For Ethically Sensitive Jews and our non-Jewish allies. <\/p>\n
This
\ntext is not meant to be a replacement for but a supplement to the
\ntraditional Haggadah. Feel free to make copies of this to use at any
\nseder you attend, or to transform this in ways that work best for you! <\/p>\n
AS WE SIT AT THE SEDER TABLE: <\/b> KARPAS\u00a0<\/b> FOUR QUESTIONS: THE ADULT VERSION\u00a0<\/b> MAGEED (TELL THE STORY):\u00a0<\/b> THREE SYMBOLS OF PASSOVER\u00a0<\/b> \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0MARROR<\/b>\u00a0(the Bitter Herbs): The suffering of the Jews in Egypt has been matched by thousands of years in which we were oppressed as a people. Our insistence on telling the story of liberation and proclaiming that the world could be and should be fundamentally different has angered ruling elites. These elites often tried to channel against the Jews the anger that ordinary people were feeling about the oppression in their own lives. But Jews are not the only\u00a0 THE MEAL\u00a0<\/b> WELCOMING THE POSSIBILITY OF THE MESSIANIC AGE<\/b>\u00a0 Want to be part of a Judaism that shares the values\u00a0 For Ethically Sensitive Jews and our non-Jewish allies. This text is not meant to be a replacement for but a supplement to the traditional Haggadah. Feel free to make copies of this to use at any seder you attend, or to transform this in ways that work best for you! AS WE SIT AT THE…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":151,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,15,307],"tags":[376,377,378,379,380,323,381,382,23,383,291],"class_list":["post-483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-defining-progressive","category-jews","category-prayer-and-ritual","tag-haggadah","tag-hebrew","tag-jew","tag-jewish","tag-jews-2","tag-judaism","tag-network-of-spiritual-progressives","tag-progressive","tag-religion","tag-seder","tag-tikkun"],"yoast_head":"\n
\u00a0\u00a0
\n\u00a0Seventy-eight percent of American Jews voted for Barack Obama in 2008,
\nand a majority of non-Jewish Americans joined them. The message was
\nclear: \u2022 end the war in Iraq and let our troops come home \u2022 end the war
\non the poor and the environment \u2022 stop favoring the rich and corporate
\ninterests.
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Our Seder celebrates the first liberation struggle
\nof our people, overcoming slavery and proclaiming to the world that the
\n“way things are” is not the only way things can be. In the face of
\noppression, we proclaimed to the Pharoah’s empire that there is a God
\n(YHVH) who is the Force of Healing and Transformation in the world–the
\nforce that\u00a0 makes possible the transformation from “what is” to “what
\nought to be.”
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0At our Seder tonight we celebrate the steps
\nwe’ve taken toward liberation. We look at where we are as a people and
\nas human beings in our struggle to build a world of freedom and peace
\nfor all.
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We rejoice together at the election of an African American as President!
\u00a0\u00a0
\n\u00a0But we are concerned about the outcome of the global meltdown of our
\neconomic and political system. We are now experiencing the results of
\ndecades of materialism and selfishness. Too many Americans closed their
\neyes to the suffering of those who have been living in poverty, even in
\nthe midst of American affluence. Now the suffering is spreading to the
\nrest of us.
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The American economic system can create
\nprosperity, but also cultivates greed, fraud, and a selfish
\n“looking-out- for-number-one” mentality. This offends Jewish values,
\nand has hurt our souls–even if we ignored these spiritual and psychic
\ncosts while the system was providing material goodies for many of us.
\u00a0\u00a0
\n\u00a0The media, corporations, and their friends in government urged us to
\ntranslate our spiritual and intimacy needs into consumption. This
\nworked for some but produced alienation, loneliness, widespread
\nemotional depression and a huge global anger at our society from others
\naround the world. With individualism tearing down communities and
\nteaching the ethos of “looking out for number one,” some people even
\nturned to various religious fundamentalisms as a way to resist the
\nglobal ethos of capitalism. These fundamentalisms cannot be defeated by
\nour insistence on the value of democracy and human rights–not unless we
\nsimultaneously recognize and address what has been appealing in these
\nold-time religions: their insistence that there is a hunger for meaning
\nand purpose in life that cannot be achieved by material accumulation or
\nendless new technologies, and that people hunger for loving community
\nand
connection to the mystery and majesty of the universe as much as for money or power or sexual conquests.
