24 PASSOVER SEDER PART 2

In this teaching we continue the reading of the seder. For the first part of this passover ceremony, go to Chapter twenty-three, “Passover Seder Part 1” 

Leader:  Rabbi Gamaliel said that in order to tell the Passover story properly, we must mention three important things. Pesach, matzah and maror—the Passover Lamb, the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs.

Reader 2: The Passover Lamb was God's provision for our people in ancient Egypt. John called Y’shua the Lamb of God who take away the sins of the world. Our ancestors applied the blood of the Passover lamb to the doorposts of their homes, sparing the firstborn sons from death. Y’shua was God’s perfect lamb sacrificed for us. Today we apply the blood of Y’shua, God’s lamb, to the door posts of our hearts through faith. When we do this, we are forgiven of our sin and are set free to serve the living God.

Reader 1: We eat the matzah, the unleavened bread, as our ancestors did when God took them out of Egypt in haste as there was no time to wait for their bread to rise. The matzah, which was without leaven, is like our Messiah Y’shua, who is without sin. The piercing and stripes on the matzah bring to mind the words of the prophet Isaiah who said of Y’shua: “But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness as they left Egypt for the Promised Land. We are offered the bread of life, Y;shua, to satisfy us forever.

Reader 2: This bitter herb or maror, reminds us of the embittered life that our people endued as slaves in Egypt. The bitter root, chazeret, reminds us that bitterness goes down to the root of our very being and we cannot merely chop off the top of it. We are all slaves to sin and bitterness and we will never know the sweetness of freedom until we let the Messiah Y’shua uproot the sin from deep in our lives and set us free.

Leader: In every generation, we are to see ourselves as though we personally came out of slavery in Egypt. For God not only redeemed our ancestors, He redeemed us too, and for this reason we praise Him.

The second cup, the cup of plagues, is raised together and we say.

All: We praise You, O Lord, for bringing us from bondage to freedom, from despair to hope, from sorrow to joy, from darkness to your great light. We bless you O Lord, our king and our Redeemer. We praise you, O Lord, for not only redeeming our ancestors from the slavery of Egypt but for sending the ultimate Deliverer, Y’shua, who frees us from sin and death. For it is written, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16:).

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe who creates the fruit of the vine. 

We drink the second cup

PREPARING FOR THE MEAL    We bring out pitchers and towels

RACHTIZAH      WASHING THE HANDS.

Leader:  In preparation for eating the Passover meal, we wash our hands by passing a basin, pitcher and towel to the person seated next to us. We help one another in the process. However, Y’shua took this tradition a step further: “. . . so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him (John 13:4, 5). The Lord set the example for us to serve one another at Passover when He said: “. . . the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like like the one who serves” (Luke 22:26). Let us wash one another’s hands.

MOTZI MATZAH     BLESSING OVER THE MATZAH

The top piece of matzah in the matzah tash is distributed to all present along with the remaining portion of the center piece, which still remains since this part of it was not hidden earlier.

Leader: The top and bottom pieces of matzah symbolize our physical need for bread to sustain us. The center piece is symbolic of the living bread, Y’shua, who spiritually makes us whole. 

A piece of the top and center piece of matzah should be passed around to everyone at the table. And this blessing is chanted and the meal is eaten. 

Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.

MAROR     BITTER HERBS

Leader: We will now eat of the maror. Its bitter taste reminds us of the bitterness of slavery. Our rabbis say that we need to eat at least a tablespoon to truly feel the bitterness, to produce some tears, but we’ll leave the amount up to you, as long as you take enough to get a good taste!

We dip matzah in the bitter herbs and say: Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has commanded us to eat maror, the bitter herbs.

CHAROSET    SWEET FRUIT MIXTURE 

Leader: We dip the matzah into the charoset. The charoset is a sweet mixture, yet it symbolizes the mortar that went into building the storage cities for Pharaoh. The reason it is so sweet is that God wanted us to remember that even the bitterest of our labors can be sweet, when we know His redemption is near.  Let us eat.

BEITZAH      ROASTED EGG

Leader: (Holds up the egg) This beitzah is roasted to remind us of the chagigah, the festival sacrifice made at the Temple in Jerusalem. It is now a symbol of sadness and grief to our people because the Temple no longer stands and there is no physical place to sacrifice and make atonement for our sins. The prophet Daniel predicted Messiah would first have to die as our sacrifice and shortly after that the Temple would be destroyed. Y’shua died for us about A.D. 32 and in A.D. 70 the Temple was destroyed. But we rejoice because Messiah came as the final chagigah for sin and He is the Living Temple. Hallelujah! Since there’s no longer reason for us to shed tears of despair today, let us dip the egg in salt water to symbolize our tears of joy at Y’shua’s provision.

Eat the egg dipped in salt water.

SHULCHAN ORECH    THE SEDER MEAL

After the meal, all the children search for the hidden afikoman. When the afikoman is recovered, the leader gives an appropriate reward to the child who discovered its hiding place.

AFIKOMAN    THAT WHICH COMES AFTER

Leader: Afikoman usually means “that which comes after,” or “that which makes things complete.” According to some of us, it means “the coming one” and refers to the coming Messiah. We can’t complete our seder without it. The afikoman was the bread that Y’shua gave His disciples after their Passover meal. He told them to take and eat it for it represented His body that would be broken for us. This bread is our Messiah’s gift to us. He promised that whoever comes to Him will never go hungry and whoever believes in Him will never be thirsty (John 6:35). Y’shua also said, “I am the living bread which came down from Heaven” (John 6:51).

