Palmer Family Seder

Hosted by Debbie & Shelly Palmer

The Seder

[The words enclosed in brackets are added when the Seder is celebrated on a Friday evening.]

All have taken their places. The first cup of wine is filled. Mother lights the candles.

Mother

Baruch Atah Adonai, Elohaynu Melech ha-olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav, v’tzivahnu I’ hadlik nayr shel [ Shabbath v’ ] Yom Tov.

Blessed art Thou, Eternal our God, King of the universe, who hast sanctified us through Thy commandments and instructed us to kindle the [Sabbath and] holiday candles.

Father

Together with our fellow Jews everywhere, we celebrate tonight the eternal story of the Jewish people, forever linked with man’s divine passion for justice and human liberty.

In this, our great yearly feast of liberation, we give thanks to the Eternal for the preservation of our spirit through every brutality, through both defeat and victory. We give thanks for the event that became the great symbol of liberation, the Exodus from Egypt. We give thanks for the divine inspiration that taught us to live by law. We give thanks for the first laws proclaiming the dignity of man: the Ten Commandments, the Torah, and the Sabbath of rest for all a hallowed day of contemplation when servant and master are reminded that in God’s law all are equal.

Father raises his wineglass.

We shall drink the first of the four cups of the Passover Seder-to liberation. We begin with the holiday sanctification, the Kiddush.

Baruch Atah Adonai, Elohaynu Melech ha-olam, asher bachaar-baanu mi-kol ahm v’romamanu mi-kol lashon v’kidshanu b’mitzvotav. Vatiten-lanu Adonai Elohaynu b’ahava [ Shabbatot limnoochah oo-] moadim l’ simcha chaagim oo-zmanim l’ saason et yom chag ha-matzoth hazeh. Zman chayrutaynu [b’ahava] mikraa kodesh zaycher litziath Mitzrayim Kih vanu bachartah v’ otahnu kidashta mikol ha-amim [ v’ Shabbath oo-] moaday kodsh’ cha b’ ahava oo-v’ rahtson b’ simcha oo-v’ saason hinchaltanu. Baruch Atah Adonai m’ kadesh [ ha Shabbath v’ J Yisrael v’ hazmanim.

Blessed art Thou, Eternal our God, King of the universe, who selected us from among all people, and exalted us among all tongues, and hallowed us with Thy commandments. Lovingly Thou hast given us, Lord our God, times for joy, seasons for celebration, and this feast of Matzah for the anniversary of our becoming free-a sacred occasion, a remembrance [with love,] of our release from Egypt. For us didst Thou select, and ourselves didst Thou hallow among all peoples. It has been Thy loving will to bestow on us [the Sabbath and] Thy sanctified holidays, for joy and gladness. Blessed art Thou, Lord, who sanctifies [the Sabbath,] Israel, and the holidays.

Before each of the four cups, we shall say the blessing for wine.

All raise their wine cups.

All

Baruch Atah Adonai, Elohaynu Melech ha-olam, boray p’ri ha-gafen.

Blessed art Thou, Eternal our God, King of the universe, creator of the fruit of the vine.

Father

Now we say the blessing that reminds us of the transitory nature of existence, of the continuous wonder of being alive. The she-hecheyanu.

Baruch Atah Adonai, Elohaynu Melech ha-olam, she-hecheyanu, v’ki-y’manu, v’higi-anu la-z’man ha-zeh.

Blessed art Thou, Eternal our God, King of the universe, who hast given us life, and kept us alive, and brought us to this moment.

All drink the first cup.

Father

Even before the Exodus from Egypt, our people each spring celebrated creation and the mystery of life. We remind ourselves that both the tender greens of the earth and the salts of the sea were joined together to sustain life. We remind ourselves that in slavery the brine of tears released our strength to survive.

Like all people, our people in ancient, pastoral times celebrated the liberation of the earth itself from wintry darkness, and rejoiced in the yearly rebirth of nature. This is beautifully described in Solomon’s Song of Songs.

Life and growth of earth and sea, combined to give us sustenance. The coral reefs of Elath

Mother

For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of singing is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs,
And the vines in blossom give forth their fragrance.

