Symbols of the Seder – What Makes this Night Different?
This year, as we sit at our Seder tables, we will seek to infuse deeper meaning into the Simanei HaSeder – the traditional chapters of the evening.
This year, there is no need to imagine what slavery is or what it means to go from bondage to freedom. No one needs to remind Israelis that "In every generation, a person must see themselves as though they personally left Egypt." We hear the echoes of slavery in every interview with a returned hostage; we see its terror in the eyes of bereaved parents, and in the faces of parents of the wounded and abducted. Freedom, too, shines forth from the moving images of families reunited, from the inspiring words scribbled on whiteboards in helicopters, and from the courage demanded by the long and painful process of healing.
This year, as we sit at our Seder tables, we will seek to infuse deeper meaning into the Simanei HaSeder – the traditional chapters of the evening:
- Kadesh – Sanctification
As we recite Kiddush and sanctify the festival, we celebrate the sanctity of life and the dignity of the human being—cornerstones of Jewish morality and the holiness of the People of Israel. These are what compel us to fight for the release of every hostage even at an unbearably heavy price. They are also what bind our hands from harming the innocent, obligating us to preserve the purity of arms (tohar haneshek) and our moral compass.
- Urchatz – Washing the Hands (without a blessing)
As we wash our hands, we recall that we cannot wash ourselves clean of responsibility with mere water. We must ask ourselves: have we done enough for the cause of freedom? For our brothers and sisters held hostage? Can we truly say, "Our hands did not shed this blood"? And we must demand the same soul searching from our leaders.
- Karpas – The Vegetable
At the start of the Seder, we eat the karpas, a vegetable from the earth. In Hebrew, the letters of karpas can be rearranged into the letter "Samech" (ס) and the word "Parech" (פרך – backbreaking labor), alluding to the 600,000 (shishim ribo) Israelite men (in addition to women and children) who were enslaved in Egypt and ultimately managed to be freed. The taste of the earth reminds us of our people’s connection to the Land of Yisrael, the land of our patriarchs and matriarchs, and of our hope that after years of toil, we may live in this land as free people.
- Yachatz – Dividing the Matzah
When we divide the matzah in two, we will pray that this will be the only form of division among us. May we find the courage to see what unites rather than what divides, to persuade and influence without disengaging, to stand firm in our beliefs without shattering the vessel of our collective.
- Maggid – Telling the Story
To the many chapters of remembrance we pass down from generation to generation—“And you shall tell your child…”—we now add a new one:
"Remember what befell you on Simchat Torah, the 7th of October, with your false sense of security. Do not forget."
We will remember the dead. We will remember the heroism of soldiers and civilians. We will remember the cost. We will remember that our redemption and healing remains incomplete.
- Rachtzah – Washing (with a blessing)
This second washing becomes, in a reversal of letters, "Tzrachah" (צרחה)—a scream.
We will scream at the top of our lungs:
Bring them all home.
In our days, speedily. Now.
- Motzi Matzah – Eating the Matzah
As we eat the matzah—unleavened bread that did not have time to rise—we, too, commit ourselves not to miss critical opportunities. Let us not delay, freeze, or falter. While we do not allow the dough to rise on Passover, we – as a people – must rise to the occasion Time is running out.
- Maror – The Bitter Herbs
No lettuce nor horseradish will suffice this year.
We have tasted too much bitterness.
- Korech – The Sandwich
As we wrap the Pesach, matzah, and maror together, let us remember: rights and responsibilities are intertwined. Like the korech sandwich that blends together the holiness of the sacrifice of the Temple with the sweat and tears of our hard work, life in this land is intertwined and multilayered—Jews and Arabs, secular, traditional, religious, and ultra-Orthodox.
If all do not rise to fulfill their share of the burden; if the state continues to overburden the devoted reserve soldiers and discriminate between one life and another; if Haredim cling to Torah, wrongly believing it exempts them from the commandment to defend our homeland, if we do not better integrate Arab Israelis ,—then the bitterness and sacrifice of each individual element may overwhelm the matzah that hopes to bind our society together.
- Shulchan Orech – The Festive Meal
As we lay out the festive table, we continue to grapple with how to hold both grief and the continuity of life. Jewish and Israeli tradition places the Yizkor memorial prayer in the middle of the holidays and places Israel’s Memorial Day adjacent to Independence Day. Our emotional range must be flexible, intense, and inclusive. Even as we rejoice in the festival and family, we do not forget the empty chair. Even as we grieve, we continue to choose life. Despite it all.
- Tzafun – The Hidden Afikoman
This year, the secret of the afikoman also reveals the concealed and revealed elements of our lives. We continue to wonder:
What is being hidden from us when a State Commission of Inquiry is not established?
Can we still place trust in the guardians of national secrets?
Does the future hold redemption and renewal?
- Barech & Hallel – Blessing After Meals and Praise
This year, the Grace After Meals and the Hallel prayer that praises god, are dedicated to thanking and praising many thousands waging this collective battle—in body, voice, time, money, and pain:
Soldiers, police officers, security personnel, civil society activists, public servants, the families of hostages, the bereaved, and the elected officials who place the public interest before personal gain—May you be blessed.
- Nirtzah – Conclusion of the Seder
The end of the Seder hints that the korban (offering at the temple) has been accepted willingly, the sin has been forgiven, and we may begin anew.
But renewal will not come without confession, remorse, and accountability by those who bear responsibility.
We recite at the Seder the Four Expressions of Redemption from the Exodus:
“I will bring you out… I will save you… I will redeem you… I will take you…”
And to them is added a fifth expression:
“I will bring you to the Land.”
May we too merit liberation, salvation, redemption, and arrival—to the good land and to a Festival of Freedom.