Passover
Celebrate Passover with CRS
On-Demand Content
Connected at the Table: Passover and Our Stories of Redemption (Online Seder)
About Passover
For eight days, we commemorate the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. God sent Moses to Pharaoh with this message: “Send forth My people, so that they may serve Me.” But Pharaoh refused to listen so God sent ten plagues to Egypt. The Israelites, spared by God, fled for Mount Sinai.
The story of Passover is about the search for freedom and faith made possible because of our strength and steady resilience. Every year at the seder table, we read in the Haggadah how we have the power to triumph over adversity. A testament to our faith, yes, as well as our responsibility to pass on our story l’dor v’dor, from generation to generation – to never forget that we survived plague and persecution through the millennia.
So we read from the Haggadah, drink four cups of wine, hide the afikomen, await Elijah’s presence, and because our ancestors only had unleavened bread to eat, we therefore eat matzah. And what of the charoses sandwich we make with our matzah, a sandwich that stands in for the mud and straw with which the Israelite slaves made bricks? Let it represent for us the bricks of our magnificent temple building. Our own cherished congregational home that still stands and where, full of hope and optimism, we happily enter its doors together again. Dayenu!
Resources
Sholom Sprouts ›
Resources especially for families with children 0–4.
Post-Oct 7th
- Prayers, Poems, Songs, and Meditations in Response to October 7, a Haggadah supplement from the CCAR
- 7 Ways to Address October 7 at Your Family Seder, a family guide from Kveller
- Why is This Night Different? An Educational Companion for Passover 2024
- In Every Generation: A Haggadah Supplement for 5784
- Bringing the Hostages to Your Seder Seder Supplement and Facilitator Guide
- Mah Nishtana? Seder reflections from ARZA
- A Prayer For These Desperate Times from JFREJ
Haggadot
- The Mishkan HaSeder from CCAR Press features poetry and art
- In Every Generation: A PJ Library Family Haggadah
- Make Your Own Haggadah!
- Download Hadar’s Maggid Map
- Anonymous Haggadah, A Synthesis of the Passover Ritual and Liturgy with the Twelve Steps of Recovery from Jewish Alcoholics and Chemically Dependent Persons and Significant Others
- American Jewish World Service’s free Social Justice Haggadah: Until We Are All Free
- The Jewish Braille Institute offers a free large-print Haggadah for the visually impaired or reading disabled.
- NEW: Passover! The World’s Most Complicated Dinner Party from JewBelong
Mitzvot
- Donate your chametz: After cleaning out the chametz in your homes, donate it to food pantries and soup kitchens. Find your local food bank.
- Ask four new questions: Why on this night are some people still enslaved today? Why on this night do so many remain hungry in the world? Why on this night do we invite the hungry and lonely to share our meal? How can we eradicate hunger and homelessness on this night and every night?
- CRS Food Drive: We continue to provide much needed help to our neighbors and our partners, the Westside Campaign Against Hunger, the HUC-JIR Soup Kitchen, and the Church of St. Matthew & St. Timothy. Please donate to the CRS Food Drive.
- Help an older neighbor: Volunteers of all ages make meaningful connections with older adults. Visit, call, bring holiday packages, run errands, play chess, teach the use of computers, smartphones or tablets, drop off a package of supplies, and offer companionship over the phone. Sign up at Dorot.
Food and Wine
Music
- Miriam’s Song by Debbie Friedman
- Spotify’s Passover Playlist: Songs about freedom, gratitude, and the Passover story (PJ Library)
- Cantor De Lowe’s Spotify Passover Playlist: Playlist Passover, Pass On, Pass Through
- Spotify Passover Playlist: No Challah/No Problem
Crafts
- Learn how to fold Origami Frogs, an adorable representation of the Second Plague. Don’t forget the googly eyes!
- Make a Felt Seder Plate
- Make your own Miriam’s Tambourine and dance to Miriam’s Song!
- NEW: PJ Library Question Catcher
Your Seder Plate
- What goes on the Seder Plate?
- Add meaningful things to your Seder Plate! Add an orange to honor women in Jewish life, a potato for the exodus of Ethiopian Jews to Israel, and a banana for refugees.
- Make your own seder plate: On a favorite wood board or ceramic serving dish, place small bowls. You can organize your Seder plate items in any way you like! You might arrange the traditional items in six bowls on one side. Then arrange your new and meaningful items in more small bowls on the other side.
- Since Ukraine’s most famous national food is borscht, made from beetroot, add one to your Seder plate to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
