Passover Pages of Sinai Temple
 
Social Justice Issues

Remembering Selma and the Civil Rights Movement
Fair Trade Coffee
Recognizing Abused Women
More Resources
Before Singing Dayeinu
Toward the End of the Seder - Fourth Cup
An Updated Dayeinu
Concerning Darfur

Remembering Selma and the Civil Rights Movement

Click Bend the Arc to learn how our history in the civil rights movement can be a part of your seder.

And here is reading you might consider using:

FROM DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING

Dr. King knew all about the journey and said the following...

We still have a long, long way to go before we reach the promised land of freedom.

Yes, we have left the dusty soils of Egypt, and we have crossed a Red Sea that had for years been hardened by a long and piercing winter of massive resistance, but before we reach the majestic shores of the promised land, there will still be gigantic mountains of opposition ahead and prodigious hilltops of injustice...

Let us be dissatisfied until the tragic walls that separate the outer city of wealth and comfort from the inner city of poverty and despair shall be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice.

Let us be dissatisfied until those who live on the outskirts of hope are brought into the metropolis of daily security.

Let us be dissatisfied until slums are cast into the junk heaps of history, and every family will live in a decent, sanitary home.

Let us be dissatisfied until the dark yesterdays of segregated schools will be transformed into bright tomorrows of quality integrated education.

Let us be dissatisfied until integration is not seen as a problem but as an opportunity to participate in the beauty of diversity.

Let us be dissatisfied until men and women...will be judged on the basis of the content of their character, not on the basis of the color of their skin.

Let us be dissatisfied until from every city hall, justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Let us be dissatisfied until that day when nobody will shout, "White Power!" when nobody will shout, 'Black Power!' but everybody will talk about God's power and human power.

Mi chamocha...Who is like you, o God...awesome in splendor, working wonders.

Fair Trade Coffee (and Chocolate too!)

A message from Rabbi Shapiro

    Who would have thought that drinking a cup of coffee involved making an ethical decision? Who would have imagined that coffee had anything to do with justice?

    Suddenly, in the last several months, it seems as if Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks, and other purveyors of coffee have woken up to "smell the coffee."

    DD and StarB are both advertising that they sell "fair trade coffee," and they want us to know all about it.

    It means so much to them and it should mean something to us because "fair trade coffee" is a special kind of coffee that is more "just" than regular coffee.

    Here's the story: Most of the coffee we drink is grown on small farms in Latin America by farmers who sell their coffee to middlemen who in turn pass the coffee on through a long chain of hands until it reaches our kitchens. During the process, the price is inflated substantially even though the farmer himself may see little or no profit.

    "Fair trade" coffee is different. It is a term that describes coffee grown on small farmer cooperatives which sell their coffee to a single organization in the USA that then processes the coffee for sale here. Middlemen are removed. The "fair trade" organization guarantees a fair price to the farmer and often helps nurture the coffee cooperative so that the farming community can be stronger and healthier.

    "Fair trade" coffee is therefore honest, fair, "ethical" coffee.

    And how does this matter to you and me as the month of April arrives? First, there is no time like the present to do the right thing. If you're interested in learning more about "fair trade" coffee, check out the following website - www.equalexchange.com.

    Finally, Passover is coming. It's a perfect time to clear out your old foodstuff and buy fresh packages. It's a perfect time to go "fair." At your Seder, don't just talk about justice and slavery. Buy "fair trade" coffee. Serve "fair trade" coffee. (AND, guess what? Equal Exchange even sells "fair trade" chocolate. Why not send everyone home from your Seder with a "fair trade" chocolate bar as the perfect complement to matza and maror.)

Recognizing Abused Women

Reader:
To remind us that until all of us are free, none of us are truly free. Battered women and their children live under a domestic reign of terror, and can only dream of the promised land of freedom. Even for those who dare to flee, with pharaoh right behind them, the dessert is wide and dangerous.

All:
Let us recite together these plagues that women and children have experienced:

  • Disbelief
  • Shame
  • Incest
  • Humiliation
  • Stalking
  • Nightmares
  • Threats
  • Rape
  • Isolation
  • Beatings

All:
We say tonight to battered women: We hear you, we believe you, and we will walk beside you through the desert. Together we can make the road less desolate so that those bound by domestic abuse will come to know the taste of liberation, the meaning of redemption and the experience of shalom.

From Dancing in Miriam's Footsteps: Women's Seder, Broward County, Florida, 2000. Used with permission.

More Resources: Pesach: A Season for Justice

"Pesach: A Season for Justice" is a social action guide to assist families, individuals and congregations highlight social justice themes during their Passover celebrations. You can find the guide online at the RAC Website.

Before Singing Dayeinu, add this reading with its hope and vision and courage!

