THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF PRINCETON MERCER BUCKS
PASSOVER
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Passover GREETINGS EARLY AMERICANS
TOWARD A SHARED SOCIETY 5
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Passover How to make your own Passover Haggada Julie Wiener MyJewishLearning via JTA
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aking your own Haggada is not just a money saver, but also a great way to educate yourself about the Passover seder, add a unique twist to the festive meal, and have a more meaningful and satisfying holiday. For generations, enterprising seder leaders have been sticking Post-It notes in their favorite parts of existing Haggadas, adding in photocopied readings, or even cutting and pasting from multiple Haggadas and combining it all in a loose-leaf binder. The Internet makes the project of creating a personalized Haggada infinitely easier — and tidier, even if your tech and graphic design skills are minimal. Plus, you can do it with a clean conscience: Whereas the old-fashioned technique of photocopying pages from copyrighted, published Haggadas is technically illegal, the websites we list below provide only material that is in the public domain. While a seemingly infinite trove of Passover-related blessings, readings, songs, and images are available online, don’t forget (if you are so inclined) that you can also incorporate your own (or your guests’s) writing, art, and family photographs into the finished product. Many DIY Haggadas are copied and stapled, but you can make yours more durable (and spilledwine resistant) by laminating each page or putting them in a photo album, loose-leaf binder with plastic sleeves, or art portfolio. Or, if you are reasonably tech-savvy and want to go paperless — and your guests are OK with using electronics on Passover (when traditional prohibitions similar to the Shabbat rules apply) —
keep the whole text digital. You can e-mail a PDF, PowerPoint, or other document to your guests to download on their mobile devices, or even create a password-protected website. We can’t promise no one will spill wine on your iPad, however. Below are some resources for DIYers. Haggadot.com Haggadot.com is the most comprehensive and user-friendly resource for Haggada makers — and it’s free. After registering, you can choose from a constantly growing library of readings and images. The site guides you through the process with templates and an outline of all the steps/sections of the seder. You can search by section, theme (i.e. social justice, history, family and education, different denominations/streams of Judaism), and media type (text, video, image). In addition to letting you search by themes (including family/kids) the site also provides templates with recommendations for family-friendly and other specific needs/themes. You can invite friends, or even all the seder guests, to log in and participate in the Haggada-making. When you’re done, you print it out as a PDF file and photocopy, or download to your guests’ mobile devices. DipTwice.com DipTwice is not free but it will print out a bound, official-looking book in hardcover or paperback, as opposed to something you need to staple and bind yourself. The site provides a template featuring standard Hebrew and English text (including translations and transliterations). You choose design and layout and add your own images and other materi-
als or select from DipTwice’s library. PunkTorah.org Go to “Make Your Own Haggadah for Kids” and print out this free (suggested donation of $10) downloadable PDF and have your children fill in the spaces and blanks with words and pictures. While this somewhat irreverent Haggada was originally designed for use in Hebrew schools, it is self-explanatory and can be used anywhere. Highlights include “The story of Passover: in comic book form” with panels where kids can put their own illustrations/ comic; activities like puzzles and lyrics to original songs like “Take Me Out of Mitzrayim” (sung to the tune of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”) and “Passover Things” (to the tune of “My Favorite Things”). Sefaria.org Sefaria, a growing online library with many major Jewish texts in Hebrew and English, offers everything from full Haggadas to supplemental readings to sources/additional commentary. Not only can you print out these texts or cut and paste them into your Haggada, but you can also embed them onto another website or digital document. Each selection is hyperlinked to the full text from which it was excerpted. Looking for something a little simpler? You can download the Haggada text in English as a Microsoft Word document at LivelySeders.com and add to it (or cut) as you see fit. You also can download an array of Haggada sections and readings free on JewishFreeware.org. n Julie Wiener is managing editor of MyJewishLearning.
