EARTH & JUSTICEFREEDOM-SEDER

MULTIFAITH PASSOVER FREEDOM SEDERFOR STREET AND TABLE,
CHALLENGING THE CARBON PHARAOHS
TO END CLIMATE PLAGUES ANDGROW ECO/SOCIAL JUSTICETHE SHALOM CENTER
2022 | 5782

INTRODUCTIONHISTORICAL CONTEXT
53 years ago this Passover, the first
Freedom Seder was written by Rabbi Arthur
Waskow, organized by Jews for Urban
Justice, and led by Rev. Channing Phillips
and Rabbi Balfour Brickner. One year after
the murder of Dr. King, there was no way
to honor Passover other than through acontemporary liberation seder in the mindof Rabbi Waskow. The 1969 Freedom Seder
Haggadah was the first time that a
Passover seder was adapted to speak oncontemporary liberation movements. Since
then, Freedom Seders have happened all
across the country and world, inspired bythat first one. This haggadah is in that
legacy, the grandchild of that first
Freedom Seder, now oriented towards a new,
but connected, liberation movement. Thatof people and planet.

HOW TO USE THIS GUIDEThis haggadah is meant first of all for use inpublic, nonviolent demonstrations, demandingthat the Carbon Pharaohs stop lending money to
any aspect of the Fossil Fuel industry. Somegroups might gather outside a bank; others
might enter the bank briefly to leave a sheetof matzah and a letter with bank tellers; stillothers might create a clear and committed
nonviolent presence inside the bank. You will
make your own decisions on street use.
Secondarily, this haggadah can be used in ahome or community Seder during Pesach.
Local communities are invited to modify thisguide in accord with local conditions. Include
one of the rituals or songs in yourdemonstration, or around your table, or choose
them all. This is a resource for you.
Some of the items you may need to gather forthis re-enacting of the Passover story might
include: bull horns or other public-address
system; water bottles; song sheets; copies ofthis guide; spring greens: palm branches,parsley, or - especially - green branches ofplants native to their region, harvested withcare; “bitter herbs” – especially horseradish;sheets of matzah, unleavened bread; charoset;
reusable dishes and utensils; grape juice; anda globe or a picture or flag of Earth shown
from Space. Be creative, bold, and rooted inlove for earth and justice!

[1]

CURRENT CONTEXT
Every year, the top US banks and money
managers lend hundreds of billions ofdollars to the fossil fuel industry tohelp finance projects like fracking,oil drilling, and pipeline laying.
These endeavors are so costly that thefossil fuel companies could notcontinue with business as usual if thefinancial institutions that fund themwithdrew their support. In essence,these institutions are funding theproliferation of life-killing energies.
In this haggadah and on the streets,
we're demanding that they fundrenewable, life-giving energies
instead. This Passover, we’re asking
these “Corporate Carbon Pharaohs” tolet all people and our planet go free.
As reaffirmed by all of the latest
science, climate is the most pressing
issue of our time. And its root cause a hardened heart and desire for power is at the core of so much tragedy inthe world today. This haggadah is one
offering meant to help heal ourdivisions and inspire greater action as
we travel together towards the Promised
Land.

