Passover Publications & Resources Jews United for Justice has compiled Social Justice and Liberation Haggadahs and Readings: |
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A Seder for activists, shut-ins, singers,
students, poets, etc.
Materials:
Grape
juice
candles
bowl
for hand washing
towel
matza
shankbone
or a roasted beet
roasted
egg
horseradish
root or romaine lettuce (maror)
salt
water
parsley
or onion or boiled potato (karpas)
Charoset
The seder
plate may be laid out this way:
Beitza/eggie zaroa/shankbone or beet
Maror
Karpas Charoset
We begin
by singing the order of the Events of the Seder
(seder
means "order"):
1)
Say the Kiddush
2)
Wash the hands
3)
Eat a green vegetable
4)
Break the middle matza
5)
Tell the story
6)
Wash the hands
7)
Eat the matza
8)
Eat the bitter herb
9)
Eat bitter herb and matza
10)
The meal
11)
Eat the afikoman
12)
Blessing after eating
13)
Hallel
14)
Conclude
Kadesh
u-r
karpas
yachatz
Maggid
Rachtza
Motzi
Matza
Maror
korekh
Shulchan
Orekh
Tzafun
Barech
Hallel
Nirtza
Kiddush
First
cup of juice:
Baruch
Ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech HaOlam
Borei
p
Blessed
are You Eternal our God
Ruler
of the Universe
Creator
of the fruit of the vine. Amen.
Light
the candles
Baruch
Ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech HaOlam
Asher
kid-sha-nu b
v
l
Blessed
are You Eternal our God
Ruler
of the Universe
Who has made us holy with mitzvot
and has
asked us to light these candles
of the
Baruch
Ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech HaOlam
She-he-che-ya-nu
V
V
laz-man
ha-ze. Amen.
Blessed
are You Eternal our God
Who has
given us life
and sustained
us
and brought
us to this time. Amen.
Praying for Gratitude
My lines are drawn in pleasant places,
making sense, laid into soft wax.
My lines are laid in pleasant places,
I am wearing them, now I am weaving them
working backwards from the source.
I am breathing soul at the inner point of truth,
the lines converging on Tiferet, beauty.
Master of all the worlds,
I am thanking you
for the soul breathing within me
and the unclaimed soul without.
I am tying untying my life in knots,
I have assembled the fibers
and hung them on the wall.
All weavers pass through Tiferet, beauty.
My lines are laid in pleasant places.
Meet me at the blessing, it is a tunnel
to the heart of the world.
Restore me don
I am wearing my soul like a coat, inside out.
My lines are left in pleasant places,
a true person of compassion
pulled them together into time,
just enough for another day.
Now I know that nothing, nothing
in God
My lines are left in pleasant places,
my lines are left in pleasant places,
the soft wax of the world soul.
Amen.
Rachatz
Walk
around and pour water over
the hands
of all the participants,
with
a bowl to catch the overflow,
an act
of welcoming and purification.
Pour
twice over the right hand, twice over the left hand.
Dry.
No blessing, please.
Karpas
Dip the
parlsey (or small piece of onion or boiled potato)
into
salt water and say the blessing before eating:
Baruch
Ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech HaOlam
Borei
p
Blessed
are You Eternal our God
Ruler
of the Universe
Creator
of the fruit of the earth. Amen.
Yachatz
Break
the middle matza of the three,
leave
the smaller part on the plate,
the larger
part is used for the afikomen.
Maggid
(fill
the second cup)
Song:
Kol dich-fin
yei-tei ve-yei-chol,
kol ditz-rich
yei-tei ve-yif-sach.
La la
la. . .
Let all
who are hungry enter and eat.
Let all
who are needy come to our Passover feast.
The Four
Questions
(lift
the dish)
1) Ma
Nishtana ha-lai-la ha-ze mi-kol ha-lei-lot
She-b
chametz
u-matza
ha-lai-la
ha-ze ku-lo matza.
2) She-be-chol
ha-lei-lot anu och-lin
she-ar
ye-ra-kot
ha-lai-la
ha-ze maror.