\u00a0\u00a0
\n\u00a0We do not want a return to the economic arrangements of the past few
\ndecades. The false equation of “progress” with the accumulation of
\nmaterial goods and endless new technologies produced a global
\nenvironmental crisis as an orgy of consumption destroyed much of the
\nlife support system of the planet. Only a fundamental transformation of
\nthe ethical and spiritual foundation of our economic and political
\norder can save humanity and the planet in the 21st century. Developing
\nthis new vision is the task for spiritual progressives from every
\nreligious background.
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Many progressive Jews are finding the
\nethical and spiritual foundation for this transformation in the Jewish
\ntradition. Jewish values support generosity, caring for others, and
\nloving the stranger, while rejecting the extreme individualism,
\nalienation and loneliness that accompanies the dominant ethos of
\nAmerican society.
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0At our Seder tonight we challenge Western
\nsocieties to adopt specific economic programs that flow from these
\nJewish values: \u2022 A National Bank that gives loans without charging
\ninterest \u2022 A legal system based on the “obligation to care” for each
\nother, not just look out for “number one” \u2022 An economy that prescribes
\na sabbatical year for everyone (the same year–the whole society taking
\noff one year to not produce, but instead to focus on what we as a human
\nrace want to accomplish in the next six years) \u2022 A Global Marshall Plan
\nas an extension of the Torah’s notion of a tithe \u2022 Single payer
\nuniversal health care \u2022 Unrestricted immigration \u2022 Protection of
\nworkers’ rights.
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Unfortunately, we as Jews also have to face a
\nrather troubling reality. Within our own community these wonderful
\nJewish ethical values have too often been ignored. Too many prominent
\nJews have followed the narrow path of self interest.
\u00a0\u00a0
\n\u00a0Similarly, Israel, which describes itself as “the State of the Jewish
\npeople,” has failed to embody the highest values of the Jewish
\ntradition in the way that it treats our brothers and sisters the
\nPalestinians. The human rights violations and the slaughter of
\nPalestinians in Gaza, the seizing of Arab lands, the imprisonment of
\nthousands of Palestinians without trial and the revelations by Israeli
\nsoldiers themselves of acts of brutality in Gaza and the West Bank are
\nnot
isolated incidents. They are not the product of evil soldiers.
\nThey are the inevitable consequence of imposing and enforcing
\noccupation.
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We are not Jews who reject Israel or think it is
\nthe worst human rights violator on the planet! The U.S. role in Iraq,
\nthe genocide in Darfur, the repression of Buddhism in Tibet, and the
\nextremes of repression in Iran and several Arab states are moral
\noutrages of equal or greater proportion. Nor do we excuse the human
\nrights violations and terrorism perpetrated by Hamas. Every act of
\nviolence against civilians must be vehemently opposed.
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Tonight
\nat our Seder table, and again on the High Holidays, we affirm that our
\nspecial responsibility as Jews is to look critically at our own
\nindividual and communal behavior. It would be hypocritical to celebrate
\nthe freedom achieved from slavery while ignoring the ways that we as
\nAmericans and\/or as Jews and\/or as supporters of the state of Israel
\nhave been acting as Pharaoh to the Palestinian people.
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We must
\nnot let our long history as victims of oppression or our anger at God
\nfor not having saved us from the Holocaust become the foundation for
\nadopting the religion of our enemies: the religion that says that we
\ncan only trust in our power, our army, our ability to wipe out our
\nenemies. This false God, parading under the title of “being realistic,”
\nstands in stark contrast to the traditional voice of Jewish compassion,
\ngenerosity, and caring for others. The whole point of surviving as Jews
\nis to challenge that religion of violence and domination and affirm
\ninstead the possibility of a world ruled by the logic of love and
\ngenerosity. When we were utterly degraded as slaves, we experienced God
\nas the power that was there redeeming us into freedom and sacred
\nservice. Now it is we who are powerful, and when our Jewish community
\naligns with the use of power in heartless and cruel ways against
\nanother people we feel deep grief. Our Torah says: “When you come into
\nyour land, do not oppress the stranger. Remember that you were
\nstrangers in the land of Egypt.” The Torah commands us positively:
\n“Thou shalt love the stranger.”