OLD VISION &NEW PURPOSE
We begin the Seder with one of the great liberation songs connected with theancient story of the liberation of ancient Israelites enslaved by an ancient
Pharaoh. The song was variously known as “When Israel was in Egypt’s land/
Let My People Go!” and “Go Down Moses.” “Go Down Moses” itself drew on an old
story for new closely related purposes. We are doing that again, and thatitself is a crystal of what we do with this whole Earth and Justice FreedomSeder.
The story itself was repurposed in the song when it emerged from an enslavedBlack community in the 1850s in what had become the United States. It told
the ancient story with a new intention: to challenge embedded racist
oppression by a modern country with not only enslavement but a broader racism
in its practice and its Constitution.
Yet that nation prided itself on a religious story that spoke against
oppression. Indeed, the earliest printed version of the song contained one
verse that explicitly spoke beyond the story it celebrated: ”Let us all frombondage flee/ Let my people go;/ And let us all in Christ be free,/ Let mypeople go.” In the original story, of course, Christianity did not yet exist;
yet most of the Black community had learned the story from Christian sources,and both inwardly and outwardly, felt it important to honor that context.
Today we honor - indeed, celebrate! – the song precisely because it turns an
old vision of liberation to new purposes of liberation. And that is what weseek to do with the song today.
To honor the Black struggle, we begin with a few verses of the original
version of the song. Then we turn to its uses of “Egypt” and “Israel” – two
named communities that exist today with those same names but very different
identities. We do not wish “Egypt” to be understood in our lives as theenemy, nor “Israel” as today a band of resistant and runaway slaves. And we
do wish the physical realities to encompass other versions of oppression –militarism, racism, sexism, religious bigotry, and materialism - including
its most destructive version, greed so intense that it seeks to burn up all
Earth to increase its own Hyper-Wealth. So we have used English translationsof the ancient Hebrew words for “Egypt” - Mitzrayyim, Narrow Land-- and for“Israel,” Yisrael, Godwrestlers, to mean their spiritual realities.
And then we bring new verses to be sung to the same melody, again bringing
new meaning to the richness of the old outcry. What was a profound outcry
against racism we affirm and add a profound outcry against ecocide – thekilling of our planet. We are especially moved to absorb in the new verses
the meaning as well as the melody of the old. For in our generation,
tormenting Earth and forcing it/ her/ them to erupt into new plagues iswrapped into oppressive racism on a global scale.
All these oppressions spring from the same poison-root. They have become more
intense, more nasty, because they are being challenged by a new wave of
democracy and ecology — every community, every species, counts. This Seder ispart of that wave.

[2]

LET MY PEOPLEGO!
WHEN ISRAEL WAS IN EGYPT’S LAND
When Israel was in
Egypt's land,
Let My people go;
Oppressed so hard they
could not stand,
Let My people go.
Go down, Moses, way
down in Egypt's land;
Tell old Pharaoh, tolet My people go!
No more shall they inbondage toil,
Let My people go;
Let them come out of
Egypt's spoil,
Let My people go.
Go down, Moses, way
down in Egypt's land;
Tell old Pharaoh, tolet My people go.

As the Godwrestlers
stood by the waterside,
Let My people go;
At God’s command it
did divide, Let My
people go.
Go down, Moses, way
down in the Narrow
Land,
Tell old Pharaoh: LetMy people go!
When they had reached
the other shore, LetMy people go;
They sang the song of
freedom o’er, Let My
people go.
Go down, Moses, way
down in the Narrow
Land,
Tell old Pharaoh: LetMy people go!

[3]

New Pharaohs rise toscorch the Earth,
Let all My peoples go;
Big Coal and Oil parch
new birth,
Let all My peoples go;
Rise up, Peoples, Rise
up in every land,
Tell ALL Pharaohs: Let
My creation grow!
For the Breath of Life
still offers hope,
Let all My peoples go;
With sun and wind they
well can cope –Let all My peoples go;
Rise up, People, Rise
up in every land,
Tell ALL Pharaohs: Let
My creation grow!
Oh, set all Earth frombondage free,
Let all My peoples go;
Let our Making pause
to Be,
Let air and waterflow.
Rise Up, Peoples, rise
UP in every land,
Tell ALL Pharaohs: Let
My creation grow!

THE HEARTS OF
ELDERS & YOUTH
A group of youth and a group of elders come forward and face eachother in an act of solidarity and unity. Connecting with one anotherfrom generation to generation, l'dor va'dor, they recite in choruses,
as shown here, a passage from the Prophet Malachi. The last of theancient Hebrew Prophets, speaking 2500 years ago, Malachi's message
has been remembered through the millennia and seems especiallyrelevant in our own generation. This passage is traditionally chanted
as the haftarah on the Shabbat just before the beginning of Pesach,known as Shabbat haGadol, the Great Shabbat.

