Passover Blessings,
Readings and More

Looking for Passover blessings, readings, songs, and prayers for your Seder? Great, because Passover has a LOT going on. There’s the story of the Exodus, four questions, ten plagues, and enough symbolic food to make your head spin. Whether you’re hosting your first Seder or your fiftieth, we’ve gathered meaningful readings, traditional blessings, and a few laughs to help bring the story of freedom to life. Because a great Seder should be about more than waiting for the matzah ball soup.

And if you’d rather not piece together an entire Seder yourself, download our FREE Passover Haggadah. We’ve got the blessings, songs, skits, and explanations all in one place. You’re welcome.

Looking for more? JewBelong has an amazing collection of free guides and booklets!

Passover Readings

Rachtza (Hand Washing With A Blessing)

It’s time to wash hands again, but this time with the blessing. It’s customary not to speak at all between washing your hands and saying the blessings over the matzah:...

The 14 Steps Of The Seder

Our Passover meal is called a Seder, which means order in Hebrew, because we go through 14 specific steps as we retell the story of our ancestors’ liberation from slavery in Egypt....

A Time Of Remembering

On this Seder night, we recall with anguish and love our martyred brothers and sisters, the six million Jews of Europe who were destroyed at the hands of a tyrant...

Bashert (Destiny)

THESE WORDS ARE DEDICATED TO THOSE WHO DIED.Because they had no love and felt alone in the world.Because they were afraid to be alone and tried to stick it out.Because...

Memories After My Death

They marched us down the length of Pozohony Street, toward the Margaret Bridge and that was when we understood they were bringing us to the edge of the Danube, where...

This Year We Are Slaves

“This year we are slaves.” What do these words mean? We are slaves because yesterday our people were in slavery and memory makes yesterday real for us. We are slaves because...

What Happens To Them Happens To Me

LEADER: Prejudice is like a monster which has many heads, an evil which requires many efforts to overcome. One head sends forth poison against the people of a different race,...

The Four Sons

As we tell the story, we think about it from all angles. Our tradition speaks of four different types of children who react individually to the Passover Seder. It is...

The Modern Four Sons

Following is a new interpretation of The Four Sons that illustrates the journey of many Jews living in America. We’re not judging here, just witnessing. Besides, what better time to...

The Ten Plagues

As we rejoice at our deliverance from slavery, we acknowledge that our freedom was hard-earned. We regret that our freedom came at the cost of the Egyptians’ suffering, for we...

A Contemporary Dayeinu

Let’s bring Dayeinu into the present. We are grateful, and yet what miracles and accomplishments would be sufficient (Dayeinu) in today’s world for us to be truly satisfied? 1. When...

Who Knows One? (Echad Mi Yodea?)

Who knows one? I know one! One is our God in heaven and earth. Who knows two? I know two! Two are the tablets of the covenant. One is our God in...

What Is Freedom?

When did we leave Egypt and when did Egypt leave us? When were the chains of slavery broken and when did we finally truly feel free? Freedom came in steps....

Passover Short But Sweet

As We Begin Tonight’s Seder

Let’s take a moment to be thankful for being together. We make a small community of storytellers. But, why this story again? Most of us already know the story of...

On This Night

We retrace our steps from then to now, reclaiming years of desert wandering. On this night,We ask questions, ancient and new, speaking of servitude and liberation, service and joy. On...

Passover Remembered

Pack nothing. Bring only your determination to serve and your willingness to be free.Don’t wait for the bread to rise. Take nourishment for the journey, but eat standing, be ready to move at...

Olives on our Seder plate this year, for peace in Ukraine

We have olives on the Seder plate this year because according to the story of Noah and the ark, God was on the verge of destroying humanity because we were...

Especially This Year,
A Prayer For Our Country

This reading shows up in our Passover Haggadah, Shabbat booklet, and High Holidays guide—because some moments call for the same words, no matter the occasion. Use it when the world...

Question For Discussion (as if the Seder wasn’t long enough already)

Each year we ask the traditional four questions. This year we’re adding a fifth, and since Passover is about freedom, we’re going with that theme. What do you seek freedom...

Ruth’s Mix

Ruth, as in The Book Of, as in the great-grandmother of King David, was part of an interfaith marriage. Introducing Ruth’s Mix, a way to welcome everyone to your Seder table,...

The Elephant At Your Passover Seder

There’s an elephant in the room, he’d like some attention and frankly, he should get it. This elephant has been around as long as the Jewish people, but he is...

Maggid: The Story Of Passover

-A JewBelong Original What If God Hadn’t Taken Our Ancestors Out Of Egypt?It’s hard to even imagine, but if the Exodus story had a different ending, we might still be...

Passover Prayers and Blessings

HaMotzi (Blessing Over The Bread)

HaMotzi is the traditional Jewish blessing over bread, and it’s one of those little rituals that shows up just about everywhere in Jewish life. Shabbat dinners, holiday meals, weddings, baby...

