[YouTube Video to follow] The Seder doesn’t begin with a blessing. It doesn’t begin with Kiddush. It begins like this:
But listen more closely. Not to the sentence.
A breath. The Language of the PeopleThe opening of the Haggadah is not in the language of the Torah. It is in Aramaic—the vernacular of the Jews who first shaped this ritual. That matters. Because Aramaic is not the language of revelation. Of marketplaces. And so the Seder begins not in sacred distance—but in human immediacy. Not with abstraction—but with something you can almost hear:
“With a Breath”A few years ago, inspired by my brother Michael who was joining us for the seder and wanted to lead a meditation I created a new minhag and published a Sefaria source sheet called With a Breath. It has a few thousand views so I guess it resonates. It was a bit of poetic license— The first syllable of the Seder.
A World Created With a HehThere is a remarkable teaching: Talmud Bavli Menachot 29bhttps://www.sefaria.org/Menachot.29b
The Talmud reads this back into Genesis: Genesis 2:4https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.2.4
God created the world with the letter Heh. Why the letter Heh? Because it is almost nothing. It is not formed in the mouth. It is simply:
Creation begins not with force— The Seder Begins the Same WayAfter days—sometimes weeks—of:
After all the urgency, anxiety, and noise— and unfortunatelly, this year there is more urgency, anxiety and noise then ever… we sit down. And the first thing we do is not speak theology. Not tell a story. Not perform a ritual. We say:
Why Start Here?Because you cannot begin the story of redemption Before memory— there is something more basic:
This Year, More Than EverThere are years when this feels symbolic. And there are years when it feels urgent. A year when Jews in Israel may be sitting in shelters. A year when Jews in the diaspora feel something tightening again— something we thought we had left behind. In a year like this— breath is not poetic. It is essential. Begin AgainThe genius of the Haggadah is that it does not begin with answers. It begins with an opening. A loosening. A single, fragile sound:
We tend to think the Seder begins with memory. But maybe it begins earlier than that. Maybe it begins the way the world itself began— not with words, And maybe that’s the invitation. Before you explain. Take a breath. Sefaria Source Sheet: https://voices.sefaria.org/sheets/33182
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Sunday, 29 March 2026
Madlik Haggadah - Begin With a Breath
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