.Seder Presentation Script - Joyful Catholics

NARRATOR: Welcome! Tonight we will give you a presentation on the Seder, the annual Jewish Passover celebration where Jews celebrate and teach the story of the Israelites’ journey from slavery to freedom; that awesome journey that began in the darkness of Egypt and ended in the Promised Land, the land of Israel.

The Seder is an ancient celebration; an opportunity to party and to pass on the Jewish faith to the next generation. In our presentation, we hope to give you a glimpse of this joyous ritual.

Just as you cannot have a real Mass without a Catholic priest, you cannot have a real Seder without a Jewish family. At our head table we have a pretend family, father, mother, and child. Watch and listen as they APPROXIMATE the rituals, symbols, prayers, and teachings of a real Seder.

But first, as Catholics, let us begin with prayer quoted from the Bible, first in Hebrew, then in English.

FATHER: In the name of the Father…

Sh’ma V’havta

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today. Drill them into your children.” (Deut 6:4)†

NARRATOR: This prayer is the root of the Jewish religion. The Jewish religion is the root of our Catholic religion. God taught the Jews to worship Him in ritual. In our Sacraments, we carry on traditions we learned from the Jews.

The Seder begins, like most Jewish celebrations in the home, with the woman of the house lighting candles and saying the first prayer.

MOTHER: Praised are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has sanctified us by your commandments and commanded us to kindle the lights of the Passover holiday. I pray that the brightness of these lights may inspire us and bring spiritual joy and promise to all of us. Amen

Light the candles

ALL: Praised are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has brought us life, and sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season of joy.

FATHER: God promised Abraham that his children would become a great nation. God keeps His promise. In every generation, enemies try to destroy us, but God saves us each time. Though many of us have suffered and many of us have died, God keeps the Jewish people alive.

In every generation we should feel as if we ourselves had left Egypt. Even though we live long after the exodus from Egypt, we must picture ourselves fleeing slavery. We can never take freedom for granted. Slavery did not end when we left Egypt. It continued into other times when we were forbidden to practice our religion. It continues today.

In every generation, the story of the Exodus has given to us and to all humanity the courage to face difficulties and to continue with our religious commitment and faith.

It is the obligation of parents to tell to their children the story of Passover so that they in turn might recount it to their children.

As Psalm 78 (verses 3-4 Jerusalem translation) says:

“What we have heard and known for ourselves, and

what our ancestors have told us,

Must not be withheld from their descendants, but

be handed on by us to the next generation”

FATHER: We use symbolic foods to help us tell the story. They are displayed on our Seder Plate. Here is a shank bone of a lamb called in Hebrew zeroah.

CHILD: What is the significance of the zeroah?

FATHER: Traditionally, the shank bone of a lamb is used as a reminder of the lamb offered on Passover at the Temple in Jerusalem. It also recalls that God PASSED OVER the houses of the Hebrew people in Egypt. As it says in the book of Exodus (12:26-27) “When your children ask you, ‘What does this rite of yours mean?’ you shall reply ‘This is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. When he struck down the Egyptians, he spared our houses.”

FATHER: Here is an egg. In Hebrew it is called beytza.

CHILD: What is the significance of beytza?

FATHER: The egg is a reminder of the roasted egg offered at the Temple of Jerusalem at the Passover festival.

FATHER: Here is a piece of bitter herbs. It is called in Hebrew maror.

CHILD: What is the significance of maror?

FATHER: It reminds us of the bitterness and hardship of slavery.

FATHER: Here is a mixture of chopped apples, cinnamon, nuts and wine.

It is called in Hebrew haroset.

FATHER: What is the significance of haroset?

FATHER: The haroset is a reminder of the mortar used by the forced Hebrew laborers in Egypt.

FATHER: Here is a green vegetable called in Hebrew karpas.

CHILD: What is the significance of karpas?

FATHER: The karpas, is a reminder of springtime, the season of Passover. We use it as a sign of gratitude to God for the goodness of the earth, for our bread and food.

