Pesach Edition - Next Year May All Be Free!

פסח/Pesach is fast approaching.  Jews around the world will celebrate this festival wherein we recount the story of the Exodus.  We will recount how the Israelites' attained liberation from the bondage of Egypt.  We at Reyut want to use this post to share with you resources and texts you can use to enhance your Pesach observance.  We can all spread awareness about domestic violence and violence against women during this season.  We can name this modern day plague which rests, not on any one nation, but upon all. As we celebrate our freedom we are called upon to remember that the world is still broken, and that we are God's partners in the work of repair.  There are many in our communities who wait for redemption and freedom from violence, intimidation, control, and abuse. Some may even sit silently around our seder tables. At this season the words from the Pesach Kavanah found in Congregation Sha'ar Zahav's Siddur Sha'ar Zahav speaks to me:

"Neither the work nor the remembering will ever be finished in our lifespan; may we remember that liberation is not a destination but an ongoing labor of love. No one is free until all the bonds are cut.  May it be so, speedily, and soon, and let us say, next year in-  No, not next year.  Not anywhere else but right here, right now, everywhere and always." (pg. 377)

Below are some resources for homes, for congregations, for communities.

• Jewish Women International (JWI)'s Clergy Task Force has many creative prayers and blessings.  One is a dedication of a cup of wine meant to be used during the seder. Print the pdf and incorporate it into your seder. 
• Ritualwell is an online source of liturgical Jewish innovations.  It has this reading which adds to the Pesach seder as well.  The reading is from a full haggadah called A Journey Towards Freedom: A Haggadah for Women Who Have Experienced Domestic Violence.
• You can find the full haggadah here. 
• This reading is also an original piece from the same haggadah and responds to the traditional liturgical component Dayeinu.
• This reading also from the haggadah is meant to speak to the 4 questions section of the haggadah.
• The Religious Action Center (RAC) has this guide for incorporating issues of justice into one's Pesach observance.   Domestic Violence is one of several social justice issues discussed in the guide.