1995
The Ghosts of Passover:
A Passover Haggadah
By John Kador
Inspired by A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
A Passover Haggadah
In the first month on the fourteenth of the month, toward twilight, it is Passover to the Lord. And on the fifteenth day of this month, it is the festival of matzah to the Lord; seven days you shall eat matzah. (Exodus 13:7)
The Haggadah
TIME: The present
PLACE: Here
LEADER: It is almost twilight. The Ghosts of Passover welcome you. Oh yes, what would Passover be without ghosts? Included in our number is every soul who has in years past participated in the events that we celebrate tonight. That number embraces everyone who has ever struggled for justice, including, before this evening is quite over, all of us. Now, the story we have for you is true. Well, it’s probably true. Anyway, it could be true. Okay, most of it we’re making up, but is it too much to ask you to accept this: There was a little boy who just didn’t like Passover.
CHILD 1: Passover! Bah! Humbug!
LEADER: All right, we’re stretching here, but bear with us.
CHILD 1: Why is this night different from all other nights? Ask me if I care. I just don’t get it! Every year we drive ourselves crazy. Cooking! Cleaning! Praying! And for what? I just want to go to bed.
CHILD 2: That night, as the little boy slept, three ghosts came to the little boy.
CHILD 3: They were the Ghost of Passover Past.
CHILD 4: The Ghost of Passover Present.
CHILD 5: And the Ghost of Passover Yet To Come.
CHILD 1 [scared]: Mommy! Mommy! I just had the scariest dream. I was a slave in the mudpits of Egypt. I had to make all these bricks. People were whipping me. It hurt. It hurt so bad.
ADULT 1: Come here, son. Sometimes if you tell your dream, it’s less scary. Tell me exactly what happened.
ADULT 2 [as the Ghost of Passover Past]: In his mother’s arms, the little boy remembered a seder meal.
[The youngest child asks]
CHILD 6: How is this night different from all other nights?
CHILD 3: On all other nights, we eat either bread or matzah, but on this night only matzah.
CHILD 1: On all other nights we eat all kinds of vegetables, but on this night we eat bitter herbs.
CHILD 4: On all other nights we need not dip our herbs even once, but on this night we do so twice.
CHILD 2: On all other nights we eat sitting up or lying down, but on this night we can lie down.
CHILD 1: And, Mom? In my dream there were four sons. One was wise, one was wicked, one was simple, and one did not know what to ask.
ADULT: What says the wise son?
CHILD 4: "What is the meaning of Passover? Tell me all the laws so that we may observe Passover properly."
ADULT 2: Notice the use of the word "we." The wise son does everything as a community. Now, what says the wicked son?
CHILD 4: "Of what is all of this to you? It’s no good to me. You’ll never be free. As soon as one miracle sets you free, another Pharaoh makes you slaves!"
ADULT: "You," the wicked son says. In excluding himself from the community, he has denied a great truth: that we are all united in the struggle for freedom.
ADULT 2: What says the simple son?
CHILD 3: "What is all this?"
ADULT: And as for him who does not know what to ask? The Torah says you shall yourself ask the question that is surely on his mind but that he is unable to put into words.
CHILD 5: "And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, It is because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt."
CHILD 1: Mom, what is the fourth son asking?
ADULT: He is asking for reassurance. We need to remind him that he too counts, that the redemption was meant for him along with everyone else.
CHILD 4: This night is different because the Lord delivered to Israel a redeemer who would lead the Jews out of bondage.
[We are now in Egypt]
ADULT [as an Egyptian overseer]: Work faster, you slaves! The Pharaoh is very nervous because of all those rumors about a redeemer.
CHILD 5: [as Pharaoh] Hear my command and obey: Every male that is born, you are to throw him in the river, and every female you shall keep alive.
ADULT [as Pharaoh’s minister] : So let it be written, so let it be done!
LEADER: And so it came to pass that to Yochoved, a Hebrew mother, a boy was born.
CHILD: To protect the baby, she placed the baby in a little boat and floated him to safety down the River Nile.
CHILD 4: The daughter of the great Pharaoh was bathing in the river when she heard the cries of a child and she took pity on him.
ADULT: And he was to her as a son, and she named him Moshe, for "she drew him (mesh-it-i-hu) from the water."
ADULT: And as Moses grew into a man, the Pharaoh saw in him great leadership. The Pharaoh of Egypt, the mightiest land in the world, couldn’t understand why Moses took such interest in the slaves.
ADULT [Pharaoh, frustrated]: Moses, Moses, Moses. You were seen in the mudpits again. Can’t you see your place is here with us?