MALACHI 3:19-24[ALL TOGETHER][ELDERS RECITE OR CHANT][ALL CHANT TOGETHER]“Here! The day is coming
That will flame like afurnace, “Says the Infinite YHWH /Yahhhh,The Interbreath of Life —when all the arrogant, allevil-doers,
root and branch,will like straw be burnt toashes.
Yet for those of you whorevere My Name,
Yes! My Name, Yahhhh, theInterbreath of Life!
a solar sun of justice willarisewith healing in its wings,
its winds, its rays. . . .”“Here! Before the comingof the great and awesome dayof YHWH/ the Breath of Life,I will send you the Prophet
Elijahto turn the hearts of elders to
the youth[Elders pause and youth pickup:]
and the hearts of youth to theelders,lest I come and smite the earth
with utter destruction.”

For we ourselves shall turnthe hearts
Of elders and youth to eachother
So that this day of smiting
Does not fall upon us.”
[YOUTH CONTINUE]“Here! We ourselves are coming
Before the terrible dayof smiting Earth —[ALL CHANT TOGETHER][YOUTH CONTINUE]“Here! We ourselves are coming
Before the terrible dayof smiting Earth —All chant together:
No Earth, no Justice!
No Justice, no Earth!
[Repeat][4]

For we ourselves shall turnthe hearts
Of elders and youth to eachother
So that this day of smiting
Does not fall upon us.”

SPEAKING TRUTH
TO POWER
We draw here on a memory that has been preserved by Christian tradition, of anancient religio-political demonstration by a number of Jews led by Rabbi Jesus on
the Sunday before Passover. It has become encoded in Christian practice as Palm
Sunday, the beginning of a week of spiritual turmoil in Jerusalem that includes
the Pesach Seder known among Christians as the Last Supper. We see the waving ofPalm Branches as connected both with the Spring aspect of Passover, embodied ineating greens at the Seder, and with the often-renewed tradition of Passover as atime for challenging oppressive Empires - Rome, in this case.

[LIFT UP PALM BRANCHES AND OTHER GREENS]“On the Sunday just before Passover, the people gathered at the Mount of Olives tofollow Rabbi Jesus into the Holy City. They waved the green palm branches of new life
sprouting in the spring. They chanted a Psalm:“Hodu Yah ki tov, ki l’olam chasdo. All thanks be to the Breath of Life, for It gives
Long-Lasting Love.’ Jesus wept as he looked into the city, saying, ‘If only you had
known, on this great day, the path that leads to justice, life, and peace. But no, it
was hidden from your sight.’ They paused at the Holy Temple, where many of our people
sent our money as an offering from afar.
Today we add our own lament: “The money we sent as sacred offering to make possible
homes for the poor, food for the hungry, health for the sick, you turned to scorching
Earth, to making plagues of fire, flood, and famine. Torah says, ‘My House shall be aplace of prayer for all peoples,’ but you have made it a den of thievery and arson!!”[CHANT]“Move Our Money, Prosper Our People, Protect Our Planet!”
The officials were distressed by the ancient chant of psalms: “Rabbi,” they said,“Hush your followers!” But Jesus said, “If our community were silent, the very stones
would speak!”[Luke 19:37-46]
Today, the very stones are speaking: The glaciers are weeping as they melt. The coral
reefs are groaning as they die. The West Virginia mountains are shrieking as their
tops are chopped to pieces for the sale of cheaper coal. When the stones speak inagony, we must speak in vigor, in determination, in resistance.
[Midrash by Rabbi Arthur Waskow][CHANT]“Move Our Money, Prosper Our People, Protect Our Planet!”[ONE RECITES, OR SEVERAL SHARE]
It is time for us to share Earth’s pain. Earth lives through the Great Interbreathing
as we and other animals breathe in the oxygen that the plants breathe out, and theplants breathe in the CO2 that the animals breathe out. But the Carbon Pharaohs
produce more CO2 than all the plants of Earth can transmute into Oxygen. The CO2
builds up, it heats all Earth, it turns our oceans into acid. The Breath of Life ischoking.

[5]

THE LESSONS OF
BITTERNESSWHO CAN'T BREATHE?
I Can’t Breathe
Again and again,
With gun or choke-hold.
Some police have stolen the breath
Of some Black Americans.
The police are not merely police
For they hold a national authority
To use violence on behalf of the nation:
To serve us all, protect us all.
When some of them subjugate Black people
They implicate us all,
They make us all Subjugators
And they subjugate us all.
But their misdeeds have stirred
A great Uprising against racism.
We will let no ruler pretend
The protest is the danger.

