At the Seder we tell the Biblical story of the Exodus together. Seder means “order” in Hebrew, which tells us that people all over the world tell the story in the same order on the very same evening. The special book that we read the Passover story from is called a “Haggadah”.

Passover Seders have helped us to identify oppression for thousands of years.

During the civil rights movement in America, for example, Jews, African-Americans, Native-Americans and many other people gathered together at Passover Seders to renew their commitment to their fight for equality.

Just like the Jews in the Old Testament, African-Americans have been enslaved, and Native-Americans have been persecuted in our own country. While we read the story of the Exodus, we should remember there is still work to do to guarantee justice and equality for all people. Oppression does not always mean slavery or punishment. Sometimes it means discrimination against someone because of a person’s race, or religion, or age, whether or not they own a home, or the people they choose to live with and to love. The land, air and water can become polluted, which is a kind of environmental oppression. Sometimes oppression means other people do not seem to care enough about problems that hurt people, like AIDS or child abuse.

Oppression can also be internal as things we place upon ourselves - addiction, depression, bad habits, or unrealistic expectations.

In order to fight against these issues we need to recognize they exist.


haggadah Section: Introduction