Father distributes the portions of greens, and each person dips his greens in salt water. All recite the blessing following.

All

Baruch Atah Adonai, Elohaynu Melech ha-olam, boray p’ri ha-adamah

Blessed art Thou, Eternal our God, King of the universe, creator of the fruit of the earth.

Father uncovers the ceremonial matzoth.

L. The head of a Jerusalem family displays the ceremonial matzoth — R. At a Kurdish Seder in Moshav Rahaua, near Lachish, the symbolic middle matzah is broken into two parts for the afikomen

Father

Here before me are three matzoth. It is said they represent, first, the priests of the Temple, the Kohanim, second, the singers and servitors of the Temple, the Levi-im, and last, the congregation of Israel, the Yisraelim. It is also said that two of these matzoth, the upper and lower, represent the loaves of shewbread on display in the Temple, while the third matzah, the middle one, symbolizes the paschal lamb. Since the Passover sanctification was no longer possible after the destruction of the Temple, a matzah, in addition to the bone, came to represent the lamb, for this matzah we shall later divide and eat. First, it is the custom to divide the matzah in two.

He breaks the middle matzah, and places one part back under the cover.

One part we keep here. The second part we shall hide, while the children close their eyes. This is called the afikomen, from a Greek word that means dessert. After the meal the children will hunt for it and the finder will be rewarded. When the hidden part is found, we will put the two halves together again, and this will be a sign that what is broken off is not really lost to our people, so long as our children remember and search. Each of us will then eat a bit of the ceremonial matzah, in place of the lamb of the days of the Temple.

The children close their eyes. The afikomen is hidden. Father now holds aloft the plate with the uncovered matzoth.

Father

Now we repeat, in ancient Aramaic, the call to Passover.

All

Ha lachma an-yah di achalu avahatana b’ ara d’ Mitzrayim.

This is the bread of affliction that our forefathers ate in the land of Egypt.

Kol dichfin yaytay v’yaychul; kol ditzrich yaytay v’yifsach.

Let all who are hungered, come and eat! Whoever is in need, come and celebrate the Passover.

Ha-shata hacha, l’shanah ha-ba’ah b’ara d’Yisrael.

Now here, next year in the land of Israel.

Ha-shata avday, l’shanah ha-ba’ah b’nay chorin.

Now enslaved, next year sons of freedom.

Father sets down the matzah plate. The wine glasses are filled for the second cup.

Father

Even the youngest among us notices this flat bread among the symbols of the Seder. It is unleavened bread, called matzah. Now let the youngest ask the Four Questions, about the differences that mark this night.

Youngest

Mah nishtanah ha-lailah ha-zeh mi-kol ha-laylot?

What makes this night different from all other nights?

She-b’ chol ha-lay lot anu ochlin chametz u’matzah. Ha-lailah ha-zeh kulo matzah.

On all other nights we may eat bread or matzah, But on this night only matzah.

She-b’ chol ha-laylot anu ochlin sh’ar y’rakot, Ha-lailah ha-zeh maror.

On all other nights we eat all kinds of greens, But on this night only bitter herbs.

She-b’chol ha-laylot ayn anu matbilin afilu pa-am echat, Ha-lailah ha-zeh sh’tayf’amim.

On all other nights we do not dip even once, But on this night we dip twice.

She-b’chol ha-laylot anu ochlin bayn yoshvin uvayn m’subin. Ha-lailah ha-zeh kulanu m’subin.

On all other nights we eat sitting or reclining, But on this night we all recline.

Father

Avadim hayinu l’ Pharaoh b’ Mitzrayim.

Because we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt.

All

Avadim hayinu l’ Pharaoh, b’ Mitzrayim. V’yotsiaynu Adonai Elohaynu mi-shaam b’yaad chazaka oo-vizroah n’tooyah.

Because we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Eternal, our God, brought us forth from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.

Mother

If the Holy One, Blessed be He, had not brought forth our ancestors from Egypt, then we, and our children, and our children’s children might still be enslaved in Egypt.