Earth Can’t Breathe
All life on Earth depends onInterbreathing.
We breathe in what the trees breathe out;
The trees breathe in what we breathe out.
Our Interbreathing is the Breath thatkeeps all Earth alive.
Our Interbreathing is the very Name wecall You,For YyyyHhhhWwwwHhhh
Is the still small voice of simply
breathing.
But the Flood of CO2
That the Pharaohs drench upon us
That we call the “climate crisis”
Chokes our breathing.
Chokes Your Breathing,
All Earth is scorched by burning fossil
fuels
And Carbon Pharaohs burn their way tofaster wealth.
Earth can’t breathe and Your Name rattles
in our throats.

We Can’t Breathe
All humanity is choking
From a virus that invades our lungs
We have left no space for other species
And the virus leaps into our lives.
If our rulers minimize the danger
It becomes still worse
Choking our societies,
our jobs, our businesses,
Our democracy. Our lives.

-Rabbi Arthur Waskow[ALL SAY TOGETHER]
Blessed is the Breath of Life that grows the root of bitterness and teaches us
when we need to be conscious of the bitterness that takes our breath away.
[PEOPLE EAT A CHUNK OF THE BITTER HERB]

THE 10 PLAGUES[ALL CHANT THE PLAGUES IN A SING-SONG VOICE, DRIPPING GRAPEJUICE ON THE GROUND OR FLOOR OR PAVEMENT WITH EACH PLAGUE]
1.
Wildfires
2. Heat Strokes
3. Melted Arctic and Antarctic Ice
4. Disappearing beaches, disappearing waterfronts
5. Flooded subways, flooded cities
6. Acidic Oceans
7. Asthma and cancer epidemics in targeted neighborhoods
8. Darkness so deep and thick that no one could see or touch her neighbor
9. Mass Extinctions of plants and animals
10. Death of humans
These plagues cannot be blamed on Earth and Ocean. As the Prophet Muhammad,
peace be upon him, heard and taught [Quran 30:41] "Corruption has appeared on
the land and in the sea because of what humans have wrought. This is in orderthat we have given them a taste of the consequences of their misdeeds thatperhaps they will turn to the path of right guidance.

[6]

FREEDOM
TOGETHER
BREATH RENEWED:PRAYER & RESPONSE
You Who are the Breath of Life,At Sinai You taught us,
You shall not take My Name with an empty heart.
You shall not breathe My Name with empty Spirit.
Every breath we takeis Itself Your Name,
Part of that great Breath that is the Holy One.
You Who are the Breath of Life,
Heal us to breathe.
I Speak
I Who free you from choking
In the Tight and Narrow Place:
I Who send you Broad Spaces
Where My breath,
My wind, blows free:
No one shall rob you of My Name,My Breath, My Holy Spirit.
Embody Me!

MATZAH[ALL RECITE]”Now they baked the dough which they had brought out of Narrowland into matzah cakes,
for it had not fermented, for they had been driven out of Narrowland, and were notable to linger.” [Exodus 12:30]"When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more
important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism areincapable of being conquered. We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We areconfronted with the fierce urgency of now. There is such a thing as being too late. This is
no time for apathy or complacency.” Martin Luther King, April 4, 1967, exactly one year
before the Prophet Martin of nonviolence was murdered.
We pause in silence to remember those whose voices were silenced by violence because theyspoke out for justice, for peace, for love, for Earth.
[BREAK THE SHEET OF MATZAH AND ALL SAY]
If we eat the matzah alone, it remains the bread of affliction. If we break the matzah andshare it, it becomes the bread of freedom. Blessed is the Breath of Life that grows matzah
from Earth and teaches us to share it.
[OFFER PART OF THE MATZAH TO SOMEONE ELSE TO EAT. EAT THE MATZAH.][7]

