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Four Seders in One

Note: this Haggadah is meant for educational purposes but is not intended to replace the actual haggadah of Pesach.

Within the Haggadah there are so many different practices, foods, passages, each relating to different themes. If we dissect all the
themes out, perhaps we could identify them as follows:  1) continuity, 2) thanksgiving, 3) freedom, 4) and redemption. By beginning and ending the story at different points, we can and we do create 4 totally different stories.

The First Haggadah- The Haggadah of Continuity

The theme of continuity is expressed in the 4 questions. The questions and answers are the glue which link generation to generation. The young don't understand. Sometimes it is the older generation which doesn't understand. But we learn in the Ethics of the Fathers that the bashful do not learn. If we ask we will find out and eventually we will understand.

***Why is this night different from all other nights?

For on all other nights we eat leavened bread and matzah, on this night we eat only matzah.
For on all other nights we all kinds of herbs, on this night we eat marror.
For on all other nights we do not dip even once, on this night we dip twice.
For on all other nights we eat straight or reclining, on this night we all recline.

We tailor the answer carefully according to the one who asks. The book of Solomon's Proverbs tells us to educate each child according to his own way. We must make Judaism sophisticated enough for the wise son, simple enough for the simple son, even the seemingly uneducable son, and we must confront the son who challenges our faith, and try to bring back the son who isn't even at the table.

What is the answer? We can and we do tell the children and tell each other the story of the Exodus, but perhaps more important than telling them is the fact that we show them the story through the foods which we eat. The marror tells the story of the bitter slavery. The Charoses which we place on the marror tells the story of the bricks which we had to construct for Pharaoh. The charoses also tells the story of the courageous women who bore their children in the apple orchards to save them from the clutches of Pharaoh. This explains why we put apples in the charoses. The Matzo tells the whole story. It tells the story of the slavery in Egypt, as matzo is poor man's bread. It also tells the story of liberation as it reminds us of the Jews leaving Egypt in haste before the dough could rise.

But what is the key to successful Jewish continuity? The key lies in our worship, our devotion to our religion. This has been the rallying point for Jews throughout the ages. Therefore, we tell a story of continuity through worship.

It was a long long time ago, in the days of Abraham back in Mesopotamia when his father, Terach, worshiped idols. Abraham discovered G-d and destroyed the idols, thereby rejecting idolotry, the worship of the work of our own hands. Abraham, Sarah, and their children established the Judaism of the home and family. As we left Egypt, we began to forge a Jewish national identity. But it was not until the Israelites stood at Mount Sinai that we established ourselves as a religious nation and community. Throughout the ages, Jews may have lived in many different localities, but we were unified in our worship, our purpose, and our commitments.

On this Pesach, let us rededicate ourselves to the Abrahamic tradition of Jewish family as well as to the Sinaitic tradition of Jewish
community.

The Second Haggadah- The Haggadah of Thanksgiving

 Zroah matchil bignut umsayem bishvach

Were we just to tell the story as a dispassionate description of events past, we would not be obliged to thank G-d for something so far off in our past and so remote. However, since each Jew is obligated to see himself or herself as if he or she went out of Egypt, it behooves us to thank G-d for this salvation which had it not occured would have left us, our children, and our children's children forever slaves in Egypt.

What story shall we tell in order to inspire as much thankfulness as possible? Since it is our own economic well being which often makes us most thankful, it is the story of our economic spoils in Egypt which serves as a prelude to our raising our cups and thanking G-d- Ve-hi she-amda la-avo-teinu ve-lanu.

In  order to appreciate the story best, we must the story in a particular way. If we would tell of all the wealth of Abraham and contrast it with the wealth of those who left Egypt it would not be a relatively happy ending. By starting the story with the notion of the Jewish poverty and slavery in Egypt and concluding with the notion of our silver and gold, we give a positive spin to the story. We can increase our thankfulness by contrasting our present situation with that which was worse in the past. Our perspective on today is relative to the way we remember yesterday.

The story begins with our bread of affliction, the poverty of slavery in Egypt. A slave may occasionally eat well, but it is not his food. It is the food of his master. As we left Egypt, we "borrowed" silver and gold vessels from the Egyptians. How could we take from them that which we knew would never be returned? Well, we wouldn't have done it on our own, except that G-d asked to take such loans from our neighbors. But why did G-d allow us to be so seemingly dishonest? Well, it's called back wages. Here we had built all those pyramids and other structures for the mighty Pharaoh, and never were we paid a dime. As we took the silver and gold and new dresses from the Egyptians, we were taking our back wages. G-d wanted us to leave Egypt with respect and dignity. We went forth into the dessert with much wealth. But we didn't squander the wealth on frivolities. We contributed generously to the  tabernacle, the first traveling Temple.

Today, although poverty still sadly exists among some Jews, many Jews in America, and even in Israel, have been blessed with great wealth. We are grateful to G-d for this period of posperity and tranquility. It is a far cry from the bread of affliction of old.

