Think & Reflect:
It is almost Passover – yes, weeks away – but Passover is a holiday with lots of preparations usually starting with the food. Here in Dallas, you’d better get to the store and grab the many Passover items out before they are gone!! And then you need to plan for the seder meals and beyond.
However, that is not the most important part. Getting ready for Passover is about the seder experience and for many that means finding a new Haggadah (which I do every year to add to the many I have – and yes, at the seder, we put them all out and read sections that inspire from each).
Questions to Ponder
One of the most exciting moments at the seder is the asking of the Four Questions – it is a definite rite of passage that is usually looked forward to especially if you are the youngest at age 30 and you are waiting for the grandchildren of your older siblings to finally take over the job!!
This year, try this: tell everyone coming to the seder (no matter the age) to come prepared with at least one new question about Passover. They don’t have to have the answer – questions are more important!
Do & Share
Do you have a family Passover tradition to share? Send it to me at lseymour@jccdallas.org. We are collecting new ideas and will put them out before Passover.
A Challenge for a Week (or longer)
Here is the challenge for Passover – keep your Haggadah but also bring a Torah to the table. The Book of Exodus is the story we are telling so have these texts ready to add to the discussion (one from Genesis has to be included). Want to know why I love these quotes – email me!!
- Genesis 15:13-14 And He said to Abram, “Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years: but I will execute judgement on the nation they shall serve, and in the end, they shall go free with great wealth.
- The opening of the Book of Exodus tell the names of all who came to Egypt and then Exodus 1:8 says it all: A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.
- Exodus 1: 15 – who are Shiphrah and Puah??
- Exodus 3:2-3 An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a bush… Moses said, “I must turn aside to look at the marvelous sight…” Today we are so busy looking at our cellphones we would have missed the bush. What makes you stop and be aware that G-d may be talking to you?
The Haggadah tells the story in a unique way – learn from both the “original” and the messages of the Haggadah (which, by the way, is said to be the Jewish book with the most variations.
Laura Seymour | Camp Director Emeritus | Jewish Experiential Learning Director
