Category: Passover Reflections

A SEAT FOR THOSE WHO CAN'T COME HOME

A Seat For Those Who Can’t Come Home

This year, as we prepare the seder, we encourage an extra setting at your table—an empty chair for our family still in captivity in Gaza.
Reparations: The Difficulty and Bravery and Asking

Reparations: The Difficulty and Bravery of Asking

Look at reparations and the difficulty and bravery of asking, through the lens of slavery in Egypt, slavery in America, and the Holocaust.

The Secrets of Matzah

There are so many secrets hidden away within Matzah that ask to be uncovered, offering us spiritual wisdom.
Every Year We Must See Ourselves As If We Were There

Every Year We Must See Ourselves As If We Were There

Every year at Passover, we must see ourselves as If we were there in Egypt and take on what that means for ourselves.
B'khol Dor Vador In Every Generation

B’khol Dor Vador—In Every Generation

What does "b'khol dor vador—in every generation" mean in light of the events of October 7? How does this connect us to Passover?
Why Couldn't Moses Enter the Promised Land?

Why Couldn’t Moses Enter the Promised Land?

Current events help us understand why Moses couldn't enter the Promised Land and remind us the importance of innocent lives.
A Very Waystar Royco Seder: How a Show Like “Succession” Illuminates the Four Children

How a Show Like “Succession” Illuminates the Four Children

How can a show like "Succession" illuminate the Seder? Compare the Four Children of our haggadah with the four Roy children.
On Passover, We Are All Jews-By-Choice

On Passover, We Are All Jews-By-Choice

On Passover, we are all Jews-by-Choice when we choose to remember what it is that brings us together for the holiday.
Slavery, Social Justice, and Family History

Slavery, Social Justice, and Family History

Reflecting on a "Pilgrimage to the South" on a Movement social justice trip as a Black Jew and how it has changed who I am.
The Seder as a Lived Experience

The Seder as a Lived Experience

We use the Seder as a lived experience by reenacting the exodus, not just recounting it. Therefore, we can all connect to Passover.
Not A Haggadah Post Image

Passover Reader 5784: Not A Haggadah

Exploring Judaism's 2024 (5784) Passover Reader, Not A Haggadah, includes essays to inspire a meaningful Passover.
This is the Bread of Affliction

This is the Bread of Affliction

This is the bread of affliction: Matzah adorns our Seder plates and nourishes our souls, as well—this food is fulfilling.
Yachatz Brokenness and Wholeness

Yachatz: Brokenness and Wholeness

One explanation offered by the Sages for Yachatz in the seder is that it helps promote making the world less broken, if not completely whole.
Climate Disruption and Passover

Climate Disruption and Passover

Let’s do more than remember our refugee origin story and include how climate change and disruption are leading to new refugees.
Mujaddara on Passover

Mujaddara on Passover

How my family created and passed down cultural traditions, and how the Conservative Teshuvah on Kitniyot impacts our life outside the academy.
Why Is Diversity Important at the Passover Seder?

Why Is Diversity Important at the Passover Seder?

This is why I think my family's tradition of inviting a non-Jew each year to the Passover seder is important.
blurry image of dishes and the words The Important Thing That Keeps our Family “Doing Jewish”

The Important Thing That Keeps our Family “Doing Jewish”

The most important thing to teach the next generation is how to make a seder, including what comes before the festival candles are even lit.
blurry image of someone cleaning a table with the words When the COVID Plague Threatens Your Seder (Again)

When the COVID Plague Threatens Your Seder (Again)

Here are 10 tips on how to make Pesah meaningful and kosher (enough) even when the plague of COVID continues to threaten our celebrations.
blurry image of a table with the words The Four Children and Racial Justice

The Four Children and Racial Justice

We approach the Haggadah at a time of profound racial reckoning in our country. How might the four children help us relate to racial justice?
Blurry image of countryside with the words Mah Nishtanah: How Is This Moment Different?

Mah Nishtanah: How Is This Moment Different?

Mah Nishtanah: How is This Moment Different by Rabbi Rachel Ain is a reflection on her recent trip to Ukraine in 2022.
close up image of gas stove with the words Leveraging Anger for Change this Passover

Leveraging Anger for Change this Passover

While anger and frustration can lead to stress and dissatisfaction, mindful approaches to our anger can move our lives out of complacency.
Ask the Questions and Dig Deeper

Ask the Questions and Dig Deeper

Combining lessons from the Mishnah and Human Resources, we realize that asking questions is the path to greater understanding.
The Four Questions and Living with Mental Illness

The Four Questions and Living with Mental Illness

We have the opportunity to help teens create long-lasting positive connections to the very traditions they are appropriately questioning.
blurry background of a grocery store with the words freedom and food allergies

Freedom and Food Allergies

How is one with food allergies supposed to feel free when they can’t partake in the matzo balls, charoset, cake, or anything else?
blurry cloth with the words: Including non-Jewish guests at our Seder: A reflection on top

Including non-Jewish guests at our Seder: A reflection

Reflecting on the universal nature of the Exodus, as "eternally contemporary; it’s the story of too many peoples."