Creating Lively Passover Seders:

A Sourcebook of Engaging Tales, Texts & Activities

 by David Arnow, Ph.D.

Jewish Lights Publishing 

Choose One Chapter a Year and You'll Have Plenty of Ideas for a Great Seder!


Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The Long Road from Slavery to Freedom: From Ancient Egypt to Our Time
Slavery in Ancient Times ~ Exodus and the American Ethos ~ Vengeance Versus Empathy ~ The Great Seal of the United States ~ Former Slaves Speak ~ Let Freedom Ring: Historic Words on Freedom ~ Jewish Values and Social Justice ~ Slavery in Our Time

Chapter 2: The Four "Questions:" Who's Asking What and Why?
Engaging Children During the Seder: An Ancient Lesson ~ Questions About Questions ~ The Greek Symposium and the Jewish Seder ~ Why These Particular Questions?

Chapter 3: Two Haggadot in One: The Haggadah's Early Development
When Two Sages Disagree: A Story about the Haggadah's Development ~ Art Midrash: "Begin with Disgrace and End with Praise" ~ Crossing Rivers and Taking Responsibility

Chapter 4: The Five Sages' Seder: Who Were They and What Kept Them So Late?
Five Super-Sages: Their Times and Teachings ~ Banning Rabbi Eliezer ~ The Seder in B'nei B'rak: Reconstructing the Conversation

Chapter 5: The Four Children: A Seat at the Table for Everyone

The Four Children ~ Torah Versus Haggadah ~ The Wise Versus the Wicked: A Recipe for Conflict or Conflict Resolution? ~ Four Voices on Four Children

Chapter 6: Hardening Pharaoh's Heart: The Toughest Part of the Story

The Bible and the Hardening of Pharaoh's Heart ~ The Commentators' Struggle ~ "I Will Send All My Plagues into Your Heart..." ~ The Softening of God's Heart

Chapter 7: The Festival of Spring: Reconnecting Passover and Nature
On Spring and Time ~ The Origins of Passover: Two Views ~ History Trumps Nature ~ Art Midrash: Passover, Freedom, and Spring ~ Activities, Blessings, and Readings

Chapter 8: The Exodus as A Personal Spiritual Journey
Exodus: The Spiritual Journey ~ Milestones Along the Road ~ Crossing the Sea and the First Song ~ The Journey's Ultimate Purpose

Chapter 9: "Enslaved for Four Hundred Years..." Why?
The "Covenant of the Pieces" ~ Israel Enslaved: Many Questions, Many Answers ~ Joseph and the Enslavement? ~ The Self-Critical View: Benefits and Dangers

Chapter 10: "Strangers in a Land Not Theirs:" Remembering to Treat the Strangers among Us Justly
Knowing the Heart of the Stranger ~ A Blessing: Treating Strangers Justly ~ Israel and Its Minority of Arab Citizens

Chapter 11:  "In Every Generation..."? God's Role in History and the Jewish People's History among the Nations
God: The Elephant, As It Were, At the Seder ~ Arguing with God ~ The Sages on Innocent Suffering ~ Modern Voices

Chapter 12: "Go Out and Learn...:" How the Haggadah Tells the Story of the Exodus
How the Haggadah Tells the Story ~ The Pilgrims' Prayer and the Haggadah ~ Jacob in the House of Laban ~ A Much Interpreted Phrase ~ Moses in the Haggadah ~ Deuteronomy's History Without Sinai

Chapter 13: Women of the Exodus: Redeemed By Their Righteousness
Passover in an Upside-Down World ~ Women and the Haggadah: Missing in Action ~ Women of the Exodus in Midrash  ~ Eden and Egypt: Two Tales of Exodus ~ Serakh bat Asher and the Exodus ~ The Legend of Miriam's Well ~ The Ritual of Miriam's Cup ~ Redeemed Through Blood and Water: Balancing Elijah's Cup with Miriam's Cup

Chapter 14: The Ten Plagues: Who Suffered and Why?
Plagues Against the Israelites? ~ Why Spill Wine from Our Cups? ~ When Our Enemies Fall ~ The Plagues and Knowing God ~ Signs, Wonders, and Faith: Or Did the Plagues Fail? ~ Measure For Measure ~ Revealing the Creator Through Anti-Creation

Chapter 15: Rabban Gamaliel: An Embattled Leader
Who Was Gamalie? ~ Deposed and Reinstated ~ Fingerprints on the Haggadah

Chapter 16: Reliving the Exodus: The Story of the Last Night in Egypt

Setting the Stage ~ The Last Night in Egypt ~ Bibliodramas: Knocking in the Night; To Stay or To Leave? ~ A Prayer for the Journey ~ Marching from Egypt to the Promised Land

Chapter 17: Israel and the Haggadah
The Fruits of Israel Versus Egypt: A Puzzle ~ Israel's Absence from the Heart of the Haggadah ~ Whither Israel ~ The Fifth Cup ~ Readings for the Fifth Cup ~ Passover, Messianism and Israel

Chapter 18: The Restoration of Wonder: The Miracles of Egypt and Our Day
The Bible and the Dictionary ~ The Sages on Miracles ~ The Restoration of Wonder ~ Jewish Voices on Miracles ~ At the Red Sea: Two Midrashim

Chapter 19: "From Darkness to Great Light:" What Do These Words Mean To Us Today?
An Art Midrash Project ~ Variations on a Theme ~ Four Interpretations of Five Phrases ~ A Deeper Look at a Memorable Passage ~ The Cultural Milieu

Chapter 20: "Blessed Are You ... Who Redeemed Us:" The Seder of Redemption
The Seder of Hope: Tuning into Themes of Redemption ~ Redemption in the Bible and the Ancient Near East ~ Why Did God Redeem the Israelites? ~ The Four Cups of Redemption ~ A Quartet of Twentieth Century Voices on Redemption ~ On Faith in Redemption

Chapter 21: "A Remembrance of the Temple:" The Life and Times of Hillel
Hillel's Sandwich ~ A Legendary Leader ~ Hillel's Teachings ~ The Talmud on the Destruction of the Temple

Chapter 22: Elijah's Transformation: From Zealot to Folk Hero
Elijah Comes to the Seder ~ Elijah's Cup ~ The Biblical Elijah ~ The Elijah Puzzle ~ Modeling the Potential to Change ~ A Tale of Elijah and the Seder ~ "Pour Out Your Wrath..." Versus "Give Up Anger..."

Chapter 23: The Exodus from Egypt: The Question of Archeology
History and Story ~ Five Sage Perspectives on the Exodus and History