3) She-be-chol
ha-lei-lot ein anu mat-bi-lin
a-fi-lu
pa-am achat
ha-la-la
ha-ze she-tei fe-a-min.
4) She-be-chol
ha-lei-lot anu och-lin
bein
yosh-vin u-vein m
ha-lai-la
ha-ze ku-la-nu m
Why is
this night different from all other nights?
On all
other nights we eat either matza or chometz,
on this
night only matza.
On all
other nights we dip only once,
on this
night we dip [our vegetables] two times.
On all
other nights we eat either sitting or recling,
on this
night we all eat reclining.
(put
the dish down)
It is
customary to eat an egg here,
a memory
of the sacrifice called "chagiga"
and symbol
of renewal.
(Blessing
over the egg)
Baruch
Ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech HaOlam
She-ha-kol
n
Blessed
are You Eternal our God
Ruler
of the Universe
Everything
created according to your word. Amen.
Four
Other Questions
(For
discussion at your table)
Every Passover,
the Haggadah says, I should feel as if I, personally, were being liberated
from Egypt. That is always the point of the liberation saga: it is
my story. I am getting free. I ask myself four questions.
First question: Free from what?
The Hebrew
for "Egypt" is Mitzrayim, which is a pun. It means "narrow
place," like Detroit. Each year at Passover time, I get a little
more free, each year I leave that narrow place which is too small for
me now. It is a different place each year, because I am in a different
place each year. Mitzrayim, "the narrow place," is also meant
to conjure the birth narrows. Freedom is always a birth experience,
a re-birth, renewal.
Second question: When does my freedom begin?
R. Levi
Yitzchak of Berditchev asked this question: when does my freedom begin?
I might think it begins with leaving Egypt. The koan of the question
puts my memory to work on my own life, trying to discern the influences,
who said what to me when that gave me strength, that planted a seed,
that snuck the message by the guardians of my equanimity, the way the
soul eludes the intellect and speaks directly to the heart. Who taught
me to resist the easier, softer way of complacency, who taught me to
dream, who taught me that I could transform, be transformed, that I
could be free? Who was it? What teacher? What voice? Who is part of
my freedom chain? Who made it possible for me to get free?
Third question: What is freedom?
It is written
that the Torah was given in the third month after leaving Egypt, the
Midrash plays with the pun for the word "month" which in
Hebrew is related to the word for "something new" (chodesh/chidush).
That
Asking the
two questions, when does freedom begin, and how do I know I have acquired
freedom re-fashions the liberation concept, re-formulating my notion
of freedom from something that I have or on
Fourth question: What interferes with the
freedom journey?
I put out
the chometz, all the leavened food, from my life forthis journey.
What is this chometz that I remove from my life during Pesach? The
chometz is anything inflatable, all the inflatable aspects of self
that prevent God. The inflatable sense of self aggrandizement, the
inflatable narcissism of self -- this is chometz, and this is what
I take out of my life during Passover. There is no room for God in
a person too full of self (Baal Shem Tov). I get, in a word, humble.
We call
humility "bittul" which means suppression of self. Less self,
more other, less self more Other--this is the emerging Jewish spirituality.
When I eat matzah, that substance of no chometz, I am reminded that
chometz takes me away from God.
Fifth Question
(in Chassidus, there is always a hidden fifth concept): So, what is
my response to the gift of freedom?
Gratitude,
because it was a gift. Humility, because I didn
Rabbi James
Stone Goodman
` Born in Detroit
Song:
Mi-mitz-ra-yim
ge-al-ta-nu
mi-beit
a-va-dim pe-di-ta-nu.
From
Egypt You redeemed us.
From
the house of slaves You saved us.
Four
Children:
The Torah
speaks of Four Children:
One wise,
one wicked,
one tam/simple,
and one
who does not know how to ask.
The wise
child says: what are the laws of Pesach?
The wicked
child says: what are these things "to you?"