Father

There are Four Questions and there are also four ways to ask them: the heedless, the foolish, the dull, and the wise. The heedless child asks, “What is this ceremony of yours?” as though it did not concern him as well. The foolish child asks only what happened, without wanting to know what it means. The dull child doesn’t even see anything to ask about. But the wise child asks, “What is the meaning of each thing we do?”

All

Let us all be wise children here. For everything in the Seder has meaning. Even if we were full of wisdom, venerable sages, even ifwe were all steeped in Torah, it would still be incumbent on us to recount the Exodus from Egypt and search every word.

Father

Our venerable sages really did try to discuss every possible meaning in every word of the story of the Exodus, and they became so excited that they lost all sense of time. A story about this came to be included in the Haggadah. In the days of the early Talmudists there were five noted rabbis holding a Seder in B’nai B’rak, which is a center of religious study in Israel even today. They kept up their excited discussion hour after hour, until their pupils ran in and cried, “Rabbi Eliezer! Rabbi Joshua! Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria! Rabbi Akiba! Rabbi Tarphon! It’s dawn already! Time to say the morning Shema !” (Andrew Zinberg Alternative Interpretation: “Rabbi E, Rabbi J, Rabbi EbA, Rabbi A, Rabbi T”)

We are not as wise as the five sages. But let us hear a wise answer to the first question.

Father indicates, in turn, those who give the four answers.

First

YOU ask, why on this night do we eat only matzoth?
Avadim hayinu we were slaves. We were slaves in the land of Egypt. Our ancestors in their flight from the house of bondage in Egypt did not have time to let the dough rise, so they baked flat bread, called matzah. The Bible tells us, “They were thrust out of Egypt and could not tarry, neither had they time to prepare themselves victuals.” In memory of this, we eat only matzoth on Passover.

Second

Why on this night do we eat bitter herbs?
Avadim hayinu we were slaves. We eat bitter herbs because the Egyptians made bitter the lives of our forefathers. The Bible tells us, “They made their lives bitter with hard bondage in mortar and brick, and in all manner of labor in the fields, and all their servitude was terribly severe.”

Third

Why do we dip twice?
Avadim hayinu we were slaves. The first time we dipped our greens to taste the brine of enslavement. But also, to remind ourselves of all life and growth, of earth and sea, combined through divine impetus to give us sustenance.

The second time we shall dip in charoset, to remind ourselves of the mortar that our forefathers mixed as slaves to the Pharaohs in Egypt. But our charoset is a mixture of sweet apples, nuts, raisins, and wine, to show us that in their bitter time of slavery our forefathers hoped for the sweet delights of freedom.

From the Dead Sea comes the salt of survival

Fourth

Why do we recline at ease?
Avadim hayinu we were slaves. We recline at ease to remind ourselves that like our ancestors we can overcome slavery and bondage, for each of us is self-enslaved, and each of us is free to become his own master.

Father holds up the egg from the Passover plate.

Father

After the escape from Egypt the Israelites came into their promised land, and built their Temple in Jerusalem. To the Temple they brought festival offerings, in thanksgiving for the fertility of their fields and flocks. This egg recalls such offerings. The egg is the symbol of life, and of growth and fruition.

Father holds up the shank bone.

This shank bone is the reminder of the Passover lamb, of the Divine instruction to the Israelites in Egypt to sacrifice a lamb and mark their doorposts with its blood. This was a sign for the Angel of Death to pass over their houses and strike only Egyptians, to cause them to set free their slaves. Again we ask ourselves, how did we come to be slaves in Egypt?

Father indicates each one’s turn as the storytelling goes around the table.

The Recitation

First

The Bible tells us that in ancient times our ancestors dwelt “on the other side of the great river and. lived among idol-worshipers.” In the city of Ur, our patriarch Abraham was the first to understand that God is One, the Eternal. To worship God in freedom, Abraham had to flee the land of idolators.

Second

The Bible says, “I took your father Abraham from the other side of the great river and led him throughout all the land of Canaan.” And it relates: And the Lord said to Abraham, “All the land that thou seest, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed forever.”

