands us to teach our children, “It is because of what God did for me when I went forth from Egypt,” creating an immediate connection between the text and our lives today.

Like many of the Jewish holidays, Passover is observed primarily in the home. During the Seder, we do not rely on clergy or other synagogue leaders to shape the holiday for us – we create the holiday experience ourselves. To that end, many different Haggadot have been developed over the years to reflect the interests of different participants and also to speak to various populations or issues.

Generally, each Haggadah includes the same basic Seder format, including the teachings about the matzah , maror (bitter herbs), and pesach (the shank bone). The other items on the Seder plate are also explained. We learn about the four cups of wine, the four children, and recite the four questions. We discuss and commemorate the ten plagues. We open the door for Elijah the Prophet. We sing songs of redemption, praise, and thanks. Yet, the way each family interprets and expands upon each section of the Haggadah can vary greatly.

Within the Haggadah , there are many opportunities to add additional readings or elaborate on the social action themes already present. Many of today’s themed Haggadot contain similar points during the Seder at which creative interpretations are appropriate. The following are some of the most common opportunities, for home or synagogue use, for creativity.

1. Four Cups of Wine
2. Ha Lachma Anya/ This is the Bread of Affliction
3. Four Questions
4. Four Children
5. Maggid/The Narration
6. Dayenu
7. Ten Plagues
8. Cup of Elijah
9. Acknowledgements

Four Cups of Wine : While our tradition applies a specific meaning to the four cups found throughout the Seder, many modern Haggadot have begun to reinterpret the original four cups or add a “fifth” cup of wine. The four cups are derived from four expressions of 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.” Due to the positive, redemptive focus of each phrase, each cup could come to represent current groups that need to be “brought out, delivered, redeemed, or taken out.” A short teaching can take place before each cup is blessed. Groups for consideration include: refugees and slaves, victims of domestic violence, victims of sexual trafficking, and the poor and impoverished.

Rabbis for Human Rights suggests the following four interpretations for the four cups:

The First Cup: Freedom in America

As we lift the first cup, we envision an America – the “land of the free” – where everyone has a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of him/herself and of his/her family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services (from Article 25 of the Declaration of Human Rights).

The Second Cup: Deliverance in Israel

As we lift the second cup, we envision a modern day Israel, that fosters the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants. We envision an Israel that is “based on freedom, justice, and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel,” an Israel that “will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants” (from the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel, 1948).

The Third Cup: Redemption from Overwork and Underwork

As we lift the third cup, we envision a world where everyone has work and, without any discrimination, receives equal pay for equal work. We envision a world where everyone also can enjoy rest and leisure, and periodic holidays with pay (adapted from Articles 23 and 24 of the Declaration of Human Rights).

The Fourth Cup: Liberation from Slavery All Over the World

As we lift the fourth cup, we envision a world where no one is held in slavery or servitude… a world without sweatshop laborers, where all workers are able to make a fair wage, regardless of which country they are born into. We envision a world where all products are fairly traded, and no one country or financial institution can dictate trade policies (adapted from Article 4 of the Declaration of Human Rights).

A Fifth Cup

Some Haggadot include a “fifth” cup in the Seder as an opportunity for additional readings or prayers. This tradition dates back to the early rabbis and commentators, including Alfasi and Maimonides, who discussed this possible addition to the Seder. A Fifth Cup enables us to call attention to a current social justice issue or recognize a recent victory with regards to a prior injustice. This fifth cup could be passed around the table and filled with coins to be donated to tzedakah. An additional reading with specific hopes or social action goals (like a renewed focus on the homeless or implementation of a new, long-term tzedakah project) for the coming months can be included at this point.

As wine can serve as a symbol of abundance and luxury, the fifth cup is a perfect opportunity for a discussion on privilege and poverty:

Some Jews experience a high degree of privilege. Others are less privileged. A recent study points to 100,000 Jews living below the poverty line in New York City. What are the sources of our privilege? Has your family’s economic status changed over the last few generations? In what ways? What does it mean to experience the Haggadah from a place of privilege? From a place of poverty? All are invited to tell a short story of an ancestor who faced economic hardship, or came up against an economic system that did not acknowledge their humanity.

Ha Lachma Anya/ This is the Bread of Affliction : This reading takes place near the beginning of the Seder in the yachatz section. It provides the primary textual inspiration for feeding the hungry during Passover, as well as calling for an end to slavery, which continues to exist around the world in various forms. It also prompts us to join together with members of the African American community for communal Seders recognizing our common experience of slavery. This passage inspires many of the social justice programs created around the observance of Passover:

This is the bread of affliction, the poor bread,
which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt.
Let all who are hungry come and eat.
Let all who are in want share the hope of Passover.
As we celebrate here, we join with our people everywhere.
This year we celebrate here.
Next year in the land of Israel.
Now we are all still in bonds.
Next year may we all be free.