To this
child you say, "this is what God did for me
when
leaving Mitzrayim" (Exodus 13:8)
The Tam
says: "what is this?" (Exodus 13:14)
To this
child you say, "with a strong arm
God pulled
us out of Mitzrayim, from
the house
of slaves." (Exodus 13:14)
To the
child who does not know how to ask,
you must
make the opening.
as it
is said, "you shall tell your children on that day,
saying,
this is done because of what God did for me
in leaving
Mitzrayim." (Exodus 13:8)
Last Stand of the Resistance
When they came from the other side,
the sirens chased us
into a house at the end of the village.
Who?
Egyptians?
“Surely they are
coming back,” you said.
We paused to breathe, to plan our escape.
Outside the window the open field
and beyond that the forest and the gold coast.
We sat underneath the window.
Siren -- ambulance or fire?
Pharaoh does not disclose himself with sirens,
we held hands tighter.
Was it
Pharaoh?
No, a reckless taxi full of fools,
the owner of a radio station in a large midwestern city
the mayor who had his hand in the preacher’s pocket
the owner of the nursing home who signed his checks with
a gold pen
they lunched on the skyline while we all burned in the
street.
They chased us into the last house in the village.
We decided to stay right there and be
artfully defiant.
James Stone Goodman
A wandering
Aramean
And you
shall go into the Kohen
that
shall be in those days,
and say
to him, I say today to Hashem your God,
that
I am come into the country which Hashem
swore
unto our ancestors to give us.
And the
Kohen shall take the basket out of your hand,
and set
it down before the altar of Hashem your God.
And you
shall speak and say before Hashem your God,
a wandering
Aramean was my father,
and we
went down into Egypt,
and sojourned
there with a few,
and became
there a nation,
great,
mighty, and populous,
and the
Egyptians dealt ill with us,
and afflicted
us, and laid upon us hard bondage,
and when
we cried out to
Hashem
the God of our ancestors,
Hashem
heard our voice, and looked on our affliction,
and our
labor, and our oppression,
and Hashem
brought us forth
out of
Egypt with a mighty hand,
and with
an outstretched arm,
and with
great deeds, and with signs, and wonders.
--Deut. 26:3 ff
Tell/write/dream/draw
your Jewish story.
I am marking time backwards, nam
The Plagues,
Song (melody from Sarajevo):
U
v
Dam va-esh,
ve-tim-rot ashan.
Davar
acher b
u
u
u
u-ve-mof-tim she-ta-yim,
Ei-lu
eser makot she-hei-vi HaKadosh Baruch Hu
al Ha-Mitz-rim
b
Dam Tze-far-de-ya kinim arov
dever shechin barad arbe
Choshech macat b-cho-rot,
Rabbi
Yehudah haya notein bahem si-ma-nim:
DeTzaCh ADaSh B
Another
thing:
with
a mighty hand, means the two plagues,
with
an outstretched arm, another two,
with
great fear, another two, with signs, another two,
and wonders,
another two.
These
are the ten plagues with the Holy One
brought
upon the Egyptians in Egypt,
and they
are: Blood, frogs, lice, wild animals,
darkness,
the slaying of the firstborn.
Rabbi
Yehuda used to remember them by their initials:
DeTZaCH,
ADaSH, B
the heart
Dayenu
I-lu
hotz-i-anu mi-mitz-ra-yim
Dayenu
i-lu
na-tan la-nu et ha-shabbat
Dayenu
i-lu
na-tan la-nu et ha-Torah
Dayenu
Rabban
Gamaliel used to say,
whoever
does not discuss these three things
on Passover
has not fulfilled the obligation, and these are:
Pesach
Matza
Maror
Lift up The Pesach
The Pesach,
the paschal lamb,
which
our ancestors ate in the time when the Temple stood,
what
does it mean?
1) Because
the Holy One "passed over" (pasach)
our ancestors
2) Because
God leaped or jumped (Rashi on Exodus 12:13)
and so
we should perform all our activities
in a
similar manner, leaping and jumping,
as God
leaped and jumped over our houses.