Third

Abraham’s herds grew fat in the land, and God gave him Isaac. And Isaac’s son Jacob had many sons, but his favorite was Joseph, who was sold by his jealous brothers to a caravan, and they brought Joseph to Egypt.

Fourth

Joseph rose to become the Pharaoh’s minister over all Egypt. He prepared storehouses with grain. When drought and famine fell on all the region, Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to buy food. He recognized them, and had them bring their families to Egypt. There the Hebrews lived and multiplied.

There arose a new King over Egypt who knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, “Behold the children of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.” He feared that in a war they might go against him. Therefore he set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithon and Ramses. They were slaves.

And to destroy this entire people, Pharaoh charged the Hebrews, “Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river.”

A woman of the tribe of Levi placed her infant son inside an ark of bulrushes by the river’s bank. He was found by Pharaoh’s daughter and she called him Moses.

His sister had been watching, and she offered his mother as nursemaid. Thus Moses was raised knowing his own people.

When Moses was grown he one day came on an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, and he smote the Egyptian. Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian. (Alexis Palmer Zinberg Alternative Interpretation: “smote the magiptian.”)

One day as he was guarding sheep the voice of the Eternal spoke to him from a burning bush, saying, “I will send thee to Pharaoh that thou mayest bring forth my people the Children of Israel out of Egypt.”

Again and again Moses stood before Pharaoh, demanding “Let my people go.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.

Father

And as it is written, “We cried unto the Lord the God of our Fathers and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression.”

All

And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and wonders.

Father

Plague after plague was sent upon the Egyptians. In compassion and sorrow over the evil and suffering that exists in the world, our ancestors, in numbering the plagues, poured away with each word a drop of their wine of rejoicing. Rabbi Yehuda used only the initial for each plague, and made three words.

All

D’tsach adash b’achav.

Each pours three drops of wine into a saucer.

Father

Or, we may recall the Ten Plagues.

As the plagues are read out, each pours a drop of wine as each plague is recalled.

Everyone opens their bag of plagues.

The Ten Plagues

Dahm
Blood

Ts’fardaya
Frogs

Kinim
Vermin

Arov
Beasts

Dever
Cattle Disease

Sh’chin
Boils

Barad
Hail

Arbeh
Locusts

Choshech
Darkness

Makat b’chorot
Striking the First-Born

Father

When even the Pharaoh’s own first-born son was stricken in the final plague, Pharaoh arose in the night and called for Moses and commanded him, “Get you forth from among my people!” In great haste the Children of Israel departed, as it is written, “They baked their bread in haste for they could not tarry.” When they came to the Red Sea, Pharaoh again broke his word, for his chariots pursued them.

First

The Lord caused the waters to be divided and the Israelites passed over safely; then the waters closed on the Egyptians, with their chariots of war. Thus the Children of Israel became free.

Mother

But as with the Ten Plagues, there is a story in our tradition about the Egyptians who drowned: When the Israelites crossed over safely, the angels in Heaven began to sing in praise of God. But God looked down on the waters closing over the Egyptians, and cried, “How can you sing, when my children are drowning?”

All

Let us remember and never forget.

Avadim hayinu l’Pharaoh b’Mitzrayim. V’yotsiaynu Adonai Elohaynu mi-shaam b’yaad chazakah oo-uizroah n’tooyah.

Slaves were we to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Eternal, our God, brought us out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.

V’iylu lo hotsi ha-Kadosh Baruch Hu et ahvotaynu mi-Mitzrayim haray anu oovahnaynu oov’ nai vahnaynu m’ shoobadim hayinu I’ Pharaoh b’ Mitzrayim.

If the Holy One, blessed be He, had not brought forth our ancestors from Egypt, then we, and our children, and our children’s children might still be enslaved in Egypt.

Father

Let us remember and never forget: The promise of the Eternal to deliver our people has been kept again and again, through the ages.

