LEADER  On Passover, we read about the ten plagues God unleashed on the Egyptians. The plagues we see today, however, are not punishments from God, but ones of our own doing— because ending hunger is not a matter of resources, but of political will. As we read each of these plagues aloud, we dip a finger into the wine and touch a drop onto our plate. This reminds us that, even as we celebrate freedom, our freedom is not complete when hungry people still suffer.

(Dip your finger in your glass and place a drop of wine on the plate for each plague.)

ALL READ TOGETHER IN UNISON

1.    INDIFFERENCE, the failure to recognize food insecurity in our own communities
2.     SHAME, the undue burden we place on hungry people
3.     INDIGNITY, the failure to treat hungry people with the respect they deserve
4.     STEREOTYPING, the persistence of harmful misinformation about who is hungry
5.    ABSENCE, the lack of data showing the true scope of this problem
6.     HUMILIATION, the pain parents feel when they cannot provide enough food for their children
7.     FATIGUE, the exhaustion from the constant cycle of poverty and hunger
8.    ANXIETY, the lingering fear that SNAP benefits will not last the whole month
9.    BUREAUCRACY, the system that prevents rapid action on this issue
10.     APATHY, the greatest plague of all — the failure to make ending hunger a national priority

LEADER  After we’ve eaten, we share our gratitude for the nutritious food we found on our plates and the bountiful land from which it came. We bless You, Adonai, for the land and for the food it yields. It is our responsibility to make sure that every person gets the nutrition they need to thrive.

Baruch ata Adonai hazan et hakol.
Blessed are You Adonai, who provides food for all.

MAZON Sermon Seeds

Yamim Noraim

Rabbi Michael Rothbaum, JCJM '19 + '20

Rosh HaShanah, Day One — Gen. 21: the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael

• While Hagar has been a faithful servant to the family, the story explains thatAbraham expels Hagar and her son with very little notice
• Despite her dedication and service, Abraham only gives Hagar some bread andwater
• The meager rations are quickly exhausted
• The story highlights the problems of poor families
• Often, families on the margins find themselves in economic trouble through no faultof their own
• Despite this, poor families are often seen as having character defects — lazy, lackinginitiative, so on
• God’s non-judgmental assistance to Hagar and Ishmael is a model for us to providefor poor and hungry because of the Jewish demand to create love and justice.

Rosh HaShanah, Day Two — Gen. 22: the binding of Isaac

• Isaac’s life is in danger, though he is never consulted regarding the decision
• Abraham intends to put his son through an ultimate sacrifice, for a vision thatdoesn’t include Isaac
• Many Jewish commentators are horrified by this possible destruction of life
• There is a parallel for poor people in the US
• Cuts to food, housing, and medical assistance threaten the lives of poor Americans,though they are almost never consulted regarding such decisions
• Political forces sacrifice poor people for a vision that values low taxes andderegulation over the lives of poor people
• American Jews should insist that our political leaders pursue a vision that includesall residents of our country, regardless of economic status.

Kol Nidre

• The traditional Kol Nidre prayer asks God for a second chance
• We’ve made ndarim — vows, promises — both to God and to the people in ourlives
• Since we’re fallible people, we were not always able or willing to fulfill thesepromises
• Kol Nidre is a reminder — just because we fell short, doesn’t mean we shouldn’tkeep trying
• As Jews, we are required to provide basic sustenance to all people, in the form oftzedek, a just distribution of wealth
• With millions of Americans in poverty, it’s clear that we have fallen short
• On Kol Nidre, we declare that we cannot give in to fatalism or despair
• We should recommit to fulfilling the promise our people and our country have left unfulfilled to America’s poor.