We still have a long, long way to go before we reach the promised land of freedom. Yes, we have left the dusty soils of Egypt, and we have crossed a Red Sea that had for years been hardened by a long and piercing winter of massive resistance, but before we reach the majestic shores of the promised land, there will still be gigantic mountains of opposition ahead and prodigious hilltops of injustice…

Let us be dissatisfied until the tragic walls that separate the outer city of wealth and comfort from the inner city of poverty and despair shall be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice.
Let us be dissatisfied until those who live on the outskirts of hope are brought into the metropolis of daily security.

Let us be dissatisfied until slums are cast into the junk heaps of history, and every family will live in a decent, sanitary home.

Let us be dissatisfied until the dark yesterdays of segregated schools will be transformed into bright tomorrows of quality integrated education.

Let us be dissatisfied until integration is not seen as a problem but as an opportunity to participate in the beauty of diversity.

Let us be dissatisfied until men and women…will be judged on the basis of the content of their character, not on the basis of the color of their skin.

Let us be dissatisfied until from every city hall, justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Let us be dissatisfied until that day when nobody will shout, “White Power!” when nobody will shout, “Black Power!” but everybody will talk about God’s power and human power.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Towards the end of the Seder…Maybe at the Fourth Cup when we all need to promise ourselves that there is hope…!

Don’t think the world is a tavern – created
For fighting your way, with fists and with nails
To the bar, where you gorge and you guzzle, while others
Swooning from hunger and swallowing spit
Drawing their swollen cramped bellies in tighter.
Oh, don’t think the world is a tavern.

Don’t think the world is a market – created
So the stronger can prey on the tired and weak
And purchase from destitute maidens their shame,
From women, the milk of their breasts, and from men
The marrow of their bones, from the children their smiles
That infrequent guest in the innocent face.
Oh, don’t think the world is a market.

Don’t think the world is a wasteland – created
For wolves and for foxes, for spoils and for booty
The heavens a curtain, so God shall not see!
The mist – so that no one might look at your hands
The wind – just to muffle the sound of wild crying
The earth is to soak up the blood of the victims.
Oh, don’t think the world is a wasteland.

Written by the Yiddish poet, I. L. Peretz


HERE’S AN UPDATED VERSION OF DAYEINU. BEFORE YOU SING THE TRADITIONAL SONG, TRY READING THIS BEAUTIFUL VISION…
(It comes from a new Reform Haggadah called, The Open Door.)

Had God brought us out of Egypt,
      And not divided the sea for us,
           DAYEINU!
Had God divided the sea for us,
      And not provided for all our needs for forty years in the desert,
          DAYEINU!
Had God provided for all our needs for forty years in the desert,
      And not fed us with manna,
          DAYEINU!
Had God fed us with manna,
      And not given us the Sabbath,
          DAYEINU!
Had God given us the Sabbath,
      And not brought us to Mt Sinai,
          DAYEINU!
Had God brought us to Mt Sinai,
      And not given us the Torah,
           DAYEINU!
Had God given us the Torah,
      And not brought us into the land of Israel,
           DAYEINU!
Had God brought us into the land of Israel,
      And not given us prophets of truth and justice,
          DAYEINU!
Had God given us prophets of truth and justice,
      And not been with us through our trials,
           DAYEINU!
Had God been with our people throughout our trials,
      And not kept alive our hope for return to our homeland,
           DAYEINU!
Had God kept alive our hope for return,
      And not enabled us to make the dream a reality,
           DAYEINU!
Had God enabled us to make the dream a reality,
      And not given us the strength to build a vibrant diaspora,
          DAYEINU!
And when the future comes and we see God in every human being,
          That will be DAYEINU.
When we honor the journey of every Jew,
          That will be DAYEINU.
When our banner is tolerance and compassion,
          That will be DAYEINU.
When, with all God’s people, we build a world of justice and peace,
           That will be DAYEINU.

Concerning Darfur

    When we celebrate Passover we remember in the Seder that "in every generation, we are commanded to view ourselves as if each one of us was personally brought forth out of Egypt." The oppression we have historically experienced reminds us how important it is to rise up against tyranny and injustice in our own time. This year, use your Passover Seder as an opportunity to discuss the current genocide in Darfur. Include a fourth matzah in your Seder, along with this reading based on a prayer written by Rabbi Joel Soffin of Temple Shalom in Succasunna, New Jersey, to bring the plight of the Darfurians to your Passover table.

    "We raise this fourth matzah to remind ourselves that oppression still exists, that people are still being persecuted, that the Divine image within them is being denied. We make room at our seder table and in our hearts for those in Sudan who are now where we have been. We have known such treatment in our own history. Like the women and children facing hardships in Darfur today, we have suffered while others stood by and pretended not to see, not to know. We have eaten the bitter herb; we have been taken from our families and brutalized. We have experienced the horror of being forced from our homes. In the end, we have come to know in our very being that none can be free until all are free.And so, we commit and recommit ourselves to work for the freedom of these people. May the taste of this 'bread of affliction' remain in our mouths until they can eat in peace and security. Knowing that all people are Yours, O God, we will urge our government and all governments to do as You once commanded Pharaoh on our behalf: 'Shalach et Ami! Let MY People Go!'"