First

Blessed be He who kept his promise to Israel. For it was forethought by the Holy One, to fulfill what he had declared to our father Abraham along with the covenant: And he said to Abraham, “Know for a certainty that thy seed shall be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and that people shall afflict them during four hundred years. And that nation whom they serve, them also will I judge! And afterwards the afflicted shall go forth with great substance.”

All raise their wine cups.

Second

This is the promise that has sustained our ancestors and ourselves.

All

For not one only has risen against us to destroy us, but in every generation some have risen up against us to annihilate us. But the Holy One, Blessed be He, is our deliverer out of their hands.

Father

In every generation each individual is bound to consider himself as if he in his own person had gone forth out of Egypt. For it is written, on that day thou shalt tell thy son:

All

This is because of what the Eternal did for me when I came out of Egypt. We are therefore duty bound to thank, praise, laud, glorify, extol, honor, bless, exalt, and revere Him who wrought all these wonders for our ancestors and for us.

He brought us forth from bondage to freedom, from sorrow to joy, from mourning to festivity, from darkness to bright light, and from servitude to redemption. Therefore let us sing before him a new song! Halleluyah!

Blessed art Thou, Lord God, King of the universe, who delivered us and delivered our fathers from Egypt, and brought us to this night to eat matzah and bitter herbs. So, too, Lord our God and God of our fathers, bring us to future observances and feasts, in peace, that we may happily rebuild Thy city and rejoice in Thy service. There shall we sing Thee a new song for our deliverance and for the redemption of our souls. Blessed art Thou, Lord, who redeemed Israel!

Father

Now these are the psalms that were sung in the Temple at Passover.

Halleluyah!
Praise, 0 servants of the Lord,
Praise the Name of the Lord!
The Name of the Lord be blessed From now to eternity!
From the sun’s rising to its going down Hail the name of the Lord!
Above all nations is the Lord Above the heavens is His glory.
Who is like unto the Lord our God Who is seated so high,
That in the same gaze He encompasses What is in Heaven and on Earth!
He raises the poor out of the dust The needy out of the dung To seat them among princes,
Among princes of His people.
The barren housewife He brings forth As a happy mother of sons!
Halleluyah!

When Israel came forth out of Egypt, The House of Jacob from a strange-tongued people, Then Israel became God’s sanctuary,
Judah, His dominion.
The sea beheld, and fled!
The Jordan turned backward!
The mountains leaped like rams,
The hills like Iambs!
What’s come over you, 0 sea, that you flee!
And you, Jordan, that you turn backward!
You mountains, that leap like rams,
You hills, like lambs!
Tremble, earth, Before the Lord,
Before the God of Jacob!
He who turned the rock into a pool of water The flint rock into fountains of water!

Father

From the Red Sea, Moses led Israel inland. They crossed the desert and dwelt for a time in the oasis of Kadesh Barnea, that has been identified in our time. They lived in tents, and booths made of reeds, as Bedouin do to this day. Early in their wandering they came into the wilderness of Sinai, and encamped, and Moses went up on the Mount, where he received God’s commandments. Let us repeat the Ten Commandments.

All

I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
Thou shalt Hot make unto thee a graven image … thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Honor thy father and thy mother.
Thou shalt not murder.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet.

Father

This is the word of God as embodied in our Torah. Let us drink the second cup.

Baruch Atah Adonai, Elohaynu Melech ha-olam, boray p’ri ha-gafen.

Blessed art Thou, Eternal our God, King of the universe, creator of the fruit of the vine.

All drink the second cup.

Father

We are now coming to the Seder meal. As we ordinarily begin with the breaking of bread, we begin tonight with the breaking of matzah.

Father breaks off,for each, a small portion of the ceremonial matzah.

All

Baruch Atah Adonai, Elohaynu Melech ha-olam, ha-motzi lechem min ha-aretz.

Blessed art Thou, Eternal our God, King of the universe, who bringest forth bread from the earth.

All eat the matzah.

Father

Now each will take a bit of the bitter herb and dip it in charoset to fulfill the commandment of this night to eat the bitter herb. Thus, we dip our food the second time.

All

Baruch Atah Adonai, Elohaynu Melech ha-olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav, v’tzivahnu al achilat maror.

