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The Chudnow Seder

Prologue

My childhood Passovers involved sitting quietly at my grandparent's table while my grandfather, my father and his brothers tunelessly chanted the Hagaddah, seemingly for hours, while my stomach rumbled waiting for the "Festive Meal". The only break in the davening came for the blessings, which we would sing all together and the Four Questions. When it was my turn to sing the four questions my stomach would knot in anticipation of messing up the Hebrew or singing off-tune. After the dinner we would find the Afikomen, be rewarded with a quarter - or sometimes a silver dollar. As I got older I joined the women in the kitchen – helping to prepare and serve and the clean up the meal.

Our second Seder was a whole different story. We held it at our house with my mother’s college friends and it was full of laughter and song (she would bring out the guitar) and we would go around each taking turns telling part of the story of the Exodus.

When dad and I started holding our own Seders in the 1980s we were working on issues of social justice and peace. The ancient ritual of Passover was particularly relevant and meaningful for us. To this day we value taking time to reflect on what it means to be free people, and to recognize that there are people who do not share our blessing of freedom and that each of us in our own lives have things to which we are enslaved. And, of course, I love feeling connected to the generations that have come before us, by singing the ancient tunes and enjoying the traditional Seder meal.

With this Hagaddah (or perhaps your own) may you and your loved ones celebrate Passover and remember that we were once slaves in Egypt but that now we are free.

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Opening Words:

We are gathered here tonight to both celebrate our freedom and to remember the bitterness of slavery. There is something powerful beyond words to know that as you sit down to a seder with your family and friends, Jews across the world are doing the same: celebrating, remembering, retelling and commemorating.

We are a people for whom the story of slavery and exodus is central to our self-understanding. And that is extraordinarily powerful—and humbling. Celebrating Passover connects us as Jews, but it also unites us with humanity. There are many people across our country and our world who have experienced oppression and persecution. Although we were once slaves, avadim hayinu, we now are free. But there are too many in the world who are still not free.

In every generation we must remember the importance of freedom and rededicate ourselves to Tikkun Olam – to healing the rifts in the world. At this Passover Seder we will again tell the story of our Exodus from Egypt and remember that it is if each one of us, ourselves, escapedEgypt for the promise of Freedom. And it is the obligation of each one of us to continue to strive toward freedom in our time and in our own lives.

Opening Prayer

All read the bold text together

Long ago at this season, our people set out on a journey.

On such a night as this, Israel went from degradation to joy.

We give thanks for the liberation of days gone by.

And we pray for all who are still bound.

Eternal One, may all who hunger come to rejoice in a new Passover.

Let all the human family sit at Your table, drink the wine of deliverance, eat the bread of freedom:

Freedom from bondage/and freedom from oppression

Freedom from hunger/and freedom from want

Freedom from hatred/and freedom from fear

Freedom to think/and freedom to speak

Freedom to teach/and freedom to learn

Freedom to love/and freedom to share

Freedom to hope/and freedom to rejoice

The Order of the Seder

The word Seder means "order", indicating that all the commandments and rituals of this evening are to be performed in a specific order. In every Haggadah we find these same traditional sequence of steps of the Seder. There were fifteen steps leading to the Temple, corresponding to the fifteen Shir Ha’ma’alos (songs of Ascent) found in Psalms. Similarly, the Seder follows a fifteen stage-process of ascent.

Kadesh-the recitation of Kiddush.

Urchatz-washing the hands.

Karpas-eating a vegetable dipped in salt-water.

Yachatz-breaking of the middle matzo.

Maggid-the recitation of the Hagadah.

Rachatzah-washing of the hands a second time.

Motze-matzah-the recitation of the blessing hamotzi and the recitation of the blessing al Achilas matzo, eating the matzo.

Marror-eating the bitter herbs.

Korech-eating a sandwich of matzo and bitter herbs.

Shulchan Orech-eating the festive meal.

Tzafun-eating the afikomen.

Barech-the recitation of grace.