The Jewish holiday of Passover celebrates the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt. It is a holiday that both remembers the past and looks to the future. During a celebratory meal called a Seder, Jews retell the story of their enslavement and escape from Egypt. They eat symbolic foods such as matzah, the unleavened bread that the Hebrews ate as they wandered the desert; maror, or horseradish, which symbolizes the bitterness of enslavement; and greens dipped in salt water, to recall the tears shed during the years of slavery.
The Seder readings remind us to “remember the stranger, for we were strangers in the land of Egypt.” As the story is told, the participants are asked to remember the Exodus as if they personally had experienced it. The act of remembering and reliving the Exodus each year is also a call to action in our own time. Slavery still exists.
This website will help you learn more about modern slavery and the Jewish response—and to take action. You can access materials such as religious school lesson plans, youth group ideas, prayers and readings to add to your Seder, and even a rabbinic sermon.
- Passover Readings – Here you’ll find readings and prayers to add to your Seder, an article you could submit to your temple or synagogue’s bulletin.
- Lesson Plans
- Donate – Your contribution of $54 can provide the resources needed to free a slave in Sudan; an additional $36 will provide him or her with a “survivor kit” containing tools, food, blankets and shelter — all that is needed to begin a new life as free person.
- Credits