Uniting an “Erev Rav”¹

🌀 We begin getting to know one another. The hosts read:

In our Seder ritual we tell each other who we are, from where we have come, and who we hope to become as individuals and as a people.

As we embark on our adventure together here tonight, some of us may not know each other. We begin our evening in anticipation. Many questions will arise: please share them. We can all learn from one another.

🌀 Take turns around the table as each person says their name, their gender pronouns and how it is that they came to be at this Seder
Because the Seder recounts our Exodus from slavery in Egypt, you might also share:

a. a value learned from the experience of slavery:²

b. an object beginning with the first letter of your name:

A Syrian-Jewish custom³ suggests three preliminary questions:

Who are you?
Where are you coming from?
Where are you going?

To which we answer:

We are Israel, those who struggle with God.
We are coming from Mitzra’yim, a place of narrow tightness.
We are going to Jerusalem, a place of wholeness.

☞ What do “Israel,” “Egypt,” and “Jerusalem” represent to each of us right now? What are you doing in your life to transition from a metaphorical Egypt to a metaphorical Jerusalem? We will explore some meanings of these terms as we progress in our adventure.

🌀 We prepare ourselves with song

Hine mah tov

הִנֵּה מַה־טּוֹב וּמַה־נָּעִים שֶׁבֶת אַחִים גַּם־יָחַד.

Hine mah tov u’mah na’im shevet achim gam yachad.

Behold how good and how pleasant it is for families to sit together.

Footnotes

¹ Exodus 12:38, relates: “And a mixed multitude (עֵרֶב רַב) went up also with them….” This can also be read as a pun, for tonight is a “great evening”.

² See the introduction Haggadah and Liberation.

³ Learned from Joseph Gindi.