Wishing you a
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Passover A cure for the ‘Second Night Pesach Blues’
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If there is no changing the tradition, then we will hold an ‘un-seder’
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Passover and other holidays were observed outside of Israel as two-day holidays — just in case the dating was off. With the advent of the fixed calendar in the fourth century, the rabbis might have done away with the second seder, but, being rabbis, they Johanna GinsberG decided to honor the sages who came before and the NJJN Staff Writer Jewish practice of centuries — and to preclude any possible mix-up stemming from some future calendrical confusion — and maintain the tradition of hat’s it. I’ve had it with the second seder. Sure the first night of Pesach is exciting. two days of hag. In the 19th century, the leaders of Who will read the Four Questions? Will the the Reform movement reverted to the biblical patquestioner be adorable? Or now that the kids are tern of celebrating only one day, but other denominations retained the two-day requirement. older, will they still be willing to take them on? This year, I sent out invitations to our seder What creative twist will we add this year? What should we serve for karpas to keep every- early, including assignments, and could have one from wondering (aloud) when dinner will be made place cards before I even chose a Purim costume. Friends and family know this is our holiday. served? Should we add that kosher l’Pesach fair-trade My husband has been collecting Haggadot since he was a teenager. We regularly have up to two cocoa to the seder plate this year? But come the morning, when we wake up dozen people at our seders, and we pride ourselves bleary-eyed on the first day of Pesach, with the on keeping our guests thoroughly engaged. final verses of Chad Gadya still ringing in our ears See Pesach page 33 and the dishes piled high in the sink, the “fifth” question emerges: Who wants to start it all over again for the second seder? My father may have been a wandering Aramean, but my son has wandered from the table the second night every year since he was four, asking that question of the engaged and thoughtful, intelligent but rebellious son: Why are we doing this again, when our friends and family in Israel hold only one seder? The answer, which even to me is starting to wear a little thin, is tradition and Halacha, or Jewish law. Back before calendars were standardized in the fourth century, holidays began when the rabbis could confirm the starting date according to the sighting of the moon in the Land of Israel. While the start time was easier to announce throughout the Holy Land, it was impossible to get the word out to the Diaspora. As a result,
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Passover Making the seder fun again Dr. Erica Brown JointMedia News Service
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hree times in the book of Exodus and once in Deuteronomy, we are commanded to tell the master narrative of our people to our children. Sometimes it is because children ask, and we have a responsibility as bearers of a legacy to answer. Sometimes children do not ask, and we have to stimulate their curiosity by becoming wonderful storytellers. The rabbis of the Talmud wondered why four verses were necessary to communicate the obligation at Passover to retell the tale of the Exodus. They concluded that these four verses must represent four different kinds of children, offering an educational scale of learning styles or personalities who each must hear the story in his or her own way. Not only do we have to know the story well to tell it; we also need to know our audience well to make sure they hear it. The best stories are fun to tell and fun to hear. They incorporate all our senses. They offer a range of emotional responses from laughter to tears, and good stories have staying power. They continue to inform our values long after they are shared. The Exodus story can be all of that. But most often, it is none of that. It is told in a tepid and incoherent way, read from a poor English translation without color or charm. It is the weak content warm-up to most family meals, even though it is one of the most observed rituals among American Jews. It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old. Every-
one appreciates a well-told story, so this year, ask yourself: am I doing a good job in the chain of tradition at telling the exodus story? Is my seder fun? Will it be memorable for everyone around the table? If the answer is “not really,” here are a few ways to fulfill the biblical commandment to tell the story, and the Disney way to make it stick. Brush up on the details: Don’t just dust off recipes. Take out a Haggada a few weeks before Passover and read it through. You might want to assign parts to your guests and ask them to do something creative with it. Use props: Find objects in your home that tell your family’s Jewish story and put them on the table. Or have every guest bring an object that tells his or her family story. Decorate the room: Why should anyone sit in a dining room in suburbia when they could be in downtown ancient Cairo? Try costumes. We even had our kids write and read ancient weather reports. Chances are it’s hot and sunny. Sing the story with show tunes or ask the kids to prepare a rap song. Just go online and you’ll find loads of lyrics. Here are a few of my top 10: Sung to the tune of “These are a Few of My Favorite Things” Cleaning and cooking and so many dishes Out with the hametz, no pasta, no knishes Fish that’s gefillted, horseradish that stings
These are a few of our Passover things. Sung to the tune of “Maria” Elijah! I just saw the prophet Elijah. And suddenly that name Will never sound the same to me. Elijah! Sung to the tune of “Just a Spoon Full of Sugar” Just a tad of haroset helps the bitter herbs go down, The bitter herbs go down, the bitter herbs go down. Just a tad of Charoset helps the bitter herbs go down, In the most disguising way. These are a few of my favorite things to help make Passover a living history lesson and a memorable evening each year. We are a people with no word for history, only memory. We are memory-makers. That is an awe-inspiring responsibility. Let’s do it well on the most important night of our n story telling year. Dr. Erica Brown is scholar-in-residence at the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and author of Happy Endings: The Fine Art of Dying Well (Simon and Schuster).
