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The story of Passover is the story of a journey. As told in the Haggadah, the events leading to the Exodus follow a pattern. But that's in retrospect. Viewed in the moment, the journey must have seemed as inscrutable as the Mideast peace process does today. Even as told in the Torah, it is peopled with multiple characters playing on many stages over many years, with fitful progress followed by inevitable setbacks.

Yet the story has survived thousands of years, and now the Pesach seder is the Jewish act that more Jews perform than any other. Everyone, it seems, longs to tell the familiar story, punctuated with the familiar food.

This year, you can add flavor to your seder by sharing this thoughtful reflection by Rabbi Rachel Goldenberg, a scholar, activist and pulpit rabbi. Rabbi Goldenberg, who has written previously for Americans for Peace Now, has graciously contributed our 11th haggadah insert. In it, she considers the paradox in the matzah's symbolism.

As we gather at the seder table, we can hope that someday soon Mideast peace will seem like another inscrutable journey whose pattern was actually discernible all along.

May we all enjoy a sweet and liberating Passover,

Debra DeLee
President and CEO,
Americans for Peace Now

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Submitted by Rabbi Rachel Goldenberg
To be read just before dividing the middle matzah
Yachatz

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We now prepare to break the middle Matzah - this bread that carries conflicting interpretations - the bread of affliction and the bread of freedom.

As we divide the matzah into two uneven pieces, we remember our affliction.

On kibbutz, there were always a couple of old ladies who didn't eat much at the meal in the communal dining room, but who would line up afterwards to fill stacked containers with food to take home. They had survived the camps, places where if you come across a piece of bread, you do not eat it all at once. No - you take a little, and you save most of it for later.

Tears flow from the cracks in the matzah. As we divide the matzah into two uneven pieces, we remember our affliction.

But this matzah is also the bread of our freedom.

Today in the State of Israel our People have power. We have land, we have plenty. Yet, too often the tears of our affliction blind us to these realities. Israel grabs and settles territory out of fear that the enemy will return to decimate us. We are still victims.

As we break the matzah, we can break the habit of seeing ourselves as afflicted-ones. We can rise up from the degradation of occupation and eat our bread like free people!

Let's embrace the pshat (the simple, surface meaning) of the ritual of yachatz, to break our bread and share it with our neighbors. Let's divide the matzah, and take only what we need. We can let go of that wrapped-up piece, and we can let go of our fear, because we have faith that this is the only way to make it all whole again.

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Submitted by Rabbi Esther Lederman (2010)
To be read after the recitation of the Four Questions/Ma Nishtanah

Tonight, we ask four questions. Two remind us of our slavery at the hands of the Egyptians- Matza and Maror - the bread of our affliction and the bitterness of our tears. Two remind us of our liberty-- the dipping of foods and reclining in our chairs. Echoes of slavery and freedom mingle at our seder table. We recline upon our cushions as we lick the salty tears of our enslavement.


Tonight, we ask four questions that remind us of our bitter past and joyful present. But what about our future? It is time to ask a fifth question: What will redemption look like?

Israelis and Palestinians, hearing each other's stories, facing each other's truths. Israel and Palestine, two states for two peoples. Justice for both, Security for All. Peace for the People. The People for Peace.

What will redemption look like? An end to death and terror, An end to checkpoints and blockades. Liberty for Palestinians, Secure Borders for Israelis, A New Map for the Middle East.

V'im lo achshav, eimatay? And if not today, then when?

Tonight we ask four questions. But it is time to ask a fifth: What will redemption look like? Our children want to know... Pesach

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Submitted by Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels (2007)
For Elijah's Cup:

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The prophet Isaiah did not see the Messiah as a person, but as a place called the Mountain of the Oneness-of-Being.

For Isaiah there would come a day when all nations would "flow to" that mountain, from many different directions, realizing that there exists a Unity that unites all people despite, even because of, their differences. For him, the Messiah was a presence, an era, a fresh, vibrant addition to our living that would glorify the cultures that human beings create, not dissolve them.

In our tradition, Elijah the Prophet will herald the Messiah, becoming our guide to the mountain. We set a place for him at our table symbolized by this cup. As we open the door to our room for what we hope will be the beginning of our journey to that summit, may we open our hearts to the idea that it is we who must travel to the Messiah, not the Messiah to us.

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Click here to see all the haggadah inserts from previous years.

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