The story of Passover does not begin only in Egypt when the Israelites are enslaved. It begins all the way back with Avraham Avinu and the prophecy in Genesis Chapter 15, verse 13 “And God said to Abram, know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years”. It is in fact a long journey traveling from Canaan to Egypt during Joseph’s time, wandering for 40 years in the desert building a faith and a nation, through exile and renewal of the Modern State of Israel. This journey continues in our day as we continue to fight for freedom for all Jews and people around the world. We continue to build Israel through strengthening its democracy and commitment to religious pluralism and by working on perfecting our covenant with God by renewing and building Jewish life around the world.

This year we are free? How is this year different from all other years?

After reading Ha Lachma Anya – הא

you can add this reading ,לחמא עניאabout past and present struggles for freedom:

Paratroopers at Kotel, 1967 (l), Women of the Wall, 2012 (r)

After the youngest child reads the four questions, ask yourselves these questions:

What has changed this year?

•Last year was 5772. This year is 5773. What changed in your life this year?

•Last year in Israel, elections were called. This year, after the election there are 53 new Knesset members, including for the first time an Ethiopian woman and an American born Rabbi.

•Last year 21 women sat in the Knesset. This year’s Knesset has 28 women.

•Last year in 2012, the Mayans predicted the world would end. This year, we’re still here but what can you do with your gift of time to improve the world?

•Last year, archaelogists in Israel found a mosaic depicting the biblical hero Samson. This year, they found a wine press underneath a street in Yaffo, near Tel Aviv. What part of Jewish history would you want to uncover?

•Last year nearly 18,000 people made aliyah to Israel and an estimated 3.5 million people will visit in 2013. Will you be one of them? Where would you like to go in Israel and why?

Ways of connecting your Seder to Israel & the Jewish People

!חג פסח שמח Happy Passover from

MERCAZ Olami & Masorti Olami!

This year we are slaves, next year may we be free

Let my son go free so that my descendants will honor me Pleaded Abraham silently to the angel

Let my people go free so that they may worship me Said God to Pharaoh

Let my people go free so that they may rebuild for me Grieving Rabbis requested of Rome

Let my people return to the land so that they can be free Wrote Herzl to the nations who would listen

Let my people gather unto me so they can rise from the ashes Whispered the voices of the persecuted to those who lived

Let my people fight for their home so that their children will know peace Prayed the mothers of Israel to the surrounding nations

Let my people go out so that they may worship freely Cried the voices of many to Soviet Russia

Let my people pray free in the way that they desire to speak to me Appealed the women in tallitot to the men who deny them

Let my people go free so that they may worship me This year we are slaves, next year may we be free

Content created by Hillary B. Gordon and Rabbi Tzvi Graetz, with the generous support of the World Zionist Organization.

During מגיד,after reading about the four sons - לשאול יודע שאינו , you can add this text and then discuss.

Who today is the child who does not know what to ask or how to ask or even where to start? Throughout history the Jewish People has maintained its traditions via a strict adherence to literacy in Jewish sources. As time has passed, these sources have opened up to more and more people: men and women, boys and girls, Jews and non-Jews. Where, therefore do we find a Jew who cannot ask a question about the story of Am Yisrael? According to Dr. Ruth Calderon, a newly elected member of the Israeli Knesset (parliament), you find that Jew in Israel. She identifies herself as having been “not acquainted with the Mishna, the Talmud, Kabbala or Hasidism” but rather raised in a society that was busy building a nation, protecting its borders and developing a start-up nation. Her imperative is that “The time has come to reappropriate what is ours, to delight in the cultural riches that wait for us, for our eyes, our imaginations, our creativity.” …The Torah is not the property of one Movement or another. It is a gift that every one of us received, and we have all been granted the opportunity to meditate upon it as we create the realities of our lives.” MK Calderon states further that it must belong to all of Israel: “Torah scholar, man or woman, based on the quality of their study, not their communal affiliation; when secular and pluralistic yeshivot, batei midrash, and organizations win fair and equal support in comparison to Orthodox and Haredi batei midrash. Through scholarly envy and healthy competition, the Torah will be magnified and glorified.” She concludes with a prayer “May it be Your will, Lord our God, God of our fathers and mothers, that I leave this house as I entered it – at peace with myself and with others. May my actions benefit all residents of the State of Israel. May I work to improve the society that sent me to this chamber and cause a just peace to dwell among us and with our neighbors.” And let us say – Amen.

Do you agree with MK Dr. Ruth Calderon? How can you help to bring the gift of Torah to everyone in the Jewish community?

The child in Israel who does not know how to ask

Next Year in Jerusalem! Read the following before you finish your Seder - פסח סדר חסל :

The land of Israel has witnessed destruction and renewal many times over the last 2000 years. After the destruction of the 2nd Temple, hope was lost for many to ever see the land filled with the nation of Israel again. The following story is told about Rabbi Akiba, the great sage of the Talmud: “As they approached the Temple site, they saw a jackal bounding out of the rubble that had been the Holy of Holies. His companions wept. Rabbi Akiba smiled. ‘Why do you smile?’ they asked, ‘Why do you weep?’ said he. ‘We see the ruins of our Holy Sanctuary, that is now become the haunt of jackals, and should we not weep?’ Said Rabbi Akiba: ‘Therefore do I smile. The prophets foretold both the destruction of Jerusalem and its restoration to glory. Now I have seen the first prophecy come to pass, and I know the second will also be fulfilled.’ His companions said; ‘Akiba, thou hast comforted us.” (Talmud Bavli Makkot 24b) Rabbi Akiba was able to see through the pain and loss of the 2nd Temple in Jerusalem to a time when Israel and Jerusalem would be restored to its former glory. We are fortunate to have witnessed the establishment of the State in 1948 and the continued rebuilding of the land over 2000 years later. “Next year in Jerusalem” is meant to be literal. Our wish should be to celebrate the Seder in the actual city of Jerusalem. It also means that in our hearts and our minds we wish for hope and the ability to always envision – even through disappointment or through triumph – a Jerusalem and an Israel one step closer to holiness through our deeds and actions, one step closer to a city for all of its inhabitants by following the advice of Hillel the Elder “that which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow, this is the whole Torah” (Talmud Bavli Shabbat 31a). As Rabbi Akiba and his disciples knew and the many fighters for freedom from oppression throughout our history “You are not obliged to finish the task, but neither are you free to neglect it”. (Pirkei Avot 2:21) Now, it’s time to complete our Seder and to begin anew our task as the Moses’ of our generation as if we personally had come out of Egypt. At this point, you may want to add Hatikvah after “L’shana haba’a b’Yerushalayim”

Photographs: Avinoam Shemesh