The seder (which literally means "order") consists of fourteen discreet steps, beginning with Kadesh, namely saying Kiddush.
If you look closely, you'll notice that the Kiddush consists of two different parts - a longer blessing which sanctifies the day as a sacred holiday, and a shorter blessing over the cup of wine, which we use as a symbol of our joy.
There is a famous dispute in the Talmud between the schools of Hillel and Shammai over which blessing to say first, that over the wine or that over the day. I initially saw this debate as insignificant hairsplitting, but a comment in the FJMC Haggadah helped me see it in a new light. According to Shammai, we should recite the blessing over the day first, because it is the day itself which is special, and if it were not for the nature of the day then we would not have any reason to be drinking the wine in the first place. Hillel, by contrast, argues that we should recite the blessing over the wine first, because a day is not necessarily holy, whereas we are always supposed to say a blessing before drinking wine.
Now we can see that there is something deeper behinde this debate. At its core, the dispute is over the nature of what makes something holy. For Shammai, the day is inherently sacred due to the fact that it was divinely decreed as a holiday on the calendar. However, Hillel posits that holiness is something that is latent or potential, akin perhaps to kinetic energy, and it is ultimately our human rituals or actions that imbue the day with sanctity.
As we celebrate our seders this year, we can reflect on what it is about the holiday of Passover that is inherently sacred or special for us, and also what it is that we personally do - as individuals, family and community - to bring a sense of sanctity to what might otherwise be just another day.
(By the way, if you look again at the Kiddush in the Haggadah, you'll notice that we follow Hillel, and recite the blessing over the wine first.) Chag sameach!
