Avner Goren

Translated by Ilana Kurshan

Look at the fruit salad:

Some fruits are sour, and some fruits, sweet

Some are more juicy, some, harder to eat

Some are more smooth, some, rougher-skinned treats. Each fruit brings its own taste and colors and texture And when all mixed together, they create something new Far more than just each fruit alone.

So too with us. We’re made up of all kinds:

Some work the land. Some look to heaven for signs. Some of us are visionaries. Some, more practical types. We come in all sizes, all shapes, and all stripes.

Some set out on new paths. Some settle rather than roam And each brings their own language, customs, and beliefs from home.

We are an ingathering, a kibbutz (gathering) of peoples, a multicultural nation,

An immense, breathing, and living creation Renewing itself with so much innovation.

We lift up a glass to all who returned to our land To the ingathering of exiles,

To immigration, to integration,

both present and past,

We lift up a glass. 

Questions for Conversation

• In this piece, Avner Goren toasts the members of his kibbutz and, by extension, toasts the Jewish people. As you begin your seder, whom would you like to recognize through a toast?

• We included “Lift Up A Glass!” as a way to preserve one October 7 victim’s voice and story. What voices and stories do you want to lift up tonight? 

The Wicked Child is All of Us

Donniel Hartman

This section of the Haggadah aims to remind parents that our children are not all the same, and, as we tell our story, we must adapt it to their different sensibilities and abilities. However, the section which purports to heighten parental sensitivity fails drastically, first by designating one child—the one who asks, “What is this worship to you?”—as “wicked,” and then the response it suggests, to “set that child’s teeth on edge.” We can see it as a valuable pedagogical model of what not to do. We also should remember that at the time the Haggadah was first composed, rude questions were threatening and individuals whose loyalty wasn’t guaranteed were a source of fear. If we bring the “wicked” child into our own moment, we can see that their question is a demand for a compelling reason to choose Judaism.

In the modern world, we are blessed with multiple identities that all lay claim to our loyalty. Being Jewish is one of many identities available to us. Today, each one of us is the “wicked child.” If Judaism is to claim our loyalty, it will be because

we actively choose it over or alongside others. And we will only choose to do so if the Jewish story welcomes our difficult questions and embraces our differences, and if it is morally, intellectually, culturally, and spiritually compelling. Only then will we, the "wicked ones," choose Judaism as our home. 

Avraham Shlonsky (Translated by Mishael Zion) 

By my eyes that witnessed the slaughter

By my heart that was weighed down by cries for justice

By my compassion that taught me to pardon

Until the days came that were too terrible to forgive,

I have sworn: To remember it all,

To remember—to forget nothing!

Forget not one thing to the last generation

Until my indignation shall be extinguished

When the staff of my moral rebuke has struck until exhausted.

A vow: Lest for nothing shall the night of terror have passed. A vow: Lest for nothing shall I return to my wont

Without having learned anything, even this time. 

Questions for Conversation

• Why do you think the members of Kibbutz Nahal Oz included “A Vow” in their Haggadah next to “Pour Out Your Wrath”? How do the two pieces inform one another?

• What is your relationship to the anger in the poem and in “Pour Out Your Wrath”? Is it different this year than in previous years? 

Oded Mazor

Translated by Ayelet Cohen and adapted by Noam Zion)

Oded Mazor recited this prayer at a demonstration for the release of captives in Jerusaelm in 2023. 

"For everything there is a season ... under Heaven....

A time for weeping and a time for laughing,

A time for mourning and a time for dancing ...

A time for war and a time for peace. " (Ecclesiastes 3: 1,4,8) In those days when each time collapses into the next

We have no choice but to cry and to laugh with the same eyes

To mourn and to dance at the same time

And the long arc of history is compressed into one day and one hour.

We ask for the strength to contain

The intensity of our bursting hearts,

To rejoice with those who are fortunate to embrace today,

To enfold all of those withdrawing into their longing, their souls trembling, To hold onto hope without letting go,

And to leave some quiet space for a silent scream.

Please, grant us the room to shatter into pieces,

And the spirit to be rebuilt anew. 

Questions for Conversation

• In this poetic prayer, Oded Mazor reminds us that life is not quite as simple as Ecclesiastes describes. Instead, we often feel many emotions at once. What gives you strength in those moments?

• Here, Oded describes a quiet space for a silent scream. How do you release your built up emotions? 

We begin the seder by reciting Kiddush, the blessing over wine, marking the moment and the meal as a sacred occasion. In

a symbolic nod to our freedom, many have a custom to pour wine or grape juice for the person next to them, but not for themselves. This year, when so many in Israel are not able to sit at seder tables because they are hostages, serving in the IDF, or displaced from their homes, this ritual of pouring a glass for others takes on even greater significance.

To begin your seder, we invite you to read the following piece, written by Avner Goren for the Kibbutz Nir Oz 1996 Haggadah, which was later republished in the Be'eri Kibbutz Haggadah in 1999. Avner, a child of Kibbutz Nir Oz founders, and his wife, Maya, were murdered in their home when Nir Oz was attacked on October 7. Their adult children, Gal, Asif, Bar, and Dekel, survived, and they are moved by the inclusion of their father’s voice in this Haggadah supplement. In this poem, Avner asks the reader to raise a glass. As we read Avner’s poem and raise our glasses to begin the seder, we hold in our hearts those who cannot be at seders this year and think about ways we can elevate their voices.