FATHER: There are additional symbols of the Passover Seder that we can see on the table. One of them is salt water.

CHILD: What is the significance of salt water?

FATHER: It is symbolic of the bitterness which Israel endured in its experience of slavery. It will be used to dip the karpas.

MOTHER: Fill grape juice glasses

CHILD: How many cups of wine will we drink in the Passover Seder?

FATHER: Each participant is expected to partake of four cups of wine.

This requirement is based on the biblical account of Exodus outlining the four stages by which Israel was delivered from slavery:

As it says in Exodus 6:6-7 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: I am the Lord.

I will (1) free you from the forced labor of the Egyptians and will deliver you from their slavery.

I will (2) rescue you by my outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.

I will (3) take you as my own people, and

you shall (4) have me as your God”

Traditionally, we drink red wine, recalling the blood which our ancestors sprinkled on the doorposts of their homes so that their first-born sons could be “passed over.”

CHILD: What is the significance of that special wine cup in the middle of the table?

FATHER: This special cup is called Elijah’s cup. Elijah’s cup is a symbol of prophetic hope in the coming of the Kingdom of God.

(In the motion of making a toast)

We will partake of the first cup of wine, the cup of blessing.

Ba-ruh a-tah a-do-nai e-lo-hei-nu me-leh ha-o-lam bo-rei p’-ri ha-ga-fen

Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, creator of the fruit of the vine.

ALL drink grape juice.

MOTHER: Praised are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has chosen us among all peoples and sanctified us with your commandments. With an everlasting love you have given us holidays and seasons for rejoicing, and this day of the Feast of Matzot, the time of our freedom, in remembrance of Israel’s going out from Egypt.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, who sanctifies Israel and the festival seasons.

CHILD: What is the significance of this dish with three matzot?

FATHER: (stands and holds up uncovered Matzot)

It represents, among other things, the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whom God renamed Israel.

I break the middle matzah, to share what we have with those who have less. I wrap the larger piece in a napkin. That’s the afikoman. The smaller piece I put back on our platter for us to eat.

NARRATOR: Traditionally, the Father hides the afikoman. The young children search and find it before saying grace over the Passover dinner. While the afikomen is a wonderful game for the children in a family, we will not actually play that game tonight..

FATHER: May one of the children open the door to welcome the hungry of body and spirit.

CHILD: open the door

FATHER: (turns toward the door)

Let all who hunger for bread and freedom come to celebrate, to partake of the bread and freedom of this Passover celebration.

Father covers Matzot and sits down

VOLUNTEER close door quietly.

THE FOUR QUESTIONS

CHILD: Why is this night different from all other nights? Any other night we eat either leavened or unleavened bread. Why on this night only matza?

FATHER: Matza is the bread of affliction which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. It is a symbol of days of slavery and pain, endured by the Jewish people for centuries.

When Pharaoh let our ancestors go from Egypt, they were forced to flee in great haste. They had no time to bake their bread. They could not wait for the yeast to rise, so the sun beating down on the dough as they hurried along baked it into flat unleavened bread called matza.

CHILD: Any other night we eat any herbs. Why on this night only maror?

FATHER: To remind us that our ancestors were slaves in the land of Egypt and their lives were made bitter by the oppressors.

CHILD: Any other night we do not dip karpas even once. Why on this night twice?

FATHER: The karpas is a reminder of springtime. We dip the parsley into salt water as a reminder of the bitterness of slavery.

We dip the bitter herbs into the sweet haroset as a sign of hope. Our ancestors were able to withstand the bitterness of slavery because it was sweetened by the hope of freedom.

Life is a combination of sweet and bitter.

CHILD: Any other night our ancestors ate sitting or reclining.

Why on this night did they all recline?

FATHER: Because reclining at the table was a sign of a free person in olden times. We follow the tradition by having a pillow to remember that our ancestors were freed on this night.

FATHER: Blessed be you, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has given us the Law which speaks of the four kinds of children,

the wise,
the rebellious,
the simple, and
the shy.