Grace After The Meal

A lovely way to end your meal. This short blessing gives thanks for the food you’ve eaten and for feeling satisfied as a result. In Judaism, saying thank you for...

Woman’s Prayer At Candle Lighting

May you grant my family and all Israel a good and long life. Remember us with blessings and kindness. Give me the opportunity to raise my children and grandchildren to...

Kiddush (Blessing Over The Wine)

Fill your cup with the first glass of wine, lift the cup, say the Kiddush, and drink, leaning to the left. All Jewish celebrations, from holidays to weddings, include wine...

Motzi Matzah (Eating the Matzah)

Raise the matzah and recite two blessings: the regular bread blessing and then one specifically mentioning the mitzvah of eating matzah at Passover. Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, hamotzi...

Maror (The Bitter Herb)

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al achilat maror. Blessed are You, Spirit of the Universe, who commands us to eat bitter herbs.

Korech (Matzah Sandwich Of Bitter Herb And Charoset)

While the English Earl of Sandwich is generally credited for inventing the snack of his namesake, Hillel may have originated it two thousand years ago by combining matzah, a slice...

Barech/Birkat Hamazon (Grace After The Meal)

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha’olam, hazan et ha’olam kulo b’tuvo b’chen b’chesed w’rachamin. Hu noten lechem l’chol basar ki l’olam chasdo. Uv’tuvo hagadol tamid lo chasar lanu v’al yech’sar...

Elijah’s Cup

We now refill our wine glasses one last time and open the front door to invite the prophet, Elijah to join our Seder. In the Bible, Elijah was a fierce...

Nirtzah (Ending The Seder)

Our Seder is over, according to Jewish tradition and law. As we had the pleasure to gather for a Seder this year, we hope to once again have the opportunity...

Traditional Children’s Blessing

This short reading asks for God’s blessing for our children, and calls on the strength of our ancestors to protect and guide them. One of the sweetest Shabbat traditions is...

Urchatz (Hand Washing In Preparation For The Seder)

Water is refreshing, cleansing, and clear, so it’s easy to understand why so many cultures and religions use water for symbolic purification. Washing hands twice during our Seder: now, with...

Karpas (Dipping A Green Vegetable In Salt Water)

Passover, like many of our holidays, combines the celebration of an event from our Jewish memory with recognition of the cycles of nature. As we remember the liberation from Egypt,...

Yachatz (Breaking The Middle Matzah)

There are three pieces of matzah stacked on the table. We now break the middle matzah into two pieces. One piece is called the Afikomen, literally “dessert” in Greek. The...

Four Questions

The telling of the story of Passover is framed as a discussion with questions and answers. The tradition that the youngest person asks the questions reflects the idea of involving...

Rachtza (Hand Washing With A Blessing)

It’s time to wash hands again, but this time with the blessing. It’s customary not to speak at all between washing your hands and saying the blessings over the matzah:...

Passover Songs

Take Us Out Of Egypt

(To the tune of “Take Me Out To The Ball Game”) Take us out of Egypt, free us from slavery.Bake us some matzah, in a haste.Don’t worry ’bout flavor,give no...

Passover Round

Roasted shankboneHard-boiled eggKarpas and charosetBitter herbs-Randi Spiegel

Pharaoh Pharaoh

Pharaoh, Pharaoh! Oh baby! Let my people go!Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!Singin’ Pharaoh, Pharaoh! Oh baby!Let my people go! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!A burnin’ bush told me just the other daythat...

Dayeinu

One of most beloved songs in the Passover Seder is “Dayeinu.” It commemorates a long list of miraculous things God did, any one of which would have been pretty amazing...

There’s No Seder Like Our Seder

(To the tune of “There’s No Business Like Show Business”) There’s no Seder like our Seder,Like no Seder I know.Everything about it is halachic.Nothing that the Torah won’t allow.Listen how...

A Passover Song

(To the tune of “My Favorite Things”) Cleaning and cooking and so many dishes.Out with the chametz, no pasta, no knishes.Fish that’s gefillted, horseradish that stings.These are a few of...

Just A Tad Of Charoset

Oh, back in Egypt long ago, the Jews were slaves under Pharaoh.They sweated and toiled and labored through the day,So when we gather pesach night, we do what we think right,maror, we chew, to...

Chad Gadya (One Little Goat)

Chad gadya, chad gadyaDizabin aba bitrei zuzei,Chad gadya, chad gadya Chad gadya, chad gadyaAn only kid! An only kid!My father bought for two zuzimChad gadya, chad gadya Then came the...

I Could Have Eaten More

I could have eaten more,I could have eaten more,but it’s afikomen time.The Seder ritualsand all those victuals,the evening was sublime.I had my matzah with charosetand matzah dipped in chocolate too.I...

Passover Skits

Maggid: The Story Of Passover

-A JewBelong Original What If God Hadn’t Taken Our Ancestors Out Of Egypt?It’s hard to even imagine, but if the Exodus story had a different ending, we might still be...

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