I'm a sucker for a well written sentence. There are three in the opening passage of our Passover Haggadah:

Now in the presence of loved ones and friends, before us the emblems of festive rejoicing, we gather for our sacred celebration. With the household of Israel, our elders and young ones, linking and bonding the past with the future, we heed once again the divine call to service. Living our story that is told for all peoples, whose shining conclusion is yet to unfold, we gather to observe the Passover.

These sentences capture the essence of Passover and the Seder. We gather with our friends and family for our celebration. They are the most important people in our lives. No celebration is as joyous without them as it is with them.

The foods before us are more than simply nourishment for the body. They are emblems, symbols. They bring us into the story, make us a part of the journey each time we imbibe or eat them: matza, maror, charoset, eggs in salt water, wine. Each one causes us to taste the bitterness, hard labor, sadness, freedom that our ancestors experienced.

Each of us is in our home, or the home of a family member or friend. But so are Jews all over the world. We are the People of Israel, whether in ancient times or present or future times, responding to the instruction in the Torah to preserve for all time not just the story of the journey but the meaning of our journey.

And we acknowledge that while it is our story, it is really the human story. When we say, "Let all who are hungry enter and eat," we mean more than hunger for food. We mean as well hunger for freedom. We include in our prayer for freedom any and all who are not free.

And truly, it is a story "whose shining conclusion is yet to unfold." For the day has not yet come when all are free, when no one seeks to enslave or oppress another, when "nation shall not lift up sword against nation," when all will "become one in spirit and one in friendship.

That shining conclusion we pray for, and we gather together with family and friends, as Jews of all generations have gathered, to experience vicariously through our Seder the pain of oppression and the joy of release.

Chag Sameach. May it be a Pesach of redemption for you, for your loved ones, and for all who suffer.