The life
of the spirit requires a leap,
a jump
over our limitations.
Sometimes
the spiritual response is a measured,
learned
response, and sometimes
it is
a leap, a jump, to a higher awareness;
a breakthrough
experience every now and again,
to remind
ourselves what we are all about.
3) Or,
as Rebbe Nachman reads it,
God "pasach" jumped
in, jumped out of our story.
In Mitzrayim,
we were feeling far away from God,
but Moses
let us know we would soon be leaving,
he whispered
to us the secret of the Pesach lamb,
and we
came to really understand it.
We understood
that to God, the near and the far
are one
and the same, so we sacrificed our lowliness,
we offered
up our distance with the Pesach lamb,
the fragrance
rose up high and God, as it were,
descended
into the pit of Mitzrayim (Egypt).
Near
and far, jumping in, jumping out, all the same,
is how
we came to understand, (really understand)
the secret
of the Pesach lamb,
and that
Lift up The Matza
Why do
we eat matza?
There
are two aspects to the matza:
1) one is the "bread of poverty,"
it is
the substance we ate as slaves in Egypt.
So when
we eat matza,
we remember
what it was like to be enslaved.
2) There
is a second aspect to the matza, what the Zohar
calls
the "bread of faith" and it has to do
with
redemption and transformation.
Matza
is a symbol of transformation,
but not
an alchemical symbol,
matza is chametz
but in arrested development.
There
is a continuum of substance from matza to chametz,
matza
will become chametz if given the time.
Is there
not comfort in a symbol of transformation
that
does not necessitate a change of form?
You are
what you are becoming.
We also
read chametz as all the inflatable aspects
of self
that get in the way, so to speak, of Godliness
("there
is no room for God
in a
person too full of self" -- the Besht).
Chametz
is puffiness of self.
The matza
represents humility,
the leanness
of spirit,
the emptying
out of obstacles to Godliness.
Matza
is bread with no ego.
3) One
more notion about matza.
Matza
becomes mitzva with an added "vuv."
The "vuv," the
mother letter,
is the
most slippery of all Hebrew letters,
the most
transformative.
It is
the ultimate symbol of transformation
in language,
the "vuv." We turn
our experience into an advantage, with the elusive vav, matza becomes
mitzvah, the seeds of our redemption comes to us in the possibilities
of our renewal. Because we have been there.
The transformative
possibilities of matza and chometz,
of sin
to redemption, bread of affliction to mitzvah,
matza
is the symbol of transformation.
We are
transformed most at the level of soul/neshama.
We are
broken most at the level of soul/neshama.
At the
level of soul/neshama is where we are most healed.
Lift up The Maror,
Bitter
herb, why do we eat it?
Because
our lives were embittered in the land of Egypt,
the narrow
place, too narrow to hold us.
In each
generation, each person should feel
as if
he/she personally had come out of Egypt.
Rebbe
Nachman reads this principle as
in every
generation,
the Holy
One repairs some of the intended flaws
that
were a part of Creation,
so in
every generation
the world
is spiritually enriched in some new way.
Enriched
not in spite of its flaws,
because
of its flaws.
The maror
is a reminder of the mix
of our
holy celebrations,
the mix
of the sacred and the profane,
the holy
and the unholy, action and inaction, activisim and paralysis,
the extraordinary
and the commonplace,
the praise
and the deception.
We begin
our story with the deception,
and we
end with the praise.
Each
year at Passover time,
I get
a little more free,
each
year I leave that narrow place
which
is too small for me now.
It is
a different place each year,
because
I am in a different place each year.
Mitzrayim, "the
narrow place,"
is also
meant to conjure the birth narrows.
Freedom
is always a birth experience, a re-birth, a renewal.
Every
year, something new. What is it this year that we are giving ourselves
to, what are the narrows this year?
Second
cup of juice:
In every
generation, a person should feel
as if
he or she were personally released from Mitzrayim,
as it
is written,
"this
is what God did for me
when
I came out of Mitzrayim."
This
is my story.
