A blessing to mark the purpose of our gathering – to strengthen our commitment to pursue justice together.

“I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” – Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963

Tonight we have a powerful group of people gathering around this table telling the Exodus story as one way to gain a deeper understanding of oppression and refuel our work for liberation in our time. We are involved in many struggles, in our local communities and around the world, all intersecting and inseparable.At this seder we have participants involved in many different facets of the struggle for justice and liberation. Before we say a blessing for social justice, we invite everyone here to share campaigns they are involved in, issues they are working on, struggles they feel passionately connected to. We know that all of our disparate work is but different parts of the same struggle for healing and justice.

Participants share struggles in which they are currently involved.

Let us bless the parents
who are the source of our lives
and the impulse to pursue justice.


haggadah Section: Introduction
Source: https://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/JVP-Haggadah-8.5x11.pdf