Fifteen Stages of the Pesach Seder
The Fifteen Stages That Form the Backbone of Our Pesach Ritual and trace the soul’s journey from conception, birth, childhood, maturity and, finally, enlightenment.
Symbolic Resonance Permeates the Seder
Pesach 5778 / 2018 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Kadesh. Urchatz We start the seder by pronouncing the fifteen steps that will comprise our evening’s ritual which (among other things) marks the [...]
Blessed Be the Makom…Blessed Be the Giver of Torah…
Pesach 5777 / 2017 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Blessed be the Makom (Place). Blessed be He. Blessed be the one who gave Torah to His people, Israel. Blessed be He. The Torah addresses four children. [...]
A (Short) Discourse on Freedom
Pesach 2016 /5776 Sarah Yehudit Schneider “The reward phase of history called the world-to-come is characterized by unfettered freedom. Liberty (דרור) is its hallmark. Freedom emanates [...]
Elijah the Peacemaker
Pesach 2015 / 5775 Based on R. Tsadok HaKohen, Tsidkat HaTsadik #218 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Between Barekh and Hallel (stage 13 and stage 14 of the seder)—between thanking HaShem for the meal [...]
Plagues by Land…Plagues by Sea
Pesach 2014 / 5774 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Rabbi Yosi the Gallilean said: The Egyptians were struck by ten plagues in Egypt, and fifty plagues at the sea… Rabbi Eliezer said: …In Egypt they [...]
Tsafun—Afikoman
Pesach 5773 / 2013 Sarah Yehudit Schneider The 12th step in our seder is called Tsafun—meaning hidden or secret. It follows the festive meal and marks the time for “dessert” which, at the seder, [...]
Lavan the Aramean
A Pesach Teaching Based on the Haggadot of Maharal[1] and Ari[2] Sarah Yehudit Schneider צא ולמד מה בקש לבן הארמי לעשות ליעקב אבינו, שפרעה לא גזר אלא על הזכרים ולבן בקש לעקור את הכל שנאמר, ארמי [...]
Tikkun of Speech – Pesach 2011
Pesach 2011 / 5771 A Pesach Teaching, Based on Zohar 2:25b-26a and R. Tsadok HaKohen, Likutei Maamarim, ot 11 The sedar is a ritual meditation—a symbolic reenactment of our historic (and [...]
Inviting Our Inner Stranger
A Pesach Teaching 2010 / 5770 by Sarah Yehudit Schneider הָא לַחְמָא עַנְיָא דִּי אֲכָלוּ אַבְהָתָנָא בְּאַרְעָא דְמִצְרָיִם. כָּל דִּכְפִין יֵיתֵי וְיֵיכוֹל. כָּל דִּצְרִיךְ יֵיתֵי [...]
The Inevitable Fall From Grace – Pesach, 2009
Pesach 2009 / 5769 A Passover Teaching from A Still Small Voice The sedar is a ritual meditation—a symbolic reenactment of our historic (and continuous) journey from exile to redemption that [...]
Matzah: Bread of Humility — Pesach 2008
Pesach 2008 / 5768 A Pesach Teaching from A Still Small Voice הא לחמא עניא – “This is the bread of humility [and of affliction that brings us to humility]” Kenesset Yisrael (the mystical Body of [...]
Slavery, Redemption and Matzah
Pesach 2007 / 5767 Thoughts on Slavery, Redemption and Matzah Based on teachings by the Freidiker Rebbe of Chabad As formulated by A Still Small Voice At a certain point on Avraham’s spiritual [...]
The Four Questions
Pesach 2006 / 5766 The Four Questions A Pesach Teaching From the Sod Yesharim as presented by A Still Small Voice The hagada is transmitting lights and instructions on many levels. There is [...]
The Removal of Chametz
Pesach 2005 / 5765 A Passover Teaching, from A Still Small Voice Everyone knows that on Pesach, the removal of all chametz (leavened grains) from our household mirrors the removal of inflated ego [...]
“Pesach is the Conception” — 2004
Pesach 2004 / 5764 A Passover Teaching, from A Still Small Voice Rabbi Isaac Luria, the master kabbalist known as the Ari, teaches that at the original Pesach sedar, in Egypt, a conception [...]
The Secret of Eating at the Seder
Pesach 2003 / 5763 The Secret of Eating at the Seder by Sarah Yehudit Schneider The great Kabbalist, Rabbi Tsadok HaKohen, revealed a deep secret about how to fix the way we engage with the [...]