Fill a cup with water
Again? Yes, again. It’s been a long time since the last washing. And the last time you didn’t have the matzah in mind. Anyways, it's good to get up and stretch a little, right?
Pour the water to cover your right hand. Repeat. Repeat again. Ditto for your left hand.
Say the blessing. "Blessed be You, L-rd our G-d, King of the World, Who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the washing of the hands."
Dry your hands.
As long as we live in this world, freedom remains elusive: While moving forward, we are free. Stop, and we are bound and fettered again.
That is why freedom is something you cannot buy nor steal. Never can you put freedom in your purse and say, “Freedom is mine forever!”
For freedom is a marriage: Freedom is the bond our finite selves with the Infinite, the power to transcend the world while working inside it. It is a marriage of heaven and earth, spirit and matter, soul and body. And like any marriage, it is kept alive only by constant renewal. Like the miracle of the splitting of the Red Sea, suspended in its state of paradox by a continuous, other-worldy force.
Yet, in our exodus, we were granted eternal freedom. Not because we were released from slavery. But because we were given the power to perpetually transcend.
That’s the order of the Seder tonight: Kadesh/Urchatz, Transcend and Purify. Over and over. Rise higher, then draw that into deeds. Rise higher again, then draw that down even more. Never stop rising higher. Never stop applying.
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