Baruch
Ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech HaOlam
Borei
p
Blessed
are You Eternal our God
Ruler
of the Universe
Creator
of the fruit of the vine. Amen.
Rachtza
We wash
our hands again,
this
time saying the cutomary blessing first:
Baruch
Ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech HaOlam
Asher
kid-sha-nu b
v
al n
Blessed
are You Eternal our God
Ruler
of the Universe
Who has
made us holy with mitzvot
and has
instructed us concerning the
washing
of hands.
Motzi Matza
Taking
hold of the three matzot,
the broken
one between the two whole ones,
we say
the customary blessing before eating bread:
Baruch
Ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech HaOlam
HaMotzi
Lechem min ha-aretz.
Blessed
are You Eternal our God
Ruler
of the Universe
who brings
forth bread from the earth. Amen.
Put the
bottom matza back on the plate,
holding
the top whole matza with the broken middle one,
say the
following blessing:
Baruch
Ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech HaOlam
Asher
kid-sha-nu b
v
al a-chi-lat
matza. Amen.
Blessed
are You Eternal our God
Ruler
of the Universe
Who has
made us holy with mitzvot
and has
instructed us
concerning
the eating of matza. Amen.
Maror
We dip
some bitter herbs in charoset
and say
the following blessing before eating:
Baruch
Ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech HaOlam
Asher
kid-sha-nu b
v
al a-chi-lat
maror.
Blessed
are You Eternal our God
Ruler
of the Universe
Who has
made us holy with mitzvot
and has
instructed us
concerning
the eating of maror. Amen.
What
is charoset?
We understand
charoset
to represent
the bricks and mortar
out of
which we were forced to build
for the
Mitzrim/Egyptians.
Something
else: our mothers,
fearing
for the lives of the infants in Mitzrayim,
gave
birth in secrecy in the apple orchards.
The angels
came down as midwives.
We remember
this with apples.
Korech
Break
the bottom matza, put some bitter herb
sandwich-style
between two pieces of matza,
and say
the following prayer before eating:
In memory
of the Temple,
according
to the custom of Hillel.
Hillel
used to combine matza and bitter herbs
and eat
them together.
Shulchan Orekh
The meal.
The well set table.
Tzafun
Send
the guests to find the afikomen,
which
had been "hidden,"
bargain
for it back,
because
the seder cannot conclude without the afikomen.
The afikomen
symbolizes the pascal lamb
which
was eaten at the end of the meal.
Barech
The third
cup of juice,
we say
the following blessing before drinking:
Baruch
Ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech HaOlam
Borei
p
Blessed
are You Eternal our God
Ruler
of the Universe
Creator
of the fruit of the vine. Amen.
Oseh
Shalom bim-ro-mav
Hu ya-a-se
shalom
aleinu
v
v
May the
One who makes peace in the heavens
make
peace for us,
and for
all peoples,
and let
us say: amen.
The cup
of Elijah:
An overflowing
cup of juice is poured
and set
in the center of the table for the prophet Elijah,
the precursor
of the Messiah, who will come to answer
all our
questions and give us some closure on our angst.
We are
always waiting,
but for
us,
waiting
is an active pursuit,
an active
waiting.
Unfinished Story
On one edge of the world there is a mountain
and on that mountain a rock
and from that rock issues
the freshest, purest water in the Universe.
On the other edge of the world beats
the great heart of the world.
The heart of the world yearns for the water,
but it cannot have it.
Every night when the sun goes down
the great heart of the world sings
a song of longing, a song of yearning,
along with all other hearts of the world.
Now, there is a true person of compassion
who walks the earth and gathers together
all these fragments of song into time,
and it is just enough time for another day.
In this way out of music,
out of beauty,
yearning,
longing,
out of an impossible dream --
the world continues to exist.
All hearts sing a song of yearning,
we are actively waiting
for the impossible Muse of Peace
to send another day,
and another,
until there is enduring peace,
peace that flows like a fountain.
Blessed are You, Impossible Muse of Peace.
Blessed are we, always waiting.
