All Four (Are One), a prayer-poem for Passover by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat (Bayit, 2024)

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=55259

Date: 2024-04-06

Last Updated: 2025-03-29

Categories: Magid

Tags: 2023-2024 Israel–Hamas war, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Four Children, haggadah supplements, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Prayers as poems

Excerpt: "All Four (Are One)," riffing on the story in the haggadah of the four children, is a prayer-poem on the theme of intracommunal discord six months after October 7th (possibly reflected in the family dynamics at the seder table itself). Written by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat, it was first published on the website of Bayit: Building Jewish on 2 April 2024. . . .

Content:

All Four (Are One)

Today the Four Children are a Zionist, a Palestinian solidarity activist, a peacenik, and one who doesn’t know what to even dream.

The Zionist, what does she say? Two thousand years we dreamed of return. “Next year in Jerusalem” is now, and hope is the beacon we steer by.

The solidarity activist, what do they say? We know the heart of the stranger. To be oppressors is unbearable. Uplift the downtrodden.

The peacenik, what does he say? We both love this land and neither is leaving. We’re in this together. Between the river and the sea two peoples must be free.

And the one who doesn’t know what to even dream: feed that one sweet haroset, a reminder that building a just future has always been our call.

All of us are wise. None of us is wicked. (Even the yetser ha-ra is holy—without it no art would be made,[1] The Talmud shares a parable that when the “evil impulse” was imprisoned, no eggs were laid – no generativity was possible (Yoma 69b).  no future imagined.)

We are one people, one family. Not only because history’s flames never asked[2] Find “Rabbi’s Corner – April 2024: Free, Together,” by Rabbi David Markus (Congregation Shir Ami, 1 April 2024).  what kind of Jew one might be, but because   the dream of collective liberation is our legacy. We need each other in this wilderness. Only together can we build redemption.

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“All Four (Are One)” was written by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat and first published on the website of Bayit: Building Jewish on 2 April 2024. Introducing the work, she writes, “Bayit’s Liturgical Arts Working Group is collaborating on a new offering for Pesaḥ 2024, which we hope to release on Monday April 8, just before Rosh Ḥodesh Nisan. As a foretaste of what’s coming, here’s one piece from that collection. Stay tuned for more new liturgy, poetry, and artwork coming soon.”

Source(s)

All Four (Are One) (credit: Rachel Barenblat, Bayit- Building Jewish, 2024, license: CC BY-SA)

 

Notes

Notes

1	The Talmud shares a parable that when the “evil impulse” was imprisoned, no eggs were laid – no generativity was possible (Yoma 69b).
2	Find “Rabbi’s Corner – April 2024: Free, Together,” by Rabbi David Markus (Congregation Shir Ami, 1 April 2024).

Contributor: Rachel Barenblat

Co-authors:

• 
  Name: Rachel Barenblat
  Bio: Rabbi Rachel Barenblat (a/k/a the Velveteen Rabbi) serves Congregation Beth Israel of the Berkshires. She holds an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars and is author of six volumes of poetry, among them 70 faces: Torah poems (Phoenicia, 2011) and Texts to the Holy (Ben Yehuda, 2018). A founding builder at Bayit: Building Jewish, she resides in western Massachusetts. She has blogged as the Velveteen Rabbi since 2003.
  Website: http://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com/blog/
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/rachel-barenblat
• 
  Name: Bayit: Building Jewish
  Bio: Bayit: Building Jewish (formerly, Bayit: Your Jewish Home) was founded in December 2017 by a group of rabbis and lay leaders seeking to become a collaboration engine for building "a radically inclusive and enlivening Judaism for all ages and stages. We aim to give you tools for building the Judaism that you yearn for, renewing Judaism so that your Judaism can renew you."
  Website: https://yourbayit.org
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/bayit-building-jewish

Featured Image:

Title: Love is… (Chris Jones, CC BY-NC)
Caption: "Love is..." an image of papercut people arranged in a circle, holding hands as papercut people do. (credit: Chris Jones, license: CC BY-NC)