FATHER: The wise child is eager to celebrate each holiday and continue the traditions of centuries. He or she will ask: What is the meaning of the precepts which God commanded us concerning the Passover?

MOTHER: You must tell this child the meaning of Passover, the thirst for freedom of the people of Israel, and the spiritual liberation that God brought to his people.

FATHER: The rebellious child does not participate wholeheartedly in the celebration. This child generally asks mockingly: What is the meaning of the ritual to you?

MOTHER: Our answer should emphasize the meaning of Passover to everyone. This service represents the freedom that God has given each and every one of us. My freedom, your freedom, our freedom is represented by the great freedom God gave us all through the Exodus.

FATHER: The simple child is innocent, naïve. He or she wants to understand the meaning of Passover, its story of freedom.

MOTHER: The parents should explain all the details to the child and point out God’s intervention in the liberation from bondage.

FATHER: There is a child who does not know how to ask. This child is shy, and keeps to him or herself.

MOTHER: The parents should follow the biblical recommendation with patience and tenderness: “You shall tell your child on that day: this is done because of that which the Eternal did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.”

Mother fill grape juice glasses

FATHER: Blessed be God who keeps His promises to Israel and fulfills them in every age. Blessed be the Holy One who has saved His people from tyrants.

As the Torah says in Deuteronomy (26:5-6) My father was a wandering Aramean, who went down to Egypt with a small household and lived there as an alien. But there he became a nation great, strong and numerous.

The Book of Exodus tells us that after Joseph died, a new Pharaoh arose who knew not Joseph. This Pharaoh enslaved all Israel and condemned all newborn males to death. Moses, when just a newborn male baby, was saved by Pharaoh’s daughter. God revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush in the desert and God told Moses:

“I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob”. I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers. Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, … Come now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

Moses pled with Pharaoh, who stubbornly refused to free the Hebrew slaves. So God afflicted Egypt with Ten Plagues that left the people and the land desolate.

We recall the Ten Plagues by spilling drops of wine as we mention each of them. We do not pour the wine out of joy. By ancient Jewish tradition, we express our compassion for the suffering of the Egyptians. Although they oppressed us, they were also children of God, and fellow human beings. We temper our joy with drops of wine spilled from our cups.

We spill ten drops of wine from our cups to show that just as our cups should not be totally full, so our hearts should not be full. We cannot be completely happy, because people died in order for us to become free.

Dip your finger in the wine and together we will say each of the ten plagues, as we let fall drops of wine.

ALL: (Say slowly while shaking dipped finger to make wine fall in drops)

Blood; Frogs; Lice; Wild Beasts; Cattle Disease; Boils; Hail; Locusts; Darkness; Death of the First Born.

FATHER: Not only were our ancestors redeemed by God from slavery; all of us also are now redeemed in spirit and example. Each of us, each generation, is a beneficiary of God’s power of salvation.

(In the motion of making a toast)

We will partake of the second cup of wine, the cup of memory.

Ba-ruh a-tah a-do-nai e-lo-hei-nu me-leh ha-o-lam bo-rei p’-ri ha-ga-fen

Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, creator of the fruit of the vine.

ALL drink the grape juice

Father goes to bowl of water and towel.

FATHER: We are ready to enjoy the Passover meal.

Before we eat let us wash our hands and say:

Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe who sanctified us with your commandments and commanded us concerning the washing of the hands.

MOTHER: wash hands and say:

Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe who sanctified us with your commandments and commanded us concerning the washing of the hands.

CHILD: wash hands and say:

Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe who sanctified us with your commandments and commanded us concerning the washing of the hands.

MATZA: EATING THE BREAD OF AFFLICTION

FATHER: Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe who brings forth bread from the earth.

MOTHER: Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe who sanctified us with your commandments and commanded us to eat of matza.

All eat Matza.

KARPAS: EATING A GREEN VEGETABLE

FATHER: Dips parsley/celery twice into the salt water and eats it saying: