Last year at my dad’s Passover seder, I made more than my fair share of comments about how out of touch I felt the Haggadah we were using was. For the non-Jewish Buddhists out there, a Haggadah is the special prayer book we use on Passover. It contains all the prayers and rituals for the seder, the Passover dinner.
I complained about this old Haggadah’s masculine tone (God always = He/Him), the language of the story of Passover sounding about as comprehensible as a Shakespeare sonnet, and a lack of commentary on the story. Passover is one of the most important Jewish holidays there is, and here we are using a throwaway Haggadah that did not bring the story to life. It’s a pretty exciting story – the Jews were slaves in Egypt, the ten plagues, Let My People Go, the parting of the sea, etc. You could make a movie out of this!
“Okay Em,” my dad said, having had enough of my complaining, “Your job is to find a new Haggadah for next year’s seder.”
Ugh. Crap. I just had to open my big mouth.
I didn’t even remember about my task until about a month ago when my dad sent me a link to a Judaica store in my neighborhood. You know, just a friendly reminder of my assignment. It was a challenge. How would I know when I found the right Haggadah? What would it be like? What the hell was I even looking for?
Some early contenders were:
“The “customizable” haggadah — enables you to fashion a seder that works for any age and interest level.”
“Wisdom from the Four Sons and the Four Daughters. Social Conscience. From Moses to Martin Luther King. Discover contemporary stories of liberation and social action from Egypt to Los Angeles.”
“THE HOLISTIC HAGGADAH is a fascinating guide to the inner journey that the Passover Seder evening offers us. It is a daring commentary that challenges each of us to go down into our self-imposed Mitzraim (Egypt) and face our attachments and the false gods that confine us. It then beckons us forth to true freedom and a more meaningful relationship between ourselves and God”
These all sounded interesting to me, but I also had to think about what would appeal to my other family members who would be at the seder.
I went to the bookstore to browse through the Haggadahs, and I didn’t love any of them. The first two seemed cheesy and too textbook-ish, and the third was just too much reading.
Flipping through tons of books that were all imperfect, I began to despair, and then, I found this:
“The text’s grounding in Jewish tradition is firm, its borrowings from recent feminist writings insightful, its innovations both creative and poetic….It includes gender inclusive English blessings and transliterated Hebrew, as well as both traditional and feminine Hebrew blessings. This revised edition contains explicit directions and suggestions for activism.”
This seemed like a winner:
- It has a feminist focus that isn’t overwhelming and seemed accessible for men and women
- It provides the non-gender-specific language prayers AS WELL AS the traditional masculine language prayers
- The whole traditional seder and all the rituals are there
- It provides commentary on the text and the story from religious scholars and writers, encouraging discussion and reflection
- There’s a LOT about women and their role in Judaism, but you can pick and choose how much of this you want to make a part of the seder
- It has pretty photographs and pictures!
It will definitely be a different seder than we are used to, but I’m hoping that the new Haggadah will spark some interesting discussion and help us to reflect more deeply on the history of this holiday and what it means to us today.
As for what it means to me, I will happily get back to you on that…next week.
Happy Passover!
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