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We must use our Seder to begin
\na conversation about how to create a broad social movement for peace,
\njustice, and ecological sanity. President Obama needs to hear from
\nthose who are not trapped in the “inside-the-beltway” logic that
\ndominates the national media and our national political leadership. If
\nwe do not make fundamental changes in our economic system and in our
\napproach to foreign policy, we may find ourselves in deeper despair
\nthis time
next year.
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Tonight at our Seder we will tell
\nheroic stories of the past, but we must never imagine our past
\nsuffering gives us a moral pass to ignore the ethical distortions of
\nthe present moment. Our Seder must help us plan a way to transform the
\npresent. But we must do so with a strong dose of compassion, both for
\nour own people and for the Palestinian people. We have co-created the
\ncurrent mess. We have both suffered from so much post-traumatic stress
\nthat sometimes people on both sides of this struggle fail to recognize
\nthe humanity of the other.
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0As Jews, we must challenge our own
\npeople’s distorted vision and blend that challenge with deep love and
\ncaring, not just chastisements.
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Americans of every faith can
\nmake a huge contribution to this process by challenging the dominant
\nvision in the West about how to achieve “homeland security”–namely
\nthrough domination and power over others. Our Torah, and almost every
\nother major religious and spiritual tradition, teaches a different
\nmessage: that security can best be achieved through generosity, caring
\nfor others, and love. This revolutionary message must be given teeth,
\nwhich is why we at Tikkun Magazine and Beyt Tikkun Synagogue in the Bay
\nArea have formed the interfaith Network of Spiritual Progressives and
\nlaunched a campaign for a Global Marshall Plan that would have the U.S.
\nand other advanced industrial societies dedicate between 2-5% of our
\nGross Domestic Product each year for the next twenty to once and for
\nall end global poverty, homelessness, hunger, inadequate education, and
\ninadequate health care, and to repair the global environment (details
\non this plan and on how to join us are at
\nwww.spiritualprogressives.org). Rather than attempt to rebuild an
\neconomic system that has been destroying the environment and
\nencouraging an ethos of selfishness, our goal as spiritual progressives
\nis to build a new global economy based on ancient spiritual values of
\nlove, kindness, generosity and caring equally for the well-being of
\neveryone on the planet. That this kind of miracle can happen, that what
\neverybody thought was impossible can suddenly become possible, because
\nthere is a power in the universe that is the power of love and
\ntransformation, this is what we experienced in Egypt and what we are
\nseeking to enliven within ourselves by creating this Seder. We see that
\nbeyond the self, beyond family and country, we are part of the
\nunfolding and evolution of consciousness in the universe, and we
\ncelebrate and recommit ourselves to that Force of Healing and
\nTransformation.