Blessed art Thou, Eternal our God, King of the universe, who hast sanctified us through Thy commandments and instructed us to eat bitter herbs.

Father

Tradition adds one more custom, in honor of the great teacher, Hillel, head of the rabbinic academy in Jerusalem in the time of the Romans. A heathen asked the rabbi to teach him the entire Torah while he stood on one foot. Hillel said, “Do not unto others what you would hate them to do unto you. That is the whole Torah,” he told the man, “the rest is commentary.
Now go and study.” On Passover, Hillel followed precisely the instruction about the sanctified lamb. “Upon unleavened bread and bitter herbs shall they eat it.” So he placed a bit of the paschal offering on the matzah, with bitter herbs. In remembrance of the Temple and Hillel, we shall place the bitter herb on the matzah.

All eat the matzah with bitter herbs.

Father

The teaching is completed and we may come to the meal. It was a grandson of Rabbi Hillel, Rabbi Gamaliel, who gave us the rule for when we may eat the meal. “He who has not talked about these three things,” he said, “has not fulfilled the obligation to observe the Passover. They are: the shank bone, the matzah, and the maror.”

We have explained all three, so let us begin the Passover feast!

The ceremonial Passover plate is removed.

The Meal Is Served

After the first course is a good time to recite, chant, or sing the traditional “Dayenu,” which means, “It would have been enough for us.” The verses, go around the table, each person doing a line, all joining in the refrain. First may come the recitation, then the song.

Day – day – ye – nu, Day – day – ye – nu, Day – day – ye – nu, Dayenu! Dayenu! (Dayenu!)
Day – day – ye – nu, Day – day – ye – nu, Day – day – ye – nu, Dayenu! Dayenu! (Dayenu!)

I-lu na-tan, na-tan la-a-nu,
Na-tan la-nu mi Mits-ra-yim
Na-tan la-nu mi Mits-ra-yim
Dayenu!

At the end of the meal, the third cup is filled.

Father

We have eaten our Passover meal as free men. Let us.give thanks to the source of all life and freedom. We will say grace.

All

Blessed is the Eternal through whose bounty we have been fed and through whose love we are given life.

May He who maketh peace in all His vastness grant peace unto us, and all Israel, and all mankind, and let us say Amen.

Father

May He who is most compassionate send abundant blessings on this house and on this table on which we have eaten.

All

May He who is most compassionate bless this house.

Father, Mother (to the grandparents)

May He who is most compassionate bless my father who taught me, and my mother who taught me.

Each (according to relationship, turning to those to be blessed)

And my wife.

And my husband.

And my children.

All

May He who is most compassionate bless all who are gathered here — them, their families, and all that is theirs.

Father

We drink the third cup!

Baruch Atah Adonai, Elohaynu Melech ha-olam, boray p’ri ha-gafen.

Blessed art Thou, Eternal our God, King of the universe, creator of the fruit of the vine.

Each drinks his third cup. The wine is poured for the fourth cup. The cup of Elijah is filled.

Father

We are told that Elijah the Prophet visits every house where a Seder is being held.

He selects someone to open the door.

Let us open the door for Elijah, and also as a symbol of hospitality and friendliness, as a sign that none is shut off from his fellow man.

The door has been opened. Father indicates the cup of Elijah.

Father

This is the cup of Elijah the Prophet, for our legends tell us that Elijah enters every house where a Seder is taking place. Why Elijah? Of all our Biblical Prophets, it is Elijah who became the kindly mediator between Heaven and Earth.

The Bible stories tell us of a fiery chariot sent to carry him up to Heaven. And from Heaven, he was to return to help prepare mankind for the dreamed-of time of the coming of the Messiah, the time of judgment and redemption. The Prophet Malachi foretold this about Elijah, when he said,

Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet Before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord, And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,
And the hearts of the children to their fathers.

In the centuries when our people suffered in the ghettos, they longed for this kind-hearted messenger of the millennium, and they told innumerable tales of how Elijah would instantly appear if a Jew in great trouble or danger called out, “Elijah! Help me!” In such stories, he would appear in different ways; sometimes he was a camel driver who rescued a traveler lost in the desert, sometimes he even flew through the air to rescue a Jew whom robbers had hurled off a mountain path.