JSG
We open
the door for Elijah to enter. Everyone stands.
Eliyahu
HaNavi
Eliyah
HaTishbi
Eliyahu
Eliyahu Eliyahu HaGiladi.
B
ya-vo
ei-lei-nu
im Mashiach
ben David, im Mashiach ben David.
Elijah
the prophet, the Tishbite, from Gilead.
Soon
and in our time, may he come,
the Messiah
son of David.
Close
the door and be seated.
Hallel
Ho-du
l
Yo-mar
na Yisrael Ki
l
Yo-m
Yo-m
Give
thanks to God for God is good,
God
Let Israel
now say,
God
Let the
house of Aaron now say,
God
Let allwho
see with wonder now say,
God
The fourth
cup of juice,
we say
the following blessing before drinking:
Baruch
Ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech HaOlam
Borei
p
Blessed
are You Eternal our God
Ruler
of the Universe
Creator
of the fruit of the vine. Amen.
Nirtza
This
concludes this seder,
but doesn
Freedom
is a daily notion.
I leave
Mitzrayim everyday of my life, or I don
Ba-sha-na
ha-ba-a bi-ru-sha-la-yim!
Next
year in Jerusalem!
She-yi-ba-nei
beit ha-Mik-dash
bi-m
v
May the
Temple be rebuilt,
soon
and in our time,
and may
we receive our share
of Your
holy Torah
Adir Hu Adir Hu yiv-nei vei-to b
bim-hei-ra
bim-hei-ra
b
Eil b
bim-hei-ra
bim-hei-ra, b
Bachur Hu, Gadol Hu Lamud Hu, Melech Hu
Dagul Hu, Hadur Hu Nora Hu, Sagiv Hu
Vatik Hu, ZakkaiHu Ezuz Hu, Podeh Hu
Chasid
Hu, Tahor Hu Tzaddik Hu, Kadosh
Hu
Yachid Hu, Kabir Hu Rachem Hu, Shaddai Hu Shaddai Hu, Takkif Hu
Eit Dodim Kalah bo-i l
Pa-re-cha
ha-ge-fen, hei-nei-tzu ri-mo-nim.
The time
for love has come,
my bride
come to my garden,
the vine
is blooming
and the
pomegranate is budding.
Kol Dodi hi-nei zeh ba
M
The voice
of my beloved, behold,
s/he
comes leaping upon the mountains,
skipping
upon the hills.
El Ginat Egoz ya-rad-ti
b
lir-ot
par
hei-nei-tzu
ha-ri-mo-nim.
Le-cha
Dodi
nei-tzei
ha-sa-de
na-li-na
bak
nir-e
par-cha gefen
pi-tach
ha-s
Ir me quero madre a Yerushalayim
A pizar
las hiervas
Y hartame
d
En el
me arrimo yo
En el
m
En el
Senor de todo El mundo.
A Yerushalayim
lo veo d
Olvido
mis hijos Y mis parientes
I long
for my mother, Jerusalem
Un Cavritico
Chorus:
Un Cavritico que que lo merco mi padre
por dos
levanim, por dos levanim
An only
kid, my father bought for two zuzim
1) Y
vino el gato y se comio al cavritico
que lo
merco mi padre por dos levanim por dos levanim
2) Vino
el perro y modrio al gato, que se comio al cavritico,
que lo
merco mi padre por dos levanim por dos levanim
3) Vino
el palo y akharvo al perro,
que modrio
al gato, que se comio al cavritico,
que lo
merco mi padre por dos levanim. . .
4) Vino
el fuego y quemo al palo,
que akharvo
al perro, que modrio al gato,
que se
comio al cavritico, que lo merco mi padre,
por dos
levanim . . .
5) Vino
la agua Y amato al fuego,
que quemo
al palo, que akharvo al perro,
que modrio
al gato, que se comio al cavritico,
que lo
merco mi padre,
por dos
levanim, por dos levanim.
6) Vino
el buey Y se bevio la agua,
que amato
al fuego que quemo al palo,
que akharvo
al perro, que modrio al gato,
que se
comio al cavritico,
que lo
merco mi padre, por dos levanim. . .