ADULT 2: Oh, great one, my heart is heavy that the Jews suffer so.
ADULT: Nonsense. All their needs are met. They don’t have to worry about housing or food. They like being slaves. They can get anything they want.
ADULT [as a woman in Pharaoh’s court, under her breath]: As long as they don’t want anything.
ADULT [quickly, suspicious]: What did you say?
ADULT [recovering desperately]: The national anthem, Great One, a song they don’t choose to sing.
ADULT [skeptically]: Exactly! Slaves have no patriotism! Moses, I’ll need you to clamp down on those slaves.
ADULT 2 [as Moses]: Alas, I cannot, your majesty. As I observe the Jewish slaves, I feel myself to be a Jew.
ADULT [exasperated]: Kids! [more reasonable] Moses, it’s a phase you’re going through. You’re a prince of Egypt.
ADULT 2: Great one, I have a confession to make. Today, I saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew, and it was as if I were bring struck. I’m afraid I lost my temper and killed the Egyptian. I hid his body in the sand.
ADULT [grim]: That’s too bad, Moses. The law says you must become a slave. I’ll miss you. Report to the mudpits at dawn.
LEADER: But that night, Moses fled to Midian. He fled as much from his own pain as any punishment which Pharaoh could inflict on him.
CHILD 1: And, Dad, though he lived well in Midian for many years, he slept an uneasy sleep.
ADULT [as Jethro]: You are welcome here, Moses. Are you not safe in my tent? Have I not given you my first daughter, Zipporah? Are you not content in Midian?
ADULT: I am indebted to you, Jethro. I tend your flocks and I raise my family. Yet I am not at peace.
ADULT [as Zipporah]: Your work in Egypt is not finished, my husband. Your calling will be soon revealed.
CHILD: That night, while looking for a lost lamb, Moses understood the source of his uneasiness.
ADULT [as Moses, having a vision]: I am a stranger in a strange land. I have come to this place in vain to forget the suffering of my people, but a stranger I shall remain until I tend the pain in my heart. Indeed, where was my heart to flee from refuge from my heart? Whither was I to go where my heart would not follow? In what place should I not be prey to myself?
ADULT [with great authority] : Moses, it is time: I have come to you in a burning bush.
ADULT 1: The vision of a burning but unconsumed bush was a sign that although the Jewish people might be consumed in flames, they would continue to live and resist.
ADULT: Moses, struggle no more against your destiny. The children of Israel wait for you. Embrace your people and lead them from the days of fear.
ADULT: Still, although he understood that it was time to return to his people, Moses was a reluctant leader.
ADULT 2: Prince of Light, please choose someone else! Powerless am I, lame of speech and halt of tongue. How can I free the slaves? I’ve never been a slave. To my shame, I grew up in the palace of the Pharaoh!
CHILD 1: Mom, why is Moses ashamed that he grew up in the palace?
ADULT 1: What do you think?
CHILD 1: Moses is probably feeling bad that while he lived in luxury, his mother and father and brother were in chains.
CHILD 4: But, Mom, why did God make Moses live as an Egyptian?
ADULT: What do you think?
CHILD 4: My guess is that God wanted a leader who hadn’t learned to think like a victim and refuses to be a persecutor.
ADULT 2 [as Moses, trying to squirm out]: Okay, so you don’t care that I stutter. You like the irony of having someone raised in Pharaoh’s court save the Jews. But I can’t do it by myself!
ADULT: You are not alone, Moses. Have you forgotten Aaron, your brother? And Miriam your sister? Together, you will free all your Jewish brothers and sisters in bondage and take all the Israelites out of Egypt.
CHILD 4: Mom, if Moses was so great, why did God need two messengers--Moses and Aaron? Wouldn’t one have been enough?
ADULT 1: No, son, two was the right number. God needed one messenger to take the Israelites out of Egypt. God needed the other messenger to take Egypt out of the Israelites.
CHILD 1: Uh uh. Mom, do you think you could try that in English?
CHILD: Moses’ job was to lead the Jews out of Egypt. But that’s only half the job. The Jews had never known anything but slavery. People really can’t be free if they have slavery in the hearts. God needed Aaron to pull the bad habits of slavery out of the Jews.
ADULT: Moses made his way back to Egypt on effortless legs. With the help of Aaron and his sister Miriam, Moses organized the Jews to resist slavery. He called on Pharaoh to let the people go.
ADULT [as Pharaoh]: So, Moses, it’s you. I turn my back on you and your feeble threats. Your people are doomed to remain slaves.
