Two Cups of Kiddush - Freedom and Compaasion - Passover

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For generations and generations, our ancestors have gathered to recite this sage. Over time, what began probably as just a liturgical recitation developed into an elaborate banquet, styled on a Roman symposium, with a prescribed order – in Hebrew, seder – of rituals and readings. As this event became more elaborate, a special guidebook – known as the haggadah, or “retelling” – was developed to lead people through the re-enactment of this saga. 

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Kiddush – The First Cup of Wine 
The Cup of Freedom 

Thousands of years ago, according to the legend of our people, our ancestors were slaves in the land of Egypt. In bitterness and in hardship they struggled to please their masters and win the precious opportunity of mere survival. Many died from the heat of work; others perished from the cold of despair. 

The wine of Passover is the wine of joy, the wine of love, the wine of celebration, the wine of freedom: 

Freedom from bondage and freedom from oppression 
Freedom from hunger and freedom from want 
Freedom from hatred and freedom from fear 
Freedom to think and freedom to speak 
Freedom to teach and freedom to learn 
Freedom to love and freedom to share 
Freedom to hope and freedom to rejoice 
Soon, now, in our days, and forever. 

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Kiddush – The Second Cup of Wine 
The Cup of Compassion 

No one of us can survive alone. We must all learn to live together. Humanity is born of shared need and shared danger. 

Passover celebrates freedom, the will to live, and the solidarity and strength of community. 

(Drink the second cup of wine.)