Passover

people sitting at a Passover table

Passover is the most widely celebrated Jewish holiday in North America. What makes Passover appealing to so many of us? Is it the fact that Passover is a home-based holiday, which offers an opportunity for family and friends to gather around the seder table, recalling past memories and creating new ones? Or is it that the core themes of slavery and liberation still resonate so deeply within us that we want to retell the story of Passover again and again each year? From our elaborate holiday preparations through the seder rituals and beyond, the timeless Jewish traditions of Passover have been transformed and enhanced by feminist contributions to Jewish ritual. Seder tables around the world feature new interpretations and practices that give life to the ancient, resonant themes of this powerful holiday. A rich palate of creative readings enlivens the ancient text of the haggadah. The orange on the seder plate, once solely a symbol of gay and lesbian liberation, is now often used to highlight the role of women in Jewish life as well. Miriam’s cup joins Elijah’s on our seder tables, reminding us of the importance of women’s leadership and initiative, of the power of song and dance, and of the living waters that—in Miriam’s honor—sustained us in our desert wanderings.

Latest Rituals

Rabbi Lisa S. Greene shares an addition to the seder plate for 2024/5784.
closeup of a fig growing on a tree
This powerful new poem written for Passover 2024 uses the framework of the four children to explore the challenges in our world.
children sitting at a Passover table
“Where is the waiting Nachshon, Prince of the tribe of Judah / who jumps into the swirling sea…”
the waters parting
“All of the marriages, promises all the lives and deaths behind us all the way back to the Red Sea’s crossing…”
A drawing of Miram dances with a timbrel, set against a oink backdrop.
“That frog, / that inconsequential, modest frog, / held our fate in its webbed feet…”
a small green frog sits on a lily pad
Adva Chattler adapts four Passover rituals to mark the holiday during this time of war.
a collage of passover symbols with a yellow ribbon in the center
“The child / had suckled my breast, but / would call another mother.”
A woman sitting alone in the desert
“Imagine Moses / leading the slaves out of Egypt on Zoom…”
a seder plate

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