The United Jewish Communities Rabbinic Cabinet offers a special “Matzah of Unity” reading to be added when breaking the middle matzah, reflecting on our many obligations to work toward a better world:

The Matzah of Unity

Passover is the great Jewish family holiday -- but with a critical message about our ethics and values.

We eat the Karpas, the green vegetable -- and recall our concern for the environment.

We dip into the salt water of tears -- and remind ourselves to care for the oppressed.

We eat the bitter herbs -- and sharpen our concern for the stranger.

We taste the matzah, the bread of affliction -- and feel the memories of our servitude to Pharaoh.

We note the roasted egg, symbolic of the extra offering in the Temple in ancient days -- and ask ourselves, what are our own sacrifices?

Passover is so real and tangible, because we not only taste our freedom, but we also resolve to work for the liberation of all people. It is a time to ask ourselves: what are we doing to care for those in need? Can we reach out and assist with our tzedakah, our charitable contributions, or through our acts of loving-kindness?

Let us now take the middle Matzah and divide it in half. As we break this Matzah and set it aside, we link ourselves symbolically with all Jews throughout the world, especially those who have lived under the heel of the oppressor.

Our Seder meal will not conclude until the missing piece of Matzah is found and returned to the table. The Matzah, when restored, shows the desire of our people to be together as one, at peace. As Jews, we are a people of sacred fragments; we need help from God to bond together in everlasting unity.

Today the Star of David rises proudly in the former Soviet Union. Yet hundreds of thousands of elderly Jews struggle to survive. In Argentina, families, schools, community centers and synagogues face a difficult economic crisis and we provide basic services and supplies for tens of thousands of our fellow Jews.

Jews who left Ethiopia and other devastated countries experienced a modern exodus to live in freedom. They brought their children and grandchildren to Israel, a land sworn to us by our ancestors and God. Now we are committed to helping them to become full participants in all aspects of Israeli society.

But our work is not done. We need boundless love for the Jewish people in order to continue our efforts at caring for the most vulnerable, supporting of Jewish education, ingathering of the exiles and to rebuilding Israel.

May this Passover be a time of recommitment to our people and our faith.

An additional reading offered by Jews for Racial and Economic Justice teaches that there are those whose affliction goes beyond food into all economic aspects of life:

In our city today, some of our neighbors are forced to work in order to receive their meager welfare benefits, which barely enable them to survive. Tonight we share their bread of affliction:

The affliction of work without dignity
The injustice of no minimum wage
The theft of protection from injury
The anxiety of work with no future
Panic at the threat of lost benefits.
The stress of leaving a child for work
The shame of forced placement
The death of educational opportunity
The robbery of the right to organize
Silenced voices of protest.
Who speaks aloud alongside those whose speech has been muted?
Who breathes together with those who cannot catch their breath?
We can breathe the breath of life, we can join these struggles, we can face the Pharoahs and strip them of their power.

The following additional reading by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, to be added to Ha Lachma Anya, reminds us that there are those who are not even able to eat the simple “bread of affliction:”

In the world today there are still some who are so pressed-down that they have not even this bread of oppression to eat. There are so many who are hungry that they cannot all come and eat with us tonight. Therefore we say to them, we set aside this bread as a token that we owe you righteousness, tzedakah , and that we will fulfill it. (Set aside one piece of matzah.) And to ourselves we say, not by bread alone, but by everything that is brought forth by the mouth of YHWH, lives the human; share your bread with the hungry, says YHWH. As the tradition says,

"Ha-sha-tah ha-kha; I-sha-nah ha-ba-ah b'ar-ah d'yis'ra'el,”

This year we celebrate here, but the next year we hope to celebrate in the land of Israel, the land of God-wrestling.

Fourth Piece of Matzah: To highlight the continuing existence of slaver, spiritual leaders and families may use the following original prayer, written Rabbi Joel Soffin of Temple Shalom in Succasunna, NJ, while holding up a fourth piece of matzah :

"We raise this fourth matzah to remind ourselves that slavery still exists, that people are still being bought and sold as property, that the Divine image within them is yet being denied. We make room at our Seder table and in our hearts for those in southern Sudan and in Mauritania who are now where we have been.

We have known such treatment in our own history. Like the women and children enslaved in Sudan today, we have suffered while others stood by and pretended not to see, not to know. We have eaten the bitter herb; we have been taken from our families and brutalized. We have experienced the horror of being forcibly converted. In the end, we have come to know in our very being that none can be free until all are free.

