If you wish to say the full birkat ha’mazon, you may select the text of your choosing from any bencher or prayer book.

Group:

Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha’olam, ha’zan et ha’olam kulo b’tuvo b’chen b’chesed u’v’rachamim, Hu notein lechem l’chol basar ki l’olam chasdo.

Blessed are You, Our God, Ruler of the Universe, who nourishes the entire universe with your goodness; in kindness, mercy, and compassion, You provide food to all living beings, for your love is everlasting.

Participant: We give thanks for the ability to retell our story through the symbolic foods we have eaten this evening. Indeed, we are not the only people for whom food is liberation. Together, we read the words of Nathaly Rosas Martinez, who grew up between Mexico and the United States, as we remember that the stories of the foods we eat remind us of who we are in this world, even when we have left home in search of safety and freedom.

Group:

I am from a place where
The food is an art and every bite
Is a spicy piece of our culture
Where the smells call you to enjoy
And the flavors take you to your memories.

Our food is not only food
It’s a way to communicate our feelings
It’s a way to talk with our family
It’s our history, our identity.

Our kitchen table may be in another country
And the people who ate with us
Are no longer here,
But we will return to gather.*

Pour the third cup of wine.

-

* Excerpts from Nathaly Rosas Martinez, “Where Food is an Art,” in Merna Ann Hecht, ed., Our Table of Memories: Food & Poetry of Spirit, Homeland, & Tradition (Seattle, WA: Chatwin Books, 2015), 49-50.


haggadah Section: Bareich
Source: HIAS Haggadah 2019