ADULT 2 [wearily]: I am an old man, only a vessel for the right and mighty. Through me the Lord speaks. Heed these words. If you do not let the children of Israel go, the Lord will visit ten plagues, each more terrible than the last, upon the people of Egypt.
ALL KIDS [with anger]: Your Lord’s threats mean nothing to us. Bring on the plagues!
ADULT: [as the Ghost of Passover Past] The plagues came fast and furious. The Hebrew God is a merciful and regrets all suffering, even that of the oppressor’s.
CHILD 5: For that reason, Jews at the Seder table who recall the suffering of the people of Egypt spill a drop of wine--symbolizing the blood of the Egyptians--when each plague is mentioned.
[As each plague is read, we dip a finger into our wine or juice glasses and transfer a drop to our plates]
CHILD: On the first day, water turned to blood.
CHILD 4: On the second day, everywhere we looked: frogs! Millions of them.
CHILD 1: On the third day, we couldn’t open our mouths without gnats flying in.
CHILD: On the fourth day, if we opened our mouths to let the gnats out, flies flew in.
ADULT: The fifth day left everyone in udder shock. All our cows died.
ADULT: On the sixth day, every one broke out in horrible boils.
ADULT: On the seventh day, hail destroyed our crops.
ADULT 2: On the eighth day, locusts came by the millions to eat everything that wasn’t covered up.
ADULT: On the ninth day, the light abandoned us and we were sent into darkness.
CHILD 5: But even after nine plagues, each worse than the last, did Pharaoh let the slaves go?
ADULT: [Pharaoh, firmly]: My father, the Pharaoh, had slaves. His father, the Pharaoh, had slaves. I will not be the first Pharaoh who abandons our sacred traditions. Ra, Egypt’s God and glory, is testing our faith. We survived nine of the plagues. What more can happen?
ADULT: That night, Moses told all the Hebrews a secret: we were to take lamb’s blood and make a mark on our front doors.
CHILD: The angel of death was in the air. If it saw a house without blood on the door, it would go inside and kill the oldest male child.
ADULT 2: If the angel of death saw blood on the door, it passed over the house.
CHILD 2: That’s why we call this time Passover.
ADULT: It was a night Egypt will never forget. The wails of mothers and fathers crying filled the air. Even Pharaoh’s magicians could not save his oldest son.
ADULT: The tenth plague was so terrible that Pharaoh’s people demanded that the Hebrews be set free. Reluctantly, in grief over his own dead son, Pharaoh told us to get out before he changed his mind.
ADULT: Frantically, the Jews packed. We had no time to let our morning bread rise. Even though the bread was flat as a pancake, we had to bake it quickly so we would have something to eat on the road.
ADULT: That’s why at Passover we remember the hurry of the Jews by eating only matzah.
CHILD 3: No bread. No cake. Just matzah.
CHILD 1: By the time the sun came up, the Jews were on their way. That evening, we came to the border of Egypt, which happened to be the shore of the Red Sea.
CHILD 4: The Jews had two huge problems.
CHILD: One, we had no boats.
ADULT: Two, the Egyptian Army was coming to make us slaves again. Pharaoh had changed his mind when he realized he would have to actually pay people to build the pyramids. The only thing between us and slavery was the Red Sea.
ADULT: Everyone looked at Moses. But who did Moses look to?
ADULT 1: The Midrash says that God didn’t make a miracle happen until a common man marched into the water with the faith that God did not bring the Jews this far only to have them enslaved again. It was this act of faith that inspired Moses to raise his staff. The Red Sea parted right down the middle. We all scurried safely across the open path to the Promised Land.
ADULT: The Egyptian Army, with Pharaoh bravely leading from the rear, followed us. But when they were in the middle of the Sea, the waters came together, drowning all our pursuers.
ADULT 2: The story is almost over. For many years, the Jews wandered around the desert.
ADULT: The Lord gave us the Ten Commandments.
CHILD 3: The Lord gave us the Torah.
ADULT: From Aaron and his family came the Cohens, the priests.
CHILD 5: Eventually, after 40 years, we got to the Promised Land and established a nation of freedom.
CHILD 1: Is that the end of the story?
ADULT 1: Not quite. The story is designed not to have an ending. As long as Jews like us recreate the story, and live it as fully as we can, the story will never end.
CHILD: We recreate the story by having the children ask the four important questions.
ADULT: We recreate the story by making the journey to freedom together through preparing and eating the special foods that remind us of the Passover story.