And so, we commit and recommit ourselves to work for the freedom of these people. May the taste of this 'bread of affliction' remain in our mouths until they can eat in peace and security. Knowing that all people are Yours, O God, we will urge our government and all governments to do as You once commanded Pharaoh on our behalf: 'Shalach et Ami! Let MY People Go!'"

Four Questions : This reading allows for much creativity in the text and inclusion of social action themes or questions. Families might permit time for additional questions to be posed to the group, with opportunities for all to answer. Examples might include:

• Why on this night are some people still enslaved today?
• Why on this night do so many remain hungry in the world?
• Why on this night do we invite the hungry and lonely to share our meal?
• How can we eradicate hunger and homelessness tonight and every night?

A fifth question can be posed: “Why is this night no different from other nights? Because on this night millions of human beings around the world still remain enslaved, just as they do on all other nights. As a celebration of our freedom, we remember those who remain enslaved.”

Four Children : This reading allows for much personal identification and further interpretation in the text. A discussion can take place regarding with which of the four children each guest identifies most, followed by a consideration of which populations are currently “unable to ask,” who might be considered “simple,” and more. Examples for a new set of four children may include:

• One who sees the pain of others and works to relieve suffering.
• One who cares only about him/herself.
• One who cares only about other Jews but not other populations.
• One who doesn’t know where to begin.

Maggid /The Narration : Amidst the retelling of the exodus from Egypt, additional stories can be shared surrounding the oppression or redemption of other peoples, such as the rescue of Ethiopian Jews during the 1980’s, the emigration of Soviet Jewry during the 1970’s and 1980’s, and current groups still found in slavery, such as those in Sudan. Those who hold Black/Jewish Seders often focus on this portion of the Haggadah to tell the common story of slavery and freedom. A Common Road to Freedom: A Passover Haggadah, prepared by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in 1996, provides one example of the type of Black/Jewish Seder that a community could organize.

The Maggid is also an excellent opportunity to study current immigration and refugee concerns. Consult a website such as www.rac.org//issues/issueir.html, the Religious Action Center's (RAC) focus page on Immigration and Refugees, or www.refugeesinternational.org for current statistics and areas of concern. Prepare one-page summary of current refugee hotspots for use during the Seder. During the Seder, focus on the theme of flight to freedom as a parallel experience of the Jews leaving Egypt, and today’s refugees leaving their homelands. Prepare sample letters regarding a current immigration concern, with reference to the special motivation that Passover provides, to congressional leaders for all guests to sign throughout the night, and then mail them the following day. (A sample summary and letter can be found in Appendix I.)

Dayenu : It Would Have Been Enough : This song, found in the Seder, thanks God for the myriad miracles that took place at the time of the Exodus. “ Dayenu ” can also allow us to express our gratitude for all that has taken place in recent times. In 1988, CLAL (The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership) produced this modern version of Dayenu to recall the many miracles of the modern state of Israel. This reading speaks of the Jewish community’s custom of reaching out to those in need, such as the Jews in the Former Soviet Union and Ethiopia. When we celebrate the successes of the past, we can also remember the ongoing need to help those who are oppressed in other communities.

Had God upheld us throughout two thousand year of Dispersion
But not preserved our hope for return, Dayenu
Had God preserved our hope for return
But not sent us leaders to make the dream a reality, Dayenu
Had God sent us leaders to make the dream a reality
But not given us success in the U.N. vote, Dayenu
Had God given us success in the U.N. vote
But not defeated our attackers in 1948, Dayenu
Had God defeated our attackers in 1948
But not unified Jerusalem, Dayenu
Had God unified Jerusalem
But not led us toward peace with Egypt, Dayenu
Had God returned us to the Land of our ancestors
But not filled it with our children, Dayenu
Had God filled it with our children
But not caused the desert to bloom, Dayenu
Had God caused the desert to bloom
But not built for us cities and towns, Dayenu
Had God rescued our remnants from the Holocaust's flames
But not brought our brothers from Arab lands, Dayenu
Had God brought our brothers from Arab lands
But not opened the gates for Russia's Jews, Dayenu
Had God opened the gate for Russia's Jews
But not redeemed our people from Ethiopia, Dayenu
Had God redeemed our people from Ethiopia
But not planted in our hearts a covenant of One People, Dayenu
Had God planted in our hearts a covenant of One People
But not sustained in our souls a vision of a perfected world, Dayenu!

