Peeling a Pomegranate

I expect I’ll be writing a lot about Passover during the next month. But since this is the first installment, let’s start at the beginning.

Planning your Passover
There are a lot of details to think about, but the first should be your intent. The Seder is, after all, a ritual — and planning a ritual starts with the intent. You’d think this is obvious, but based on the number of Haggadahs on the market, there’s a lot of room for interpretation. For me, it’s about preventing slavery and empowering those would fight against it by enacting this ritual. I try to make things very personal for people, so they will get involved on a very emotional level. Tears should flow. If those tears and that energy helps to free a single person from slavery or allows one person to stand up and speak the truth — my intent has been met.

You can see my Haggadah on this site. There’s a full PDF preview available.

It’s also easy to get caught up in the ritual actions — because there’s so many options! Do you add an orange, do you add a Miriam’s cup, what songs do you sing, what kind of food do you serve? The intent should drive each of these actions.

By deciding on your intent — all of these questions become much more obvious. If your intent is to bring forth the contributions of women, then by all means, add that Miriam’s cup and orange. This is how I developed the idea of the prophet’s cup. Instead of honoring a single prophet — we honor many over the generations and each person adds to the cup from their own. That way each of us supports the efforts of those who speak the truth and work to free others.

Passover Resources:

The Haggadah Toolkit (pdf)
Creating Seder Traditions
Seasons of Our Joy - Pesach