The Seder

The trick to conducting a seder is to get a good haggadah, the special prayer book for the seder. "Seder" means "order;" it's really a service that includes a meal. Any decent haggadah will have a complete script and staging directions for the seder. If you haven't conducted a seder before, have no fear. Just go out to a good Jewish bookstore, and pick out an haggadah. In Boston, head down to Brookline, and shop at the Israel Book Shop at 410 Harvard Street, and Kolbo, across the street. One nice one is "Gates of Freedom," the Reform haggadah. But look them all over; there's lots of nice ones available.

While in Brookline, the Butcherie kosher food market is not to be missed. Pesah is their busiest time of year. Their prices and selection of Passover foods is much better than what you will find at your friendly neighborhood supermarket.

Before conducting a seder, study your haggadah. This is good advice for seder-leading veterans as well as neophytes. The reward for the effort will be a smoother running seder.

The seder has the following basic outline:

• LIGHTS
  • Light the Yom Tov [Holiday] candles.
  • Baruch Atah Adoni, Elohaynu Melech Ha-Olam, Asher Kid'shanu B'Mitzvotav V'Tsivanu L'Hadlik Neir Shel Yom Tov.
  • We praise You Adonai, our God ruler of the universe, who sanctifies us with the mitzvot, and tells us to kindle the lights of yom tov.
• THE FIRST CUP
  • Fill the cups and say the festival kiddush [sanctification].
  • Baruch Atah Adoni, Elohaynu Melech Ha-Olam, Borei P'ri Hagafen.
  • We praise You Adonai, our God ruler of the universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine.
  • The day is sanctified (too long for our outline).
  • Baruch Atah Adoni, Elohaynu Melech Ha-Olam, She-hecheyanu, V'ki-y'manu, V'higi-anu La-z'man Hazeh.
  • We praise You Adonai, our God ruler of the universe, for keeping us alive, sustaining us, and enabling us to reach this season.
  • Drink from the cup.
• THE APPETIZER "KARPAS"
  • Dip a green (parsley is a popular choice) in salt water.
  • Baruch Atah Adoni, Elohaynu Melech Ha-Olam, Borei P'ri Ha-adamah.
  • We praise You Adonai, our God ruler of the universe, Creator of the fruit of the earth.
  • Eat the green.
• THE AFIKOMEN "YACHATZ"
  • The middle matzah (there is a stack of three matzot on the seder table) is broken in half. The larger half is the AFIKOMEN, which is wrapped in a napkin, and is hidden from the children during the course of the seder. The AFIKOMEN will be eaten at the seder's conclusion.
• FILL THE SECOND CUP
  • The cups are refilled, but not drunk yet.
• THE FOUR QUESTIONS
  • Why do we eat matzah?
  • Why do we eat maror [bitter herbs]?
  • Why do we dip the karpas in salt water and the maror in the charoset?
  • Why do we lean?
• THE FOUR CHILDREN
  • A quick tutorial for the seder leader on how to teach the story of Pesah to different types of children. One of the primary purposes of the seder is to transmit the story of the exodus to the next generation.
  1. The smart child.
  2. The rebellious child.
  3. The simple child.
  4. The very young child.
• THE PASSOVER STORY
  • The story of the exodus is told. This serves as background material needed to understand the answers to the four questions.
• ANSWERING THE FOUR QUESTIONS
  • Because we left in such a hurry we didn't have time to let the bread rise.
  • To remind us of the bitterness of slavery.
  • The salt water represents our tears, the charoset the mortar used in building Paroah's storehouses.
  • To mimic the practice of the Romans, who leaned to the left to keep their right hand free, to show we are free.
• DRINKING THE SECOND CUP
  • Baruch Atah Adoni, Elohaynu Melech Ha-Olam, Borei P'ri Hagafen.
  • We praise You Adonai, our God ruler of the universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine.
  • Drink the cup.
• MATZAH
  • Baruch Atah Adoni, Elohaynu Melech Ha-Olam, Hamotzi Lechem Min Ha'aretz.
  • We praise You Adonai, our God ruler of the universe, who causes bread to come forth from the land.
  • Baruch Atah Adoni, Elohaynu Melech Ha-Olam, Asher Kid'shanu B'Mitzvotav V'Tsivanu Al Achilat Matzah.
  • We praise You Adonai, our God ruler of the universe, who sanctifies us with the mitzvot, and instructs us about eating matzah.
  • Eat some matzah.
• MAROR [BITTER HERBS]
  • Take a bitter herb [commonly horseradish] and dip it into the charoset [spiced fruit sauce, commonly made from apple, walnut, and cinnamon].
  • Baruch Atah Adoni, Elohaynu Melech Ha-Olam, Asher Kid'shanu B'Mitzvotav V'Tsivanu Al Achilat Matzah.
  • We praise You Adonai, our God ruler of the universe, who sanctifies us with the mitzvot, and instructs us about eating matzah.
  • Eat the bitter herb.
• HILLEL SANDWIDCH "KORECH"
  • Make and eat a matzah sandwich using maror and charoset for filling; there is no blessing.
• THE MEAL
• FIND THE AFIKOMEN
  • Usually the children search for the hidden afikomen. In some households, the children hold the afikomen hostage for ransom. In others, the searchers are rewarded. The end result is the same: the leader has the afikomen, and the searchers have a prize.
• EATING THE AFIKOMEN
  • Everyone eats a small amount of the afikomen.
  • The afikomen is the stand-in for the sacrified, roasted pascal lamb, that was eaten at this point in the seder during the time of the Temple [the one in Jerusalem destroyed in the year 70].
• THE THIRD CUP: GRACE AFTER THE MEAL
  • Refill your cup.
  • . . . Barch Atah Adonai, Hazan et Hakol . . .
  • . . . Thank you God, for the food we have eaten . . .
  • Baruch Atah Adoni, Elohaynu Melech Ha-Olam, Borei P'ri Hagafen.
  • We praise You Adonai, our God ruler of the universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine.
  • Drink from your cup.
• HALLEL: A PSALM OF PRAISE
• THE FOURTH CUP
  • Fill your cup.
  • Baruch Atah Adoni, Elohaynu Melech Ha-Olam, Borei P'ri Hagafen.
  • We praise You Adonai, our God ruler of the universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine.
  • Drink from your cup.

This concludes our Pesah presentation. Thanks for visiting!

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This page was written by Edward Walker, .