Mah Nishtanah: what needs to change, a seder supplement to the Four Questions by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

Contributor(s):

Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

Shared on:

25 March 2020 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

Magid, Leil Pesaḥ

Tags:

מה נשתנה Mah Nishtanah, Black Lives Matter, Passover seder, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Prayers as poems, English vernacular prayer

Mah Nishtanah: what needs to change

What needs to change
so the world as it is
can wake up?

What needs to change
so the world as it is
can love us?

What needs to change
right now
so we can breathe?

What needs to change
so our sisters and brothers
can be as free as we are?

and what needs to change
so that we
can be free too?

What needs to change
in our voices, our postures,
our pacing

What needs to change
in how
we try to change our bodies

What needs to change
in our newspapers
and in our budgets

What needs to change
in our language
and in our bedrooms

What needs to change
in how
we look in the mirror

What needs to change
in our lovemaking
in every moment

What needs to change — tonight!
so we may wake up
freer in the morning

What needs to change
next week
to nurture all the Miriams and Moshe’s?

And what needs to change
so that every Pharaoh
gets twelve hugs a day?

What needs to change
so that I have a voice
and you have ears?

i know what needs to change
and you know what needs to change
and we will be the change

amen

A playful, powerful, passionate reading for Passover seder or any time. Can be chanted to the traditional Ashkenazi lilt for the Four Questions. Melody here.

“Mah Nishtanah: What Needs to Change” was written by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit in Adar Bet / March 2014.

[Financial contributions are most welcome, and support further creation and sharing of Ilana’s creative work. You can see and hear more of Ilana’s creative work on her Patreon page. Or to make a one-time contribution, Venmo (@Ilana-Streit).]

. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike . 4.0 . International .

“Mah Nishtanah: what needs to change, a seder supplement to the Four Questions by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

Based in mid-Hudson Valley, New York, Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit is a working artist, peacemaker, and a weaver of blessings (through poem, prayer, and song).

Thank you for honoring and contributing to her work in any or all of the following ways:

Share her work (with attribution of course) to expand its reach
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Works of related interest:

Al HaNisim: For the Banners, by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

Shevat (credit: Ilana Joy Streit, license: CC BY-SA)

Blessing for Rosh Ḥodesh Shevat, by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

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“An important message, November 2023,” a prayer-poem in the form of a shipping notice by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

al hanisim ḥanukkah 5784 (Ilana Joy Streit) handwritten draft page 6 - cropped

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tilt shift lens photography of pink and white flowers (credit: n/a, license: CC0)

Blessing for Adar (1, 2, and if necessary, 3) — by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

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1 comment to Mah Nishtanah: what needs to change, a seder supplement to the Four Questions by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

Adrienne Varady
2020-03-25 at 8:58 am · Reply.
That’s really beautiful especially at this time in the world.

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17