MY FAVORITE (PASSOVER) THINGS: a very idiosyncratic list of resources for your seder

Many people I have talked to this week are suddenly in the throes of pre-Pesach planning. So this message will be short and to the point.

I am amazed at the resources available to us this year to create a meaningful and memorable seder. Here are a few online resources for every taste.

Are you creating your own haggadah or enhancing the one you always use? Check out a variety of editions, including the traditional text, supplementary readings, songs and even some recipes:

http://www.jewishfreeware.org/downloads/folder.2006-01-07.0640323187/

Are you looking to add a contemporary message of social justice to your seder, whether a reading or an action you can take? Here are a couple of my favorites this year:

• The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism offers several downloadable haggadot on various themes, including LGBTQ outreach, hunger, modern slavery, immigration, a seder for the earth, and a black-Jewish haggadah at:

http://rac.org/pubs/holidayguides/passover/haggadot/

• T’ruah (formerly Rabbis for Human Rights-North America) has a unique Afikoman prize, 10 ways to bring human rights to your seder and adding a tomato to your seder plate:

http://www.truah.org/resources/holidays/passover.html

• From Moving Traditions, the source of our girls empowerment group, Rosh Hodesh: It’s a Girl Thing, here’s a story and questions about brave women, suitable for teens as well. Note: “Paro” is the Hebrew for “Pharaoh.”

http://movingtraditions.org/reeds/

• I love song parodies, in case you haven’t noticed. This year I’ve found several sites with new and clever seder songs (beyond the classic “Said the father to his children….” version of the 4 children, sung to the tune of “Clementine”). Lots of familiar Broadway tunes and Beatles melodies can be found at:

http://barbarasarshik.com/

• For those with a spiritual bent, check out Ritualwell.org, a project of the Reconstructionist movement, and find songs, meditations, readings and poems:

http://www.ritualwell.org/categories/90

• Recipes? Of course! How can we get through a week of no chametz (no bread, pasta, cereal or other dishes made of wheat, rye, oats, barley or spelt) without some new ideas? After you’ve collected the family recipes and searched the cookbooks, check out:

http://www.joyofkosher.com/?s=passover&post_type=recipe&sort=d&sortcolumn=post_modified&pn=3&decideSort=1

And finally, I would like to encourage you to invite our President to your seder table. He will probably decline, but his words about Passover, about peace, and about the Jewish people will provide food for thought (Pesahdik of course!) and some lively conversation about what it means to be a Jew today, what freedom requires of us, and how our story has a universal message. Read the speech Barack Obama gave in Jerusalem on March 21 (and count how many Hebrew phrases he knows!);

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/world/middleeast/transcript-of-obamas-speech-in-israel.html?_r=0

From my family to yours, from my house to your house, from my heart to yours, I wish you a joyous and liberating Pesach holiday!

Rabbi Barbara Penzner