Introduction to the First Adoption Seder (Revised)
 ....I have retold the story of Moses in the literary form of the haggadah. A haggadah is the traditional booklet for the celebration of Passover that recounts Moses' leading the Exodus out of Egypt. Also contained in a haggadah are psalms, prayers, songs and rituals. They all act like synapses that make the main story that much more deeply felt....
Glossary and Objects
Hadlakat ha-Nerot/Lighting the festival candles
Kos Kiddush/First cup of wine
Kiddush/Sanctification
Shehecheyanu/Blessing for something done a first time
Urchatz/Ritual washing of hands
Karpas/Spring Greens
Yachatz/Sharing
The four questions ~ an adopted variation
The four kinds of children ~ an adopted variation
Maggid/The story of the Exodus from Egypt
The Ten Plagues
Dayenu (a song of gratitude)
Hallel/Psalms of praise
Kos G'ula/The second cup of wine
Shulchan orech/The shared supper
Rachatzah/Ritual washing of hands
Motzi Matzah/Breaking and blessing the matzah
Maror and Charoset/The bitter and the sweet
Koreich/A traditional dish
Rabbi Gamaliel's proclamation ~ and an adoptee's variation
Tsafun/Searching, finding, ransoming and sharing the afikomen
Bareich/Grace after meals
Kos B'racha/The third cup of wine
Kos Eliayahu/The cup of Elijah, and his story
Kos Hartsa-a/The fourth cup of wine
Nirtzah/Acceptance with silence/A pause for meditation
Eliayahu Hanavi/Elijah the Prophet (A song sung at farewells)
A different kind of hero on a different kind of quest To celebrate the process of Search and Reunion by an adult adoptee (or immigrant or convert or spiritual seeker), I blended the biblical story of Moses with commentaries on it from the Talmud and my own insights as an adoptee. At first recollection, the story of Moses may sound like an adoptive parent's worst nightmare, but....

The Story of Moses: An Adoption Haggadah
by Michele Kriegman, Copyright 1996

Hallel/Psalms of Praise

          (The complete Hallel consists of Psalms 113 and 114 read here and then Psalms 115-118 and Psalm 136 read later after filling the cup of Elijah. We will read Psalm 113 which is especially meaningful for an adoptive family.)

 
Psalm 113, A Psalm of Praise

Hallelujah!
Praise, O ye servants of the Eternal!
Praise ye the name of the Eternal!
Blessed be the name of the Eternal, from now and for always.
From the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof, praised be the name of the Eternal.
High above all nations is the Eternal, glory above the heavens.
Who is like unto the Eternal, our God who dwelleth on high?
Yet condescendeth to look down upone heaven and earth?

God raiseth the poor from the dust and lifteth the needy from the dunghill;
To assign him a seat amongst princes,
Even with the princes of his people.
God setteth up the barren woman to dwell in the house as a joyful mother of children; Hallelujah!

 

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