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0So let’s now close our eyes. Can you see the
\nuniverse and your place in it? Affirm now your role as partner with God
\nin the healing and transformation of all that is. The Seder can also be
\na time to do “tikkun” (to heal and transform
parts of ourselves and our society). <\/p>\n
\nKIDDUSH\u00a0<\/b>
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We are gathered here tonight to affirm our continuity with the generations of Jews who kept alive the vision of freedom in the Passover story. For thousands of years, Jews (and our non-Jewish allies) have affirmed this vision by participating in the Passover Seder. We not only remember the Exodus but actually relive it, bringing its transformative power into our own lives.\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The Hebrew word for Egypt, mitzrayim, means “narrow straits.” Traditionally, mitzrayim has been understood to mean a spiritual state, the “narrow place” of confusion, fragmentation, and spiritual disconnection. Liberation requires us to embrace that which we have been taught to scorn within ourselves and others, including the split-off parts from our own consciousness that we find intolerable and that we project onto some “evil Other.” The Seder can also be a\u00a0
time to reflect on those parts of ourselves.\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Israel, according to the Torah, left Egypt with “a mixed multitude.” The Jewish people began as a multicultural m\u00e9lange of people attracted to a vision of social transformation. What makes us Jews is not some biological fact, but our willingness to proclaim the message of those ancient slaves: (Say Together) The world can be changed, we can be healed.\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Blessing over the first cup of wine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The saltwater on our table traditionally represents the tears of the Israelite slaves. The green vegetables we dip in the water suggest the possibility of growth and renewal even in the midst of grief.\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The greens on the table also remind us of our commitment to protect the planet from ecological destruction. Instead of focusing narrowly on what we may “realistically” accomplish in today’s world, we must refocus the conversation on what the planet needs in order to survive and flourish. We must get out of the narrow place in our thinking and look at the world not as a resource, but as a focus for awe, wonder, and amazement. We must reject the societal story that identifies success and progress with endless growth and accumulation of things. Instead we will focus on acknowledging that we already have enough; we need to stop exploiting our resources and instead care for the earth.\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Dip the greens in saltwater and say your own personal blessings for the earth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Discuss as a group or in pairs at the Seder table:\u00a0
1. Egypt, mitzrayim in Hebrew, comes from the word tzar: the “narrow place,” the constricted place. In what way are you personally still constricted? Are you able to see yourself as part of the unity of all being, a manifestation of God’s love on earth? Are you able to overcome the ego issues that separate us from each other? Can you see the big picture, or do you get so caught in the narrow places and limited struggles of your own life that it’s hard to see beyond your personal struggles? What concrete steps could you take to change that?\u00a0
2. Do you believe that we can eventually eradicate wars, poverty, and starvation? Or do you believe that no one really cares about anyone but themselves, and that we will always be stuck in some version of the current mess? Or do you think that such a belief is itself part of what keeps us in this mess? If so, how would you suggest we spread a more hopeful message and deal with the cynicism and self-doubt that always accompanies us when we start talking about\u00a0
changing the world?\u00a0
3. What experiences have you had that give you hope? Tell about some struggle to change something–a struggle that you personally were involved in–that worked. What did you learn from that?\u00a0
4. When the Israelites approached the Sea of Reeds, the waters did not split. It took a few brave souls to jump into the water. Even then, the waters rose up to their very noses, and only then, when these brave souls showed that they really believed in the Force of Healing and Transformation (YHVH), did the waters split and the Israelites walk through them. Would you be willing to jump into those waters today–for example by becoming an advocate for nonviolence or for the strategy of generosity and the Global Marshall Plan? Would you go to speak about this to your elected representatives? To your neighbors? To your coworkers? To your family?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Tell the story of the Exodus, and identify the Pharaohs in your life today.\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Blessing over the second cup of wine.\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We are descended from slaves who staged the first successful slave rebellion in recorded history. Ever since, our\u00a0