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Passover Add girl power to your seder Avital Norman Nathman Kveller via JTA
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hether you weave in one or all of these tips, consider honoring the matriarchal roots of Judaism this Passover with a little girl power fun at your seder this year. *Orange and coffee Add an orange and coffee bean to your seder plate. The orange represents both inclusion and solidarity with women and the LGBT community. The coffee bean represents and honors both the bitterness and strength of juggling your work life and family life something we’re pretty sure you can relate to. *Miriam’s Cup In addition to the traditional cup of Elijah, include Miriam’s Cup and begin your seder by filling it up together. It serves as the symbol of Miriam’s Well the source of water for the Israelites in the desert. Pass the cup around the table and let each guest add a bit of water from his or her own cup, establishing that the seder is an inclusive and participatory one. Remind your guests that while we may enjoy drinking our four cups of wine, water is just as important. Like Miriam’s Well, water sustains and nourishes us (and prevents hangovers). *Lighting candles Candle lighting has traditionally fallen to women in Jewish practice. Honor this by recognizing that the lighting of candles helps usher light into the darkness and allows us to begin our holidays peacefully.
*The four mothers Speaking of those four cups of wine, you can note during your seder that some scholars connect the four cups of wine with the four mothers: Sarah, Rivka, Rachel and Leah. After all, the only thing better than one Jewish mother is four. *The four daughters While we’re familiar with the story of the four sons from the traditional Haggadah, why not also give a nod to the four biblical daughters, a wonderful addition from “A Night To Remember: The Haggadah of Contemporary Voices,” by Mishael and Noam Zion. The reading shares wisdom from Miriam, Tamar, Ruth, and “The Beautiful Captive.” *Wise women Many songs, poems and stories written by women are a perfect match for Passover; include them in your seder along the way. Some of my favorites: * Marge Piercy’s poem “Season of the Egg” * Rabbi Rachel Berenblat (aka “The Velveteen Rabbi”) has a poem about what happens after the seder. * Rabbi Jill Hammer’s “Orah Hi,” a feminist version of the traditional end of seder song “Adir Hu.” Avital Norman Nathman is the editor of The Good Mother Myth: Redefining Motherhood to Fit Reality.
Pesach from page 31 But just a couple of weeks out from the holiday, I had the stunning realization that I’d entirely passed over the second night. I hadn’t thought about our own second-night seder, and knew no invitations to join someone else’s gathering would be forthcoming. The thought of planning a second night seemed as desirable as eating a Passover diet for an extra week. And then it came to me. We will hold an un-seder. We will acknowledge the second-day hag, but we will not sit (or lean, as the case may be) around the dining room table for a redo. We will instead gather in our living room for a cocktail party. According to Noam Zion of The Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, the seder itself was inspired by the Greek symposium, when scholars would relax on couches, dip vegetables in sauces, drink wine, and informally debate questions high and low. (“Symposium” means “to drink together” in Greek.) Like an after-party for a great cast from a fabulous show, we will celebrate, reliving the high points of the Exodus story. And if the weather is favorable, we may head outside to the campfire, and cook our paschal meal over the fire, as our ancestors would have done. We’ll certainly down four glasses of wine. And more than four questions will be asked. We’ll finish the meal with the afikoman — or epikomen, which, by the way, is Greek for “what comes after,” otherwise known as
dessert. At a moment when some authorities have considered emulating the Sephardim by relaxing the Ashkenazi ban on forbidden Passover foods called kitniyot (corn, rice, millet, beans, lentils, for starters), can we not imagine a traditionalist proclaiming the second-day hag a “foolish custom”? Probably not: Conservative and Orthodox authorities almost uniformly say that there is no halachic mechanism to undo the two-day yom tov, codified in the Talmud, if not the Torah. (However, there is one Conservative movement teshuva from 1969 that permits second-day hagim observance to be considered custom rather than obligation.) So while we cannot eliminate the second night of Passover, we can give it a fresh spin. The first night we will open our festive ritual meal, as we always do, with the singing of “There’s no seder like our seder” to the tune of “There’s No Business Like Show Business.” But the second night, we’ll say, “If the rabbis had granted us just one night to be thankful for the signs and wonders with which God had taken us out of Egypt with an outstretched arm, Dayenu, it would have been enough. Really. Dayenu.” n jginsberg@njjewishnews.com
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