Holidays

What makes Passover continue to appeal to so many of us that it remains the most widely celebrated Jewish holiday in North America? Is it the fact that Passover is a home-based holiday, which offers an opportunity for family and friends to gather around the seder table to recall past memories and create new ones? Or is it that the core themes of freedom and enslavement still resonate so deeply within us that we want to retell the story of Passover again and again each year?

Whatever the reason, the seder has not only remained a mainstay of Jewish life but has also become the most widely innovated Jewish tradition. Today, hundreds of hagadot (texts used at the seder to tell the story of Passover) crowd the shelves of Jewish and even secular bookstores – from "The Liberated Lamb" for vegetarians, to "The Shalom Seders" bringing blacks and Jews, Arabs and Israelis together, to ecological seders, interfaith seders, seders for children – there is something for everyone.

Whatever the flavor of the seder, most seders have a few things in common:

• "In every generation each of us is commanded to see ourselves as if we went out of Egypt ("Mitsrayim")." So says the haggadah. Passover is not a one-time, historical event but an exodus relived year after year, generation after generation, as each of us imagines ourselves going free from Egypt and simultaneously settting ourselves free from the enslavements, personal or communal, of our generation. "Mitsrayim," the Hebrew for Egypt, can also be translated as "from narrow straits," suggesting that at Passover we might think about how to effect an exodus from our own narrow places.
• The root of the word "haggadah" is telling – the central commandment of Passover is to tell this story to your children. It is through this telling that we set ourselves free and educate the next generation. Seders are usually family events and many seders significantly involve children, soliciting their questions and engaging their attention.
• Most seders contain an invitation to those who are in need to come and eat. A seder is meant to be an inclusive event because we believe that we cannot break bread without extending our blessings to others. While we no longer live in a world where we invite beggars off the streets to our seder tables, people often host friends of friends or let their synagogue or JCC know that they are willing to take in guests.
• Ritual foods – parsley, bitter herbs, haroset, hard boiled eggs, matzah – and ritual objects – Elijah's cup, the seder plate, matza covers – abound at the seder. See On the Seder Table for a guide. New objects also find their way to the table from time to time – see Honoring Miriam and On the Seder Table.

Because this site is a feminist one, the vast majority of poems, prayers, and rituals you will find here are feminist innovations. However, please look in our links section to find links to other kinds of innovative seders. As the creator of your seder, you should feel free to create the seder that is uniquely yours, whether that is a traditional seder with a few new blessings, a singular type of seder (healing, feminist, peace, etc.) or an eclectic mix of poems and prayers which will speak to you and your guests. In Preparing for Passover you will find more advice on thinking through this process.

Israelis and many liberal Jews celebrate only one seder. More traditional Jews outside of Israel celebrate both seders. Many alternative seders such as women's seders, Jewish-Arab seders, and interfaith seders, are held on other nights of Passover. Some women's seders are held in the weeks before Passover so that innovations can then be brought to home seders. See Theme Seders.

Rabbi Rona Shapiro