Passover

Celebrate with Congregation Rodeph Sholom

Passover

April 5 – 12, 2023

April 12 at 7:30 PM

Clergy Kitchen: Passover Edition

With Rabbi Goldberg

April 15 at 7:30 PM

Congregational Passover Seder | At the Table Together: The Questions that Change Us

With Rabbi Spratt and Cantor De Lowe

April 5 at 6:00 PM

1st Day Passover Virtual Seder

This is the same registration link as weekly Shabbat Morning Chapel Services.

April 22 at 10:00 AM

7th Day Passover Yizkor Service

With Rabbi Karol and Cantor Iacono

  • IN-PERSON


In-person registration is not required.

Passover Catering by Certé

Our friends at Certé will once again be offering a special Passover menu for CRS with all of the seder plate essentials, gefilte fish, and an entire Seder meal. Be sure to place your order by 2:00 PM on MON, APR 4. Please note all orders are to be picked up only at CRS on Friday, April 15 between 9:00 AM-2:00 PM.

About the Holiday

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, this year, the bricks of our magnificent temple building in which we have made our return. Our own cherished congregational home that still stands and where, full of hope and optimism, we happily enter its doors together again. Dayenu!

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.

Music

Haggadot

Food and Wine

Sholom Sprouts

Passover Resources especially for families with children 0-4. Explore ›

Crafts

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.