7) Vino
el Shochet Y degollo al buey,
que se
bevio la agua,
que amato
al fuego, que quemo al palo,
que akharvo
al perro, que modrio al gato,
que se
comio al cavritico,
que lo
merco mi padre, por dos levanim. . .
8) Vino
el Malakh HaMavet Y degollo al Shochet,
Que degollo
al buey, que se bevio al agua,
que amato
al fuego, que quemo al palo,
que akharvo
al perro, que modrio al gato,
que se
comio al cavritico,
que lo
merco mi padre, por dos levanim. . .
9) Vino
el Santo Bendicho Y degollo al Malach HaMavet,
que degollo
al Shochet, que degollo al buey,
que se
bevio la agua, que amato al fuego,
que quemo
al palo, que akharvo al perro,
que modrio
al gato, que se comio al cavritico,
que lo
merco mi padre, por dos levanin, por dos levanim.
Then
came the Holy One
and destroyed
the angel of death
that
slew the butcher that killed the ox
that
drank the water that quenched the fire
that
burned the stick that beat the dog that bit the cat
that
ate the kid, that my father bought for dos levanim.
Kol Ba-Yar (a voice in the forest)
1
Kol ba-ya-ar
anochi sho-mei-a av la-banim oy ko-rei
A gesh-rei
un a ge-vald un a ge-pil-der,
a foter
in vald zucht doch zeine kinder
2
Ba-nai
ba-nai hei-chan ha-lach-tem
asher
alai kach sha-chach-tem.
Kinder
kinder vu zeit iyar ge-ve-zen
vos oif
mir hot iyar shoin far-ge-sen.
3
Ba-nai
ba-nai le-chu l-vei-ti
ki lo
u-chal la-she-vet y
Kinder
kinder kumt tzu mir a-heim,
varim
mir iz u-metig tzu zitzen a-lein.
4
A-vi-nu
a-vi-nu eich nei-leich
ki ha-sho-meir
omeid b
Foter, foter, vi ke-nen mir ge-hen tzu dir,
az der sho-meir shteht doch bai der tir.
1 A voice in the forest I hear,
God is calling us, God
2 My child my child how can you find me
when you have forgotten Me.
3 My child my child come to my house,
for I cannot live here alone
4 But how can we come if the guard is at the
gate?
Who Knows One?
____ Mi Yodeia
_____ Ani Yodeia
Shlosha
Asar Mi-da-ya
Sh
Echad
Asar kokh-va-ya
Asarah
dib-ra-ya
Tisha
yar-chei lei-da
Shmone
y
Shiva
y
Shisha
sid-rei Mishna
Chamisha
chum-shei Torah
Arba
Imahot
Shlosha
Avot
Sh
Echad
Eloheinu she-ba-sha-ma-yim u
Thirteen
are God
Twelve
are the tribes of Israel
Eleven
are the stars in Joseph
Ten are
the Ten Commandments
Nine
are the months of pregnancy
Eight
days
Seven
are the days of the week
Six are
the Mishna
Five
are the books of Moses
Four
are the Mothers
Three
are the Fathers
Two are
the tablets of the Covenant
One is
our God
who is
in heaven and on earth.
We have
put together prayer books for Neve Shalom,
to coax
the words out of their hiding places.
We took
on the task not to change the liturgy,
but to
restore its vitality.
We put
together our prayerbooks not because
we have
something new to say,
but because
we recognized the possibilities
lurking
in the traditional forms of Jewish prayer.
We recognize,
too, that prayer of the heart is difficult;
it is
so unlike the world out there.
In here,
for these few moments,
we claim
this place for peace, for spirit, for community,
for intimacy,
for insight, for holiness.
The real
work of the prayer place is to bridge the worlds:
out there,
in here, up there, down here,
the spiritual,
the material.
The hardest
work of the synagogue
is to
bring the worlds together.
The separations
are always an illusion.
Begin
by being here.