ADULT: See the seder plate? It has five foods on it--a roasted bone, an egg, and bitter herbs in the form of parsley and horseradish.
ADULT 1: There is also a mixture of chopped nuts, apples, and wine called haroset.
ADULT: The roasted bone reminds us of the lamb that we thankfully ate at the Temple in Jerusalem.
ADULT: The bitter herbs remind us how bitter it was to live the life of a slave.
ADULT: The haroset looks like the clay out of which we toiled to make the bricks for Pharaoh.
CHILD 4: The parsley remind us of the new life that comes each Spring.
CHILD 1: By eating the greens that come to life each Spring, we celebrate a season of rebirth and renewal, where all things are possible.
CHILD 5: The eggs symbolize the roasted eggs that were brought to the Holy Temple as an offering during Passover.
CHILD 2: The salt water reminds us of the tears our people shed when we were slaves in Egypt.
(Everyone dips some greens and eggs in salt water and says)
ALL: Blessed art Thou, Our
Protector,
Ruler of the Universe,
Creator of the fruits of Spring.
ADULT 1: On the seder table, there is a plate with three pieces of matzah. One small piece we will hide. This piece is called the afikoman.
ADULT: This is an important piece of matzah. We cannot finish the seder without it. So later, the children will hunt for it and the child who finds it will get a surprise.
LEADER: Let us taste the haste of our ancestors. [Takes a piece of matzah, breaks off some and passes the rest along. We eat].
[Pour a second cup of wine or juice]
ALL: Baruch ata adonai, eh-lo-hay-noo
mel-lech ha-alom, bo-ray pree hagafen.
Blessed are Thou, Our Redeemer,
Ruler of the Universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine.
ADULT 1: So that the bitterness of slavery is never forgotten, we taste the horseradish and matzo. This is called maror. [The bottom matzo is broken and distributed.]
ALL: Baruch ata adonai, eh-lo-hay-noo
mel-lech ha-alom, asher kid-sha-noo be-mitzvo-tav, ve-tzee-va-noo al
achee-lat maror.
Blessed are You, our God, Creator of the Universe, who sanctified us
with the Torah and commanded us to eat the bitter herb.
CHILD 5: To remember the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem, we break the bottom matzo, and put maror and haroset between the two pieces.
ADULT: This sandwich we eat in memory of our sage, Hillel, who ate matzah and maror together. In time of freedom, we must never forget the bitterness of slavery.
ADULT: In time of slavery we must keep alive the hope of freedom.
ADULT: Legend has it that in days of old, kings and queens drank no less that three cups of wine or juice at meals.
CHILD 2: But tonight we are so happy that we drink four cups.
[third cup of wine]
ALL: Baruch ata adonai, eh-lo-hay-noo
mel-lech ha-alom, bo-ray pree hagafen.
Blessed are Thou, Our Preserver,
Ruler of the Universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine.
CHILD 1: Boy, that was some dream. The Ghost of Passover Past let me out of its clutches, but then The Ghost of Passover Present took its place.
ADULT 2 [as the Ghost of Passover
Present]: Remembering what happened to our people 5,000 years ago is
critical. We must never turn our backs on where we came from. But Passover
is celebrated
not only by looking backwards. We celebrate it also by looking to our
left and right.
ADULT: Passover exists because
those in this room have made a decision to be here, together, in the
presence of each other, to make a sacred promise that all people, wherever
they may be, live free
from fear, free from want, and free from hunger.
LEADER [Ghost of Passover
Present]: Lift your eyes and behold your brothers and sisters in freedom.
Take your neighbor’s hands in your own. [everyone joins hands]
Let us complete the chain of
Passover. Let the generations here represent the ties that link us to
every human being who has struggled to end slavery.
ALL: Rejoice in the Lord,
O righteous, for praise is comely for the upright. In the mouths of
the upright, You shall be praised;
With the words of the righteous, You shall be blessed;
By the tongue of the pious, You shall be extolled;
And in the innermost being of the holy, You shall be hallowed.
ALL Hineh ma tov u’mana’yim
SING: Shevet achim gam yachad
[Behold how good and pleasant it is for brothers & sisters to dwell together]
ADULT: From the youngest to the oldest, the circle of Passover is complete.
CHILD 5 [as the Ghost of Passover
Yet to Come] Well, nearly complete! We have heard from the Ghost of
Passover Past and The Ghost of Passover Present. We have yet to hear
from me, The Ghost of
Passover Yet to Come. . . . What? Do you prefer to eat first? No problem.
