(written by Rabbi Jodie Gordon for the 2023 Hevreh Intergenerational Women's Seder)
Our Passover haggadah teaches that the four cups of wine correspond to the four stages of redemption: God’s promises to take us out, to save us, to redeem us, to make us a nation. We sing hallelujah for the divinely inspired and hardwon tickets to freedom
that have shaped our lives:
For baby shoes, skis, silver tap shoes, for high heels and boots that were made for walking, slippers and soccer cleats, for metrocards and bus passes and car keys: Thank You God for a way out. Hallelujah! For that job offer, that backpack, a plane ticket, a clean scan, for those divorce papers, for that medicine, for paying off the credit card, for that diploma, : Thank You God for saving us, and teaching us that we can save ourselves. Hallelujah! For strength, for fur babies and dissertation babies and cases won, for our children, our grandchildren, our lovers and soulmates, our soul-friends and our soul-sisters, for the rooms and 12 steps, for retirement, for therapists, for second chances and fresh starts: Thank You God for redeeming us. Hallelujah! For the circles of connection that bring us to sacred spaces at holy times like this: Thank You God for making us a nation, a kehillah kedosha, a community of holiness. Hallelujah!
At every age and at each stage, we gather around this table, grateful for the lessons of time.
We bless this fourth cup of wine in honor of each one of us gathered here.
Blessed are the girls, Who remind us how to play, who remind us what wonder feels like. Through the eyes of our daughters, nieces and granddaughters, we remember.
Blessed are the young women Who remind us of possibility, who remind us what adventure feels like. In your eyes, we see our own younger selves refracted: we remember what it felt like to dream of who we would yet become.
Blessed are the women Who have paved new pathways for us Who remind us that there are multiple corridors to lives of meaning We stand among the glass shards of ceilings that you broke and carry them as reminders.
Blessed are our elders, on whose shoulders we stand Who remind us that we are never too old to change -that it’s never too late to begin again. We honor and bless you, each one of you, grateful for the stories of your lives
that are still unfolding. L'chaim! to life.