Yom Kippur Morning — Leviticus 16: the two goats

• The reading describes a ritual of expiation
• Two goats are selected: one sacrificed for God, one for Azazel
• The method of selection is random — it has nothing to do with the quality of the goats
• The reading reminds us of the randomness of life
• Many of us have been randomly born into families of means
• Others have been randomly been born into poverty
• In a country in which economic mobility is increasingly impossible, birth is becoming destiny
• The Yom Kippur reading reminds us that much of our fate is due to happenstance rather than merit
• We are horrified to live in a country in which some citizens are randomly sacrificed on the altar of economic injustice, deregulation, and cuts to basic material needs
• As Jews, we need to work toward the vision of a country that provides for all its residents, regardless of the economic class into which they happen to be born.

Once again we wash our hands, this time in anticipation of the festive meal. May this ritual act of hand washing, followed by a blessing, lead to other sacred acts of preparation and protest, advocacy and activism, so that all may find they have the nutritious food they need.

(Either have volunteers walk around to each table with a pitcher of water and a basin or invite seder guests to wash their hands in some other way.)

LEADER: We join together in the blessing:

Baruch ata Adonai Elohenu Melech ha’olam asher kideshanu be’mitzvotav ve’tzivanu al n’tilat yadayim.

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe, who has made us holy with God’s commandments and commanded us to wash our hands.

KOS R'VI-I – THE FOURTH CUP

LEADER: We drink the Fourth Cup to remember our promise

ALL: We will create a world where all Americans, and all people, are free from hunger.

We pray that, at this time next year, each of us will be free from the yoke of hunger and poverty, and further blessed with abundance.

LEADER: We lift our glasses and read the blessing together (drink wine after the blessing):

Baruch ata Adonai Elohenu Melech ha’olam borei p’ri hagafen.
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

Each year, Jews across the world join with family, friends, neighbors, and strangers to celebrate the holiday of Passover. But why? What is behind this tradition?

Seder means “order.” The ordered rituals and symbols of the Passover seder help us to tell the story of the Jewish people’s liberation from slavery in Egypt.

(Leader holds up the Seder Plate and briefly explains the ritual items and what they symbolize.)

For today’s seder we choose to recognize that while the Jewish people may be free, not everyone has cause for celebration. Many people, even in a free society such as ours, are bound by the hardships and challenges of their circumstances. We come together today with them in mind, determined to realize our vision of a day when we will all be truly free from the oppression of hunger.

Let us honor this moment by joining together in song:

Hineh mah tov u’ma-na’im shevet achim gam yachad.
How good it is for brothers and sisters to be together.

MAZON’s Fifth Question: Why on this night are millions of people going hungry? The answer is a stark and upsetting truth: Because on this night, like every other night, millions of people living in poverty have no other choice.

Passover is a magical time when we gather with family and friends to retell the story of our people’s freedom from bondage. We read from a prayer book, perform rituals that are thousands of years old, and eat. We eat A LOT. Many of us eat far more than we should, but the food is so delicious, it’s nearly impossible to resist. Unfortunately, not everyone is lucky enough to have that luxury.

Hunger in America is at an epidemic level, despite how it might seem at first glance. 50 million Americans – including 17 million children – struggle with hunger every day. One out of every six people in this country can’t be sure when or if they’ll have their next meal. Hungry people live in every community in the country and come in all colors, shapes and sizes. They wrestle with impossible choices no one should have to make: buy my daughter’s asthma medication or feed my family? Whose turn is it to eat: the children or the adults? It breaks our hearts – it should break yours.

America is a nation of abundance and wealth, and Jews are a people dedicated to fighting on behalf of the vulnerable. How could this injustice possibly happen here?

There is another way – an end to hunger is within our reach. Early in the seder we say, “All who are hungry, let them enter and eat.” More than an invitation to join us at the dinner table, we at MAZON see these words as a rallying cry – a call to do more to help those who so desperately need it; to fight for responsible government policies that promote the health and security of everyone in our nation; to provide access to resources that allow people to pick themselves up and build (or rebuild) their lives; to give every man, woman and child a chance not only to live their lives, but to thrive.

MAZON’s Fifth Question

LEADER: Each year at the Seder, we ask the traditional Four Questions. And each year, MAZON asks a Fifth Question to raise awareness about hunger and spark important conversations around the seder table.