SING!
DAYENUNatan lanu et-HaTorah, natan lanu et ha-Torah, Dayenu!
Daay daay dayenu, daay daay dayenu, daay daay dayenu,
dayenu dayenu!
Enough for us would be the Torah, Yes! Enough would be
the Torah, Dayenu! Daay daay dayenu, daay daay dayenu,
daay daay dayenu, dayenu dayenu!
Natan lanu et-HaShabbat, natan lanu et ha-Shabbat,
Dayenu! Daay daay dayenu, daay daay dayenu, daay daay
dayenu, dayenu dayenu!
Enough for us would be the Shabbos, Yes! Enough would be
the Shabbos, Dayenu! Daay daay dayenu, daay daay dayenu,
daay daay dayenu, dayenu dayenu!
Natan lanu et ha-Shmitah, Natan lanu et ha-Shmitah,
Dayenu! Daay daay dayenu, daay daay dayenu, daay daay
dayenu, dayenu!
Enough for us is Rest with Earth, To rest for a Year with
Mother Earth, Dayenu! Daay daay dayenu, daay daay dayenu,
daay daay dayenu, dayenu dayenu

WE HAVE THE WHOLE WORLD IN OUR HANDS[WE LIFT UP AN INFLATABLE GLOBE OR A PHOTO OF EARTH FROMSPACE. SHARE IT FROM HAND TO HAND, AND SING]
We
We have
We haveWe

have the whole world in our hands,
the frogs and the forests in our hands,
the deer and the dogwoods in our hands,
have the whole world in our hands.

We have the whole world in our hands,
We have whales and weevils in our hands,
We have our children and their children in our hands,
We have the whole word in our hands.
[IF THE CROWD WISHES, ADD VERSES AD LIB]

[8]

THE BLESSINGS OF
REDEMPTION
There are many “recipes” for charoset, all found in the Song of Songs - which
mentions raisins and quinces, nuts and wine, a profusion of spices. We are taught
to chant this Song Beyond All Songs during the week of Pesach, for the Songbeckons us to the vision of an achievable future for which Passover is one working
model. A future not absolutely perfect but one in which the ethic of love andequal dignity for all human beings with each other and between Earth and humanearthlings has become written in almost every heart. The Garden of Eden for aloving, grown-up human race in a loving, peaceful Earth. With holy charoest in ourbowls and sacred grape juice in our cups, we turn toward the Blessings that we
intend to create in the world.

CHAROSET[ALL RECITE ALOUD]
Blessed be the Breath of Life whose Charoset embodies theSong, and whose Song embodies Pesach.

10 BLESSINGS[ALL RECITE TOGETHER. AFTER EACH BLESSING, DRINK A SIP
OF GRAPE JUICE AND EAT A SPOONFUL OF CHAROSET]
1. Many solar co-ops in every neighborhood
2. Universal access to pure drinking water
3. Interurban light rail networks
4. Reforestation everywhere
5. Restorative agriculture and urban farms
6. Energy-conserving retrofits for homes and businesses
7. Restoration for all endangered species
8. Pollinator meadows
9. Free, quality health care for all
10. Ecological worldview everywhere

SONG OF SONGS & ISAIAH[RECITE ALOUD]
There are moments when our traditions look beyond the world as we have known it, and imagine
transformation - hard to achieve, but possible. We cannot end without reawakening ourselves tothose glimmers of deep change. We begin with fragments of holy word and melody.
[SING CHANTS AND RECITE POEMS ALOUD]
Kamti ani liftoach l’dodi (x3)
I will open to you, my beloved;Will you open, open to me?
[Song of Songs 5:5, Chant andtranslation by Rabbi Shefa Gold]
Vayasem midbara k’Eyden (x3)
Va’adbara k’gan Yah
You turn the wilderness to Eden (x3)
And wasteland becomes a Tree of
Life.
[Isaiah 51:3, chant by Rabbi Shefa
Gold, chantable translation by Rabbi
Arthur Waskow]

In sandy earth or deepIn valley soil
I grow, a wildflower thriving
On your love.
Narcissus in the brambles,
Brightest flower,
I choose you from all others
For my love
Sweet fruit tree growing wild
Within the thickets –I blossom in your shade
And taste your love.
[Song of Songs 2:1-3, translationby Marcia Falk][9]