I have nothing but time. I’ll catch you later.
ALL: All who are hungry--let them come and eat;
All who are needy--let them come and celebrate the Passover.
The Meal is Served
The Afikoman
(After the meal, the young people hunt for the afikoman. The winner receives a gift to redeem the afikoman. Pieces of this, the sweetest piece, can now be passed around.)
Elijah's Cup
[The door is opened and the extra cup is filled]
LEADER [The Ghost of Passover Yet to Come]: Be comfortable, I beg you. It is my time. Look closely and you can see become visible Passover Yet to Come.
ADULT 2: This seder cannot be complete without faith that, for our efforts, tomorrow will be better.
ADULT 1: We open the door and invite Elijah to come in and join us.
ADULT: This is a sign of our faith that Elijah, a great teacher who lived many years ago, will choose our seder to proclaim a year of peace and freedom.
ADULT: We fill a fourth glass with wine.
CHILD: This is a sign of our faith that Elijah will share with us the joy of the seder.
ALL Eliyahu Hanovi, Eliyahu Ha-Tishbi
SING: Eliyahu, Eliyahu, Eliyahu,
Ha-Gilodi
Lord, Your Kingdom soon be here,
Speed the coming of your cheer;
Make all strife and evil cease
Speed the coming of your peace
Eliyahu Hanovi, Eliyahu Ha-Tishbi
Eliyahu, Eliyahu, Eliyahu, Ha-Gilodi
Bim’he-rah v’ya-mey-nu Ya-vo-ely-nu
Im ma-shee-ach ben Da-vid,
Im ma-shee-ach ben Da-vid.
Eliyahu Hanovi, Eliyahu Ha-Tishbi
Eliyahu, Eliyahu, Eliyahu, Ha-Gilodi
ADULT: It is also a sign of our determination to fulfill Elijah’s hope of a world where there is freedom for all.
CHILD 5: And, finally, we end the seder with a great hope for the Ghost of Passover Yet to Come.
CHILD 1: This is what we hope for our children but what we must struggle for today.
CHILD 4: That we all will meet again, but this time . . .
ALL: L’shana ha-ba’a bi Yerushala’yim!
The Coming Year in Jerusalem!
Blessing Over the Fourth Cup
ALL: Baruch ata adonai, eh-lo-hay-noo
mel-lech ha-alom, bo-ray pree hagafen.
Blessed are Thou, Our Defender,
Ruler of the Universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine.
Di E-nu, Di E-nu
ADULT 1: We are indeed blessed. We remember this with a song that asks, "What is enough?" The song allows us to mention all the wonderful things we have and then to gloat "but we have even more!"
ADULT: For example, one verse goes, "Had God helped us forty years in the desert and not fed us manna, it would have been enough." So we sing:
HEBREW VERSE: I-lu hot-zi,
hot-zi an-nu
Hot-zi a-nu, mi-mitz-ray-im
Hot-zi a-nu, mi-mitz-ray-im
Di E-nu
CHORUS: Di, Di E-nu
Di, Di E-nu
Di, Di E-nu
Di E-nu, Di E-nu
ENGLISH VERSE: If God brought
us out of Egypt,
Brought us out of Pharaoh’s bondage,
That alone would have sufficed us
Di-E-nu
CHORUS: Di, Di E-nu
HEBREW VERSE: I-lu natan,
nattan I-lu
nattan I-lu, et ha-Torah,
nattan I-lu, et ha-Torah,
Di E-nu
CHORUS: Di, Di E-nu
ENGLISH VERSE: If God gave
us all the Torah,
Gave us the Five Books of Moses
That alone would have sufficed us
Di-E-nu
CHORUS: Di, Di E-nu
HEBREW VERSE: I-lu natan,
nattan I-lu
nattan I-lu, et ha-Shabbat,
nattan I-lu, et ha-Shabbat,
Di E-nu
CHORUS: Di, Di E-nu
ENGLISH VERSE: If God gave
us all the Sabbath,
To rest up from six day’s labor,
That alone would have sufficed us
Di-E-nu
CHORUS: Di, Di E-nu
ENGLISH
VERSE: If God brought us into
Israel
To a land of milk and honey,
That alone would have sufficed us
Di-E-nu
CHORUS: Di, Di E-nu
Nirtzah: Acceptance
LEADER: The commemoration service of the Passover is now accomplished according to its order.
ALL: May this service be acceptable before those who cherish freedom. Shalom.
John
Kador, Author
402 Franklin Street
POB 552
Geneva, IL 60134
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