The Seder Transformed
Imagine the scene.
It is seder night. Your hosts greet you at the door garbed in desert robes. On one end of the seder table an enormous centerpiece made of charoset is shaped as a pyramid, decorated with tiny plastic bugs and toy villains such as Cruella de Ville and Lex Luthor. At the other end, another centerpiece shows Moses and the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea. At each place setting are a traditional haggadah…and…a booklet of Passover parodies.
The leader sits at the head of the table, surrounded by dozens of resource books, all marked to indicate comments he or she will add throughout the evening. Every guest is asked to participate in skits, songs, and games, as well as in serious discussion.
At the seder’s end, as the last refrain of Had Gadya is sung, one of the kids brings a tray piled with seder fortune cookies, two small squares of matzah tied together with colorful ribbons. Each guest chooses a cookie and reads the fortune aloud. My daughter reads hers: “May the stories of our people be upon our hearts and the grace of the Torah dance in our souls.” I read mine: “You get to stay and clean up this mess!”
There has been a revolution in creative seder-making since the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs’ publication of Passover: The Art of Jewish Living 20 years ago. Dozens of books, modern haggadot, and resources can enhance anyone’s seder experience. In workshops throughout North America, eager seder leaders find ways to transform what could be stilted ceremonies into ones that involve guests of all ages.
The real purpose of the seder is to reenact the Exodus story. The rabbis created a multi-sensory extravaganza of ritual, symbolic foods, text study, food, games, and questions, all designed to engage an intergenerational group around a table. But over the years the seder has become a rote reading, mostly in an English that itself is often incomprehensible.
People find it liberating not only to read the traditional texts, but also occasionally to get their heads out of the book. Use games, songs, and magic tricks to enliven the proceedings and keep the children interested – the precise goal of the Four Questions. For an older crowd, pause during the reading to share commentaries or debate the meaning of the story.
The main goal is stimulating everyone: “Whoever elaborates the story deserves praise.” The rabbis themselves borrowed the model of a talk-feast from the Romans; why not borrow the best strategies we can to involve our seder guests?
This requires knowing something about the people at your table. One year, I finally realized how to get one of our reluctantto- participate long-time guests to contribute. He was a wine connoisseur and I asked him to identify four kosher-for-Pesah wines we could serve for each of the four cups. He was thrilled. When it came time for the first cup he shocked us all by standing up and describing the characteristics of our first selection.
There is a myriad of books, games, decorations, craft ideas, and songs available. Schools and synagogues offer workshops on interactive celebrations. Google “Passover Seder.” Check out books such as Noam Zion’s A Different Night and David Arnow’s Creating Lively Passover Seders and share ideas with friends. Many Women’s League Judaica shops and stores stock commercially produced plague bags, dolls, decorations, games, and magic tricks that make that afikoman disappear! Once given permission and empowerment, people find their creativity unleashed.
None of these ideas is a substitute for the recitation of the haggadah itself. They are simply ways to elaborate the story, to capture the attention of those around the table – young and old – who might have little knowledge of Jewish practice, and to enliven what is the most observed Jewish holiday in the world.
Dr. Ron Wolfson is Fingerhut professor of education at the American Jewish University, president of Synagogue 3000, and author of Passover – 2nd Edition: The Family Guide to Spiritual Celebration from Jewish Lights Publishing.