An enclosed garden is my sister, mybride,
a hidden well, a sealed spring.
Your branches are an orchardof pomegranate trees heavy withfruit.
flowering henna and spikenard,
spikenard and saffron, cane andcinnamon,with every tree of frankincense,
myrrh and aloes,
all the rare spices.
You are a fountain in the garden.
a well of living waters,that stream from Lebanon.
[Song of Songs 4:12-15, translation
by Ariel Bloch and Chana Bloch]

THE ULTIMATEPOSSIBILITY
We learn from the Quran perhaps the ultimate possibility, the hardest to make real:that even the worst of sinners can repent, even at the last moment, and be received
into a companionship of love and justice. For the Quran hears and teaches that the
oppressive Pharaoh, as the Sea of Reeds is about to close above his head, calls
out, “I believe there is no God but the One in Whom the Godwrestling folk believe,and I am of those who submit to God.” And the Holy One responds: “Before you wereamong the evil-doers. But now! We will save you in your body, so that you may be asign for those who come after you.”[Quran 10:91-92]
The notion that repentance for terrible sins might happen only at the point ofdeath and still be acceptable is indeed so troubling for many Muslim scholars thatthey interpret the text in other ways. But some [e.g. Dr. Ayse Kadayifci-Orellanaof American University in Freedom Journeys, pp. 210-216] believe the passage
prophetically looks to a world in which repentance is utterly transformational.
In our present planetary crisis, this assertion of hope says to us all: If the
Carbon Pharaohs make a true repentance, truly transform their lives and businesses,
pharaohs will they be no longer – and all of us, all life-forms, can share in
Earth’s abundance.

NEXT YEAR[POUR GRAPE JUICE FROM CUP TO CUP SO EVERYONE HAS A
CUP MADE UP OF JUICE FROM MANY CUPS. RECITE TOGETHER]
Next year amongst Earth and human earthlings united by love and justice.

I'LL SING PRAISES[SING]Of Love and Justice I will sing: To you, Breath of Life, I’ll sing praises. (x2)
[Psalm 101, translation and music by Rabbi David Shneyer]

LET CREATION GROW!
New Pharaohs rise to scorch the Earth,
Let all peoples go;
Big Coal and Oil parch new birth,
Let all peoples go;
Rise up, Peoples, Rise up in every land,
Tell ALL Pharaohs: Let My creation go!
For the Breath of Life still offers hope,
Let all My peoples go;
With sun and wind they well can cope –Let all My peoples go;
Rise up, People, Rise up in every land,
Tell ALL Pharaohs: Let My creation go!
Oh, set all Earth from bondage free,
Let all peoples go;
Let our Making pause to Be,
Let air and water flow.
Rise Up, Peoples, rise UP in every land,
Tell ALL Pharaohs: Let creation go!

[10]Earth & Justice Freedom-Seder*Copyright (c) 2022 by The Shalom Center,
except where specific authors are credited.
We encourage you to share this Haggadah - this Telling - forthe sake of Earth and Humankind. To help us improve theeffectiveness of this healing work, we invite you to write
Office@theshalomcenter.org with a very brief description of how
you will use it. If you feel moved to help this work continue,
please feel free to click on the Contribute banner attheshalomcenter.org.

·Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director of The Shalom Center and authorof the original Freedom Seder, wove together voices from varied
times and traditions for this Seder.
Among contributing commentators were Rabbi Nate DeGroot,
National Organizer for The Shalom Center; members of The Shalom
Center Board, especially Rabbi Ellen Bernstein and Rabbi
Mordechai Liebling, and Senior Fellow Robert J. Brand; Adam
Berman, Chief Strategy Advisor for Hazon; Rev. Ched Myers ofBartimaeus Cooperative Ministry; Sahar Alsahlani of the
Parliament of the World's Religions; Jacqueline Patterson,
Founder and Executive Director of the Chisholm Legacy Project
and former Senior Director of the NAACP Environmental andClimate Justice Program; and Imam Saffet Catovic of the IslamicSociety of North America.
Please share comments and suggestions with
AWaskow@theshalomcenter.org