Dip sprigs of parsley in salt water and distribute them
to all present at the Seder table while reading the following paragraphs
and singing the following songs.Dip sprigs of parsley in salt water and distribute them
to all present at the Seder table while reading the following paragraphs
and singing the following songs.
As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. How fair is thy love, my sister my bride! How much better is thy love than wine! And the smell of thine ointments than all manner of spices!
I went down to the nut garden to look at the plants of the valley to see
if the flowers had budded whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
As an apple tree among the trees of wood, so is my beloved among the sons. Under its shadow I delighted to sit, and its fruit was sweet to my taste. He has brought me to the banqueting-house and his banner over me is love.
My beloved is mine and I am my beloved's, a shepherd in the wild roses.
Who is this, coming up from the wilderness, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense?
You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride... Awake, north wind, and
come, south wind...
Awake, o north-wind; and come, thou south; Blow upon our garden that
the spices thereof may flow out. May we enter our garden and eat of its
precious fruits.
Even before the Exodus from Egypt our ancestors probably celebrated the
mystery of life and the creation of the world each spring. Now again, we
remind ourselves of the greens of the earth and the salt of the sea from
which all life emerged, and on which all life depends.
But we do not simply celebrate spring's renewal nor love's warmth. Pesach celebrates our becoming free. Through the wondrous rebirth of life we can feel the precarious beginnings of the struggle for freedom. The sea's salt not only reminds us of life's start, but also of the brine of tears shed by our people and by all people striving to be free.
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