Ten Plagues : As we recite the plagues, we pour out ten drops of wine, lessening our joy, to remember the plagues set upon Egypt. In today’s world, there are many societal cruelties and injustices that can cause us to diminish our joy. Many Haggadot contain listings of modern day plagues, such as AIDS, breast cancer, child poverty, domestic violence, environmental destruction, homelessness, homophobia, hunger, illiteracy, and racism. Families can discuss their “top ten” societal ills and discuss ways we can work to prevent them. Consider the following reading from A Common Road to Freedom, A Passover Haggadah for a Seder conducted with both Jews and African Americans:

Each drop of wine is our hope and prayer that people will cast out the plagues that today threaten everyone, everywhere they are found, beginning in our own hearts:

The making of war,
The teaching of hate and violence,
Despoliation of the earth,
Perversion of justice and government,
Fomenting of vice and crime,
Neglect of human needs,
Oppression of nations and peoples,
Corruption of culture,
Subjugation of science, learning, and human discourse,
The erosion of freedoms.

Cup of Elijah : This section of the Haggadah focuses on our hopes for the peace and redemption of messianic times, while also reminding us of what we can do l’taken et ha-olam, to repair the world in our own time. By way of example, North Shore Congregation Israel of Glencoe, IL’s Women’s Seder includes the following passage to be read while opening the door for Elijah. This reading reminds us that there are still injustices based on gender, and that we must continue to fight for equality in the Jewish community, in the workplace, economically and in society between men and women:

Elijah, we are told,
Will precede the Messiah.
He will be a sign to us.
And so we welcome Elijah
At the end of Shabbat,
A taste of the ideal, the messianic.
We pray, we sing.
At the Seder we even open the door.

At a bris we welcome a baby boy into the covenant. There we place a chair for Elijah, reminding us that each child born bears the potential…could make the difference…could be the Messiah.

But some would say that the Messiah will truly come when we welcome our daughters into the covenant with Elijah’s chair present, bringing them into our people, recognizing their potential to make a difference.

We open the door. We welcome Elijah, girls and boys, women and men.

Together, we realize potential.

(Lisa S. Greene)

Rabbi Isaac Alfasi (also known as the Rif), an 11 th century Talmud commentator, quotes from an alternate version of Pesachim 118a possessed by the Geonim: " 'On the fifth cup, one should recite the Great Hallel,' these are the words of Rabbi Tarfon."

In response to the prior text quoted by Alfasi, Maimonides, a 12 th Century commentator and legal codifier, writes: “One may pour a fifth cup of wine and recite ‘The Great Hallel’ over it. This cup is not an obligation like the other cups.” ( Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Chametz u’Matzah 8:10) This is also based on the fact that Maimonides identified a fifth redemption phrase, “I will bring you up,” in Exodus 6:8.

In Every Generation, by Rabbis for Human Rights.

Matzah of Unity, UJC Rabbinic Cabinet. Available in printer-friendly format on-line at: www.ujc.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=105402.

Adapted from the Jews for Racial and Economic Justice website, www.jfrej.org.

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, The Rainbow Seder. Available here.

Available at www.iabolish.com/Passover/prayer.htm.

From www.iabolish.com, an anti-slavery website; Passover Project created by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

Ethiopian Jews, known also as Beta Israel, who trace their lineage to King Solomon, were rescued and brought to Israel in two major waves. Operation Moses began on November 18, 1984, and ended six weeks later on January 5, 1985. During that time, almost 8,000 Ethiopian Jews were rescued and brought to Israel through the Sudan. Because of news leaks, the mission ended prematurely as Arab nations pressured the Sudanese government to prevent any more Jews from using Sudan to go to Israel. Almost 150,000 Jews were left behind in Ethiopia. Operation Solomon, which took place over 36 hours beginning May 24, 1991, attempted to reach those who remained. In Operation Solomon, a total of 14,324 Ethiopian Jews were rescued and resettled in Israel, a modern exodus of the grandest design. The resettlement and immigration of Ethiopian Jews to Israel continues to this day. Information found at www.us-israel.org/jsource/Judaism/ejhist.html.

Visit www.ncsj.org, the NCSJ: Advocates on behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States and Eurasia, for more information.

For detailed information about slavery in Sudan see Appendix III. More information can be found on the Religious Action Center’s website at http://rac.org/advocacy/issues/issuesudan/ or at the Human Rights Watch website: www.hrw.org/backgrounder/africa/sudanupdate.htm.

A Common Road to Freedom. Edited by Leonard Fein and Rabbi David Saperstein. Designed with Black/Jewish Seders in mind, the newest edition of this Black/Jewish Passover Haggadah is rich in new songs, ancient and contemporary writings, and reflections by Jewish and African American leaders. Scores of synagogues, communities and college campuses have held Black/Jewish Seders during the Passover season using A Common Road to Freedom . To order please call the Religious Action Center at 202-387-2800.

List adapted from the Hillel website’s Passover Guide, found at www.hillel.org.