Or, he was a beggar passing in the street, to save the soul of a wealthy Jew who was suddenly dying, by giving him a last chance to perform an act of charity. Elijah may come and go in different disguises, unrecognized, but the Jew who has called out, and been helped by him, somehow knows, “Elijah came.”

The door is closed.

Father

Now the children may hunt for the afikomen, and perhaps Elijah will help one of them to find it.

The children leave their seats to hunt for the afikomen. During this time, the cup of Elijah may be mysteriously drained. While the hunt goes on, the song of Elijah is taken up.

Eliyahu Hanavi

Eliyahu Hanavie, Eliyahu Hatishbi, Elyahu Hagiladi, Bimherah Yavo Elenu Im Ma-shi-ach ben David.
Eliyahu Hanavie, Eliyahu Hatishbi, Elyahu Hagiladi, Bimherah Yavo Elenu Im Ma-shi-ach ben David.
Bim-he-ra v’-ya-me-nu Ya-vo e-ley-nu
Im Ma-shi-ach ben David. Im Ma-shi-ach ben David.
Eliyahu Hanavie, Eliyahu Hatishbi, Elyahu Hagiladi, Bimherah Yavo Elenu Im Mashiach Ben David.

The child who has found the afikomen brings it to Father, who takes the other part of this matzah from the plate and holds up the two parts, matching them together.

Father

What is broken shall be made whole. What is shattered shall be restored. Our Messianic hope is in our children, to find what is lost, to bring together what is broken, to restore our faith..

A piece of the afikomen is distributed to all.

Father

Let us drink the fourth cup to the freedom of all!

Baruch Atah Adonai, Elohaynu Melech ha-olam, boray p’ri ha-gafen.

Blessed art Thou, Eternal our God, King of the universe, creator of the fruit of the vine.

All

Have compassion on us, O Eternal our God, and on Thy people Israel, on Jerusalem Thy City, on Zion the tabernacle of Thy glory. Bring peace and freedom to every people. For Thou, 0 Eternal, art good and beneficent to all.

Father

Our commemoration of Passover is now accomplished. May we celebrate Passover next year in a world at peace, a world of universal freedom.

All

Amen!

Lashana ha-ba-a bi-Y’rushalayim!
Next year in Jerusalem!

Songs

Father

It is the custom to linger over the Passover table, with songs and recitations. Here is a riddle, Echad Mi Yodea, for a start:

One, One, who knows what is One?

The recitation proceeds around the table.

Then came a stick And beat the dog
That bit the cat
That ate the goat That papa bought for two zuzim
Chad Gad ya! Chad Gad ya!

Then came a fire And burnt the stick
That beat the dog That bit the cat
That ate the goat That papa bought for two zuzim
Chad Gad ya! Chad Gad ya!

Then water came And quenched the fire
That burnt the stick That beat the dog
That bit the cat That ate the goat That papa bought for two zuzim
Chad Gad ya! Chad Gad ya!

Then came an ox And drank the water
That quenched the fire That burnt the stick
That beat the dog That bit the cat
That ate the goat That papa bought for two zuzim
Chad Gad ya! Chad Gad ya!

The butcher came And slew the ox
That drank the water That quenched the fire
That burnt the stick That beat the dog
That bit the cat That ate the goat That papa bought for two zuzim
Chad Gad ya! Chad Gad ya!

Then came Death And took the butcher
That slew the ox That drank the water
That quenched the fire That burnt the stick
That beat the dog That bit the cat
That ate the goat That papa bought for two zuzim
Chad Gad ya! Chad Gad ya!

Eternity Dissolves the Death
That took the butcher That slew the ox
That drank the water That quenched the fire
That burnt the stick That beat the dog
That bit the cat That ate the goat
That papa bought for two zuzim
Chad Gad ya! Chad Gad ya!
Chad Gad-ya-a-a-a Chad Gadya!