people has kept alive the story of liberation, and the consciousness that cruelty and oppression are not inevitable “facts of life,” but conditions that can be changed. Because God makes possible the tikkun (healing and transformation) of the world, reality is enough. Dayenu–it is enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0PESACH<\/b>\u00a0(the Bone or for vegetarians, the Pascal Beet): Our Seder plate includes a symbol of the ancient Passover sacrifice, which was brought each year to the Temple in Jerusalem. The Hebrew word for sacrifice is korban, which comes from the root meaning “near” or “close.” What could bring you closer to your highest spiritual self?\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0MATZAH<\/b>: The Torah tells us that the Israelites had to take the uncooked dough with them, “For they had prepared no provisions for the way.” Symbolically, the matzah reminds us that when the opportunity for liberation comes, we must seize it, even if we do not feel fully prepared-indeed, if we wait until we feel prepared, we may never act at all. If you had to jump into such a struggle tomorrow morning, what would you have to leave behind? The current global economic meltdown may be precisely such a moment. Are you ready to leave the slavery of our current economic system?\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The matzah also stands in contrast to chametz (Hebrew for the expansive yeast that makes bread rise), which symbolizes false pride, absorption in our individual egos, and grandiosity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
ones to have suffered oppression and violence. We think of the genocide against native peoples all around the world, including in the United States. We think of the enslavement of Africans, and the oppression of Armenians, homosexuals, women, immigrants and many others. Yet, tonight it is appropriate for us to focus also on the suffering of the Jewish people, and to affirm our solidarity with victims of anti-Semitism through the ages. Anti-Semitism still persists in our own time in the use of double standards in the judgment of Jews, in acts of violence against Jews, and in refusing to acknowledge the history of Jewish suffering as equal to the suffering of other victims of oppressive social regimes in Christian, Muslim, and some secular societies, as well. Meanwhile, we Jews need to acknowledge the ways that such suffering has at times distorted our consciousness and made it hard to fully grasp the pain others feel. We must evolve A GLOBAL JUDAISM that compassionately embraces the Jewish people and all other peoples.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The Haggadah says, “Let all who are hungry come and eat.” Traditionally, this is understood to mean not only literally feeding the hungry, but also offering spiritual sustenance to those in need. Both must go hand in hand. We live in a society of unprecedented wealth, yet we turn our backs on the hungry. Even the supposedly liberal and progressive political leaders are unwilling to ch
\nampion any program to seriously address world hunger and homelessness.\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0There is also a deep spiritual hunger that must be fed. Though the cynical proclaim that “those who accumulate the most toys win,” our tradition teaches that money, power, and fame cannot sustain us. Our spiritual tradition teaches us to be present to each moment; to rejoice in all that we are and all that we have been given; to experience the world with awe, wonder, and radical amazement; and to recognize that we already have enough and are enough.\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Not just during the Seder, but also at every meal, it is incumbent upon us–the Jewish tradition teaches–to talk words of Torah, to study some section of our holy books, or to in other ways make God feel present at our table. Try this every night as you eat: bring God and God’s message of love, generosity, peace, social justice, ecological sanity, and caring for others into every meal that you eat.\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Enjoy the meal. Following the meal, say a blessing expressing thanks to God for the food and by expressing a commitment to do what you can to redistribute food on this planet so that everyone will have enough. Drink the third cup of wine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We open the door for Elijah–the prophet who heralds the coming of the Messiah and a world in which all peoples will coexist peacefully–acknowledging the Image of God in one another. To deny the possibility of fundamental transformation, to be stuck in the pain of past oppression, or to build our religion around memories of the Holocaust and other forms of suffering is to give the ultimate victory to those who oppressed us. To testify to God’s presence in\u00a0
the world is to insist on shifting our focus from pain to hope, and to dedicate our energies to transforming this world and ourselves. (All together recite):\u00a0We still believe in a world based on love, generosity, and openheartedness.\u00a0<\/b>
We continue to affirm the Unity of All Being.\u00a0<\/b>
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Now let us build together a communal vision of what messianic redemption would look like.\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Close your eyes and let some picture of this appear in your minds. Then, open your eyes and share with others your picture of the world we want to build together.\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Blessing over the fourth cup of wine.\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Sing songs of liberation!\u00a0<\/p>\n
articulated in this Haggadah supplement? You can:\u00a0
1. JOIN Beyt Tikkun Synagogue. Come to our annual retreat and\/or High Holiday services. There may even be a few remaining seats at our (2nd night) Passover Seder April 9 at the Noe Valley Ministry in S.F. if you join as members. Details at www.BeytTikkun.org. 415-575-1432\u00a0
2. Come to our course, GLOBAL JUDAISM: A re-introduction to a Judaism of Love and Generosity. Taught by Rabbi Michael Lerner. Fri. evening May 1 to Sun. afternoon May 3. Details at www.beyttikkun.org\u00a0
3. Subscribe to Tikkun Magazine at www.tikkun.org\u00a0 If you are not Jewish but wish to bring these values into your Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or otherspiritual communities, or if you are a (spiritual but not religious) atheist please join our interfaith Network of Spiritual Progressives at www.spiritualprogressives.org\u00a0
Tikkun Magazine & Beyt Tikkun Synagogue\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"