ALL: How will we retell this story? 

How will we retell the story of this past year, and all it has wrought? Though we are still in the throes of the pandemic, we know this will be a defining moment, just as is the story of Passover. The pandemic revealed and exacerbated structural inequities and the breadth of simple human need. In the plainest terms, hunger has doubled in this country due to the economic impacts of the pandemic; for households with children, tripled. 

How will we retell the story of this past year, and all we have learned? It is our responsibility to channel the stark clarity that has been so catastrophically thrust upon us into a demonstration of our values. We will fight against the barriers faced by millions to accessing food and other necessities. We will fight the stigma that discourages people from getting the help they need. We will fight any policy, school of thought, or kernel of doubt that challenges the notion that people deserve to feed themselves with dignity, no matter their circumstances. 

MAZON’s Fifth Question: Why on this night are millions of people going hungry? The answer is a stark and upsetting truth: Because on this night, like every other night, millions of people living in poverty have no other choice.

Passover is a magical time when we gather with family and friends to retell the story of our people’s freedom from bondage. We read from a prayer book, perform rituals that are thousands of years old, and eat. We eat A LOT. Many of us eat far more than we should, but the food is so delicious, it’s nearly impossible to resist. Unfortunately, not everyone is lucky enough to have that luxury.

Hunger in America is at an epidemic level, despite how it might seem at first glance. 50 million Americans – including 17 million children – struggle with hunger every day. One out of every six people in this country can’t be sure when or if they’ll have their next meal. Hungry people live in every community in the country and come in all colors, shapes and sizes. They wrestle with impossible choices no one should have to make: buy my daughter’s asthma medication or feed my family? Whose turn is it to eat: the children or the adults? It breaks our hearts – it should break yours.

America is a nation of abundance and wealth, and Jews are a people dedicated to fighting on behalf of the vulnerable. How could this injustice possibly happen here?

There is another way – an end to hunger is within our reach. Early in the seder we say, “All who are hungry, let them enter and eat.” More than an invitation to join us at the dinner table, we at MAZON see these words as a rallying cry – a call to do more to help those who so desperately need it; to fight for responsible government policies that promote the health and security of everyone in our nation; to provide access to resources that allow people to pick themselves up and build (or rebuild) their lives; to give every man, woman and child a chance not only to live their lives, but to thrive.

MAZON’s Fifth Question: Why on this night are millions of people going hungry? The answer is a stark and upsetting truth: Because on this night, like every other night, millions of people living in poverty have no other choice.

Passover is a magical time when we gather with family and friends to retell the story of our people’s freedom from bondage. We read from a prayer book, perform rituals that are thousands of years old, and eat. We eat A LOT. Many of us eat far more than we should, but the food is so delicious, it’s nearly impossible to resist. Unfortunately, not everyone is lucky enough to have that luxury.

Hunger in America is at an epidemic level, despite how it might seem at first glance. 50 million Americans – including 17 million children – struggle with hunger every day. One out of every six people in this country can’t be sure when or if they’ll have their next meal. Hungry people live in every community in the country and come in all colors, shapes and sizes. They wrestle with impossible choices no one should have to make: buy my daughter’s asthma medication or feed my family? Whose turn is it to eat: the children or the adults? It breaks our hearts – it should break yours.

America is a nation of abundance and wealth, and Jews are a people dedicated to fighting on behalf of the vulnerable. How could this injustice possibly happen here?

There is another way – an end to hunger is within our reach. Early in the seder we say, “All who are hungry, let them enter and eat.” More than an invitation to join us at the dinner table, we at MAZON see these words as a rallying cry – a call to do more to help those who so desperately need it; to fight for responsible government policies that promote the health and security of everyone in our nation; to provide access to resources that allow people to pick themselves up and build (or rebuild) their lives; to give every man, woman and child a chance not only to live their lives, but to thrive.