All: Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from heaven.

Leader: Let us eat the afikoman together. (Nothing further is eaten at the traditional seder after this.)

KOS G’ULAH     THE CUP OF REDEMPTION

Leader: In the same way, as Y’shua had passed out pieces of bread He next took the cup of redemption. He said the blessing over it and passed it among the disciples. He said that this cup was the new covenant, or agreement, between God and our people, sealed in His blood. He said that as often as we would do this, we would be remembering what He did for us when he shed His blood for our sins. Let us chant the blessing together and then take the third cup.

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

Together we drink the third cup of wine.

BARECH    GRACE AFTER THE MEAL

All: We thank you, O Lord, for providing this food we have eaten that nourishes our bodies. We thank you, O Lord, as well for providing the afikoman and the cup of Redemption, which nourishes our souls.

Leader: Blessed are You, O Lord our God, who provides for the whole world in Your goodness. It is You who provides for the whole world in Your goodness. It is You who provides for all, sustains all and is all-sufficient for the needs of Your creation.

All: We thank You for Your lovingkindness, grace and mercy which you bestow on us continually, every day, and at every season and in every moment of each hour.

Leader: Blessed be our God whose gifts we have enjoyed and by whose goodness we live.

All: O taste and see that the Lord is good.

Leader: How blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him!

All: O fear the Lord, you His saints.

Leader:  Those who fear Him lack no good thing.

All: The young lions do lack and suffer hunger

Leader: But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing (Psalm 34:8-10)

THE FOURTH CUP   THE CUP OF ELIJAH

We fill the fourth cup.

Leader: In Jewish tradition, Elijah the prophet is expected to come at Passover and to herald the Messiah’s coming. We know from the words of the prophet Malachi, that Elijah would usher in that great and terrible day of the Lord. And so we set out a place at the Passover table for him each year. and we open the door to our home, hoping that Elijah will be there so we can invite him in.  

A child is sent to the front entrance of the home and opens the door.

Leader: For those of us who know Messiah, we know that one came 2,000 years ago in the power and spirit of Elijah to announce the coming of Messiah. John or Yochanon, known as the baptizer, heralded Y’shua with these words, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)! Even today, our Messiah Himself stands at the door of our hearts and says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). Y’shua invites us to come to Him and enjoy the peace that only His presence can bring to our hearts.

SONG: ELIYAHU HA-NAVI

The English translation of this song is: 

Elijah the Prophet, Elijah the Tishbite, Elijah, Elijah the Gileadite

Speedily and in our days, come to us, With the Messiah, son of David, With the Messiah, son of David.

A child then closes the door.

Leader: We continue in praise to our God by reciting the remainder of the Hallel Psalms. Yshua and His disciples might have been reciting them as well at this point in the seder.

PSALMS OF PRAISE 116-118

Leader  : I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.

All: Because he turned his ear to me. I will call on him as long as I live.

Leader: The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me; I was overcome by trouble and sorrow.

All: Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O LORD, save me!”

Leader  : The LORD is gracious and righteous: our God is full of compassion

All: The LORD protects the simple hearted; when I was in great need, he saved me.

Leader: Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.

All: For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, 

Leader: That I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

All: I believed; therefore I said, “I am greatly afflicted.”

Leader: And in my dismay I said, “All men are liars.”

All: How can I repay the LORD for all his goodness to me?

Leader: I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.

All: I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.

Leader: Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

All: O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant; you have freed me from my chains.

Leader: I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the LORD.

All: I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people in the courts of the house of the LORD—in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD.

Leader: Praise the LORD, all you nations: extol him, all you peoples.

All: For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD.

Leader: Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let Israel say: “His love endures forever.

All: Let the house of Aaron say: “His love endures forever.”

Leader: Let those who fear the LORD say: “His love endures forever.”

All: In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered me by setting me free.

Leader: The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

All: The LORD is with me; he is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.

Leader: It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.

All: All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.

Leader: They surrounded me on every side, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.

All: They swarmed around me like bees, but they died out as quickly as burning thorns; in the name of the LORD I cut them off.

Leader: I was pushed back and about to fall, but the LORD helped me.

All: The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.

Leader: Shouts of  joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: “The LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!

All: The LORD’s right hand is lifted high; the LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!”

Leader: I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done.

All: The LORD has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death.

Leader: Open for me the gates of  righteousness; I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.

All: This is the gate of the LORD through which the righteous may enter.

Leader: I will give you thanks for you answered me; you have become my salvation.

All: The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone;

Leader: The LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

All: This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it

Leader: O LORD, save us; O LORD, grant us success.

All: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you.

Leader: The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine upon us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar.

All: You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

HALLEL       CUP OF PRAISE

Leader:  The  fourth and final cup is the Hallel, or cup of praise. We praise God for His marvelous work of redeeming us out of slavery in Egypt, but even more, for freeing us from being slaves to sin through Y’shua’s death and resurrection. Lord, we will give praise to Your name forever. You are our king enthroned, high and exalted and we delight in speaking Your praise.

Leader: Let us chant the blessing over the wine. 

Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

We drink the fourth cup of wine

Leader: Let us continue in the singing of God’s praises, for it is our duty and joy to offer praise in psalm, hymn and song. The Hallel service is a time when we can offer abundant praise to our God for He is worthy of all praise, honor, glory and thanksgiving!