🌀 This Haggadah is designed so that everything in it is to be read aloud except for “directions” marked with the symbol that begins this paragraph (🌀 and appears in this font face). Each participant might read a different paragraph or two, one following the next around the Seder circle. If there are words that are new to you, either in your native language or one you have not yet learned, someone more comfortable with the text may help you. This is not unlike the role of a gabbai, who, during the public reading of the Torah in synagogue provides pronunciation support.
Those portions of text in italics are to be read by all present. Notes are at the bottom of the page on which they appear. They include references and (at times) additional material. The PDF, when read online, has many hyperlinks embedded but not in a hypertext style (no blue and underline). Hover with the pointer to find them.
🌀 Sections that begin with this symbol ✼ highlight a major section as outlined in the medieval Haggadah.
🌀 Sections beginning with ☞ are for group discussion. To help the flow of conversation during the Seder, some of these prompts could be assigned to willing participants in advance of the evening.
Before the Seder begins, a bit more information about this Haggadah
🌀 The blank pages headed “What words, shapes…” are for young people to write and draw on during the Seder and to spur the imagination of others.
🌀 The evening might begin with everyone sitting casually and comfortably in the living room, convening at the dinner table only to eat the meal. On the Seder table are the Seder Plate, the Yahrtzeit (memorial) candle, the three matzot, Elijah’s empty cup and a pitcher of water for Miriam’s Well.
🌀 The songs are all titled and indented. Some of them have links (in the online PDF version) to YouTube recordings. If you do not know the melody, you can read the words as a poem. If you are not familiar with the Hebrew, Yiddish or Russian you can read the translations (or transliterations).
🌀 Everyone should have a copy of the Haggadah and a goblet filled with wine before the Seder begins.
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Next: The Prelude - Candle Lighting
To explore the structure of the Seder and this Haggadah, check the Table of Contents