We thank G-d, in the words of the Psalms of David, for lifting the poor from the depths. We look forward to a day when all the nations will praise G-d forever. We raise our cups of wine, as in a toast to G-d, and say:
****Ha-le-lu et ado-shem kol go-yim,
Sha-be-chu-hu, sha-be-chu-hu, kol ha-umim,
Ki ga-var a-le-nu, a-lenu chasdo,
Ve-emet, ado-shem le-olam, haleluya.

We can never be thankful enough for all the different aspects of the redemption story. In the famous "dayenu" song, we articulate  all the kindnesses of G-d which were inherent in our national redemption.

Da-yenu

On our Seder plate we place two cooked items. The shank bone represents the Pascal sacrifice. The roasted egg represents the holiday offering of thanksgiving which was once brought to Jerusalem on each holiday. In the words of the Hallel song of thanksgiving, "to You I will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving and in the Name of the L-d will I call. My vows I will fulfill in the presence of His whole nation, in the courts of the House of the L-d in the midst of Jerusalem, Haleluya!"

The Third Haggadah- The Haggadah of Freedom

The theme of freedom is often stressed as a major theme of Passover. When the Jews languished in the former Soviet Union, we Jews in America stressed the value of freedom as a major theme of Passover. Today, Jews throughout the world have never been so free to go. Jews have left Syria, the former Soviet Union, Yemen, and Ethiopia. We cannot take our freedom for granted even as it is so easily achieved in our day.  Nonetheless, never was freedom meant to be a goal in and of itself. Never did Pesach stand alone. Pesach is linked to the next holiday, Shavuos, by the counting of the omer. We count from the second day of Pesach until the holiday of Shavuos. Shavuos is the holiday commemorating the recieving of the Torah at Sinai. Pesach has always been linked to Shavuos, our freedom from slavery always linked to our subsequent acceptance of the yoke of Torah. For us, freedom is a means to an end. While Americans stress freedom. We stress our obligations.  Many Americans are now awakening to the lack of emphasis in our culture on responsibility. We Jews ahve always stressed responsibility. On Pesach we became free to assume our responsibilities as Jews, our obligations to G-d.

The story of freedom is a simple one, perhaps designed for the simple son. We were slaves in Egypt. The oppression grew gradually. Like the Nuremberg laws which gradually stripped Jews of their freedom and dignity, the Egyptians oppressed us gradually. At first they raised taxes, then they over worked us, and we eventually were viewed as sub-human, undeserving of fair wages and common diginity. Even our lives were declared worthless as they tossed our babes into the Nile. But, after the 10 plagues, Pharaoh agreed to let us go and we left Egypt, with heads held high, reasserting our humanity and our dignity.

***Avadim Hayinu, Hayinu, ata ata ata b'nei chorin....

How do we show our new found freedom? By drinking 4 cups of wine, we assert our freedom to do as we please and decide for ourselves when we've had enough, how much we wish to drink and when to stop. We recline in our chairs as a way of showing that we are free and comfortable. We dip our vegetables in various dips, from salt water to charoses, to show how lavishly we live as free people. And of course the Matzo stands for our freedom as we left Egypt in haste. With this story, we have answered many of the original 4 questions.

****Let my people go

When Israel was in Egypt land,
Let my people go.
Oppressed so hard they could not stand,
 Let my people go.

Go down Moses
Way down to Egypt land,
Tell old Pharaoh
Let my people go.

This Saith the L-d Bold Moses said,
Let my people go
If not, I'll smite your first born dead,
Let my people go.

Go down Moses....

The L-d told Moses what to do,
Let my people go,
To lead the Children of Israel through,
Let my people go.

Go down Moses.....

The Fourth and Final Haggadah- The Haggadah of Redemption 

Elijah and matza, cups of wrath, shphoch, 10 plagues...

A Jew can hardly end anything without saying the famous words, "Next Year in Jerusalem" or "may the Temple be rebuilt speedily in our times."  The theme of redemption is prominent in the Haggadah. Our Seder is severely crippled without the Temple, without being able to offer the Pascal sacrifice, including the Pascal sandwich consisting of the lamb meat, marror herbs, and Matza. It is very awkward to tell our children that we left Egypt in order to go to the Land of Israel, but that today, we are no longer in Israel. We have generally done this by leaving out the Land of Israel from our stories. We also introduce the seder by saying that though we are here today, next year we will be in the Land of Israel. As we all know, we also end our seder with the famous words, "next year in Jerusalem."

In this context, the 4 cups of wine represent the 4 cups of redemption.  But the true redeption would only come with the 5th cup, which we cannot yet drink. We await the arrival of Elijah the Prophet to be the bearer of the good news of redemption. Elijah will help the redemption get on its way by bringing parents back to their children and children back to their parents. Many Jews hoped so much for redemption that they merited to see the great prophet right here on earth. We pray that he should come soon.

***Eliyahu hanavi, Eliyahu hatishbi, Eliyahu, Eliyahu, Eliyahu
Hagil-adi, bimhera beyamenu, yavo Eleinu, im moshiach ben David, im moshiach ben david.

We never lose hope. We hope in face of adversity and challenges in America and in Israel. We look forward to returning to Jerusalem.

****Leshanah haba-ah biy-ru-sha-la-yim......