Creating Lively Passover Seders (2nd Edition) , livre ebook

Creating Lively Passover Seders, 2nd Ed.: A Sourcebook of Engaging Tales, Texts & Activities
2011 Quality Paperback Edition, First Printing 2011 by David Arnow
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Arnow, David. Creating lively Passover seders : a sourcebook of engaging tales, texts & activities / David Arnow.-2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-58023-444-3 (quality pbk. original) 1. Seder. 2. Haggadah. 3. Passover-Customs and practices. I. Title. BM695.P35A76 2011 296.4'5371-dc22 2010051488
About the Cover Art: Plates 54-55 It Is Our Duty from the Moriah Haggadah™
Avner Moriah was born in Jerusalem in 1953. He received his BFA from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Architecture in Jerusalem and his MFA from Yale University s Graduate School of Art and Architecture. His paintings have been acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Jewish Museum in New York, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Holocaust Museum in Washington, the Skirball Museum in LA, and private collections throughout the world. The artist can be reached in Israel at Rehov Elqahi 57/8, Jerusalem 93807.
Pictured here are six panels from It Is Our Duty from the Limited Edition of the Moriah Haggadah™, arranged in pairs from right to left: the Israelites enslaved and the Hand of God bringing them from slavery to freedom; the people being lifted from sorrow to joy and from mourning to festivity.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Cover Design: Bridgett Taylor Manufactured in the United States of America
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Dedication Second Edition
In memory of my mother, Joan Arnow, who taught me ma nishtanah and so much more ...
She opens her mouth with wisdom and the Torah of loving kindness is on her tongue (Proverbs 31:26).

Dedication First Edition
To my parents, Joan and Robert, who showed me the way.
To Madeleine, my wife and beloved partner on the journey for now twenty-eight years.
CONTENTS -
Acknowledgments to the Second Edition
Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgments to the First Edition
Preface to the First Edition
Introduction
How to Use This Book
A Few Words for Seder Leaders
A Note on Rabbinic Literature, the Haggadah, and Translations
1
A Dish for the Ages: The Seder Plate
Confused? • Experiment with Your Plate • A Taste of History • Why Does This Plate Differ from That One?
2
The Long Road from Slavery to Freedom: From Ancient Egypt to Our Time
Slavery in Ancient Times • Exodus and the American Ethos • The Great Seal of the United States: Israelites Crossing the Red Sea versus a Pyramid • Former Slaves Speak • Let Freedom Ring: Historic Words on Freedom • Jewish Values and Social Justice: American Jews in the Antebellum South • Slavery in Our Time
3
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?
4
Passover After the Temple: From Sacrifice to Story
Judah the Prince and the Seder • Telling the Story: Some Ancient Advice • The Medium Is the Message • Taking Elaboration Seriously • Art Midrash: Begin with Disgrace and End with Praise • Crossing Rivers and Taking Responsibility
5
Five Super-Sages in B nei B rak
Five Super-Sages: Their Times and Teachings • Banning Rabbi Eliezer • Gamaliel s Conspicuous Absence: Fingerprints on the Haggadah
6
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
7
Hardening Pharaoh s Heart: The Toughest Part of the Story
The Bible and the Hardening of Pharaoh s Heart • The Commentators Struggle • The Softening of God s Heart
8
The Festival of Spring: Reconnecting Passover and Nature
On Spring and Time • The Origins of Passover: Two Views • History Trumps Nature • Activities, Blessings, and Readings
9
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
10
Enslaved in Egypt: Why?
The Covenant of the Pieces • Israel Enslaved: Many Questions, Many Answers • Joseph and the Enslavement? • The Self-Critical Voice: Benefits and Dangers
11
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 • Two Midrashim on the Stranger • Two Zionist Leaders on the Stranger
12
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
13
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 • A Much-Interpreted Phrase • Laban and Pharaoh • Deuteronomy s Israelite History without Sinai
14
Women of the Exodus: Redeemed by Their Righteousness
Passover in an Upside-Down World • Women and the Haggadah: Missing in Action • The 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
15
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
16
Moses in the Haggadah: The Human Role in Redemption
Where s Moses? • Not By an Angel ... • Why Minimize Moses? • Fresh Readings: The Haggadah and the Human Role in the Exodus • The Covenantal Context of Redemption • Righteous Women, Apple Trees and Charoset • Purim in the Haggadah • In Every Generation • Five Midrashic Voices on Redemption
17
Dayyenu : It Would Have Sufficed
First Songs: The Song at the Sea and Dayyenu • Roots? • Why Fifteen Divine Favors? • Dayyenu as Microcosm • Sinai Without Torah: Would It Have Sufficed?
18
Reliving the Exodus: The Story of the Last Night in Egypt
Setting the Stage • The Last Night in Egypt • Bibliodrama: Knocking in the Night • Bibliodrama: To Stay or to Leave? • A Prayer for the Journey • Marching from Egypt to the Promised Land
19
Israel and the Haggadah
The Fruits of Israel and 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
20
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: The Horse and Driver
21
Blessed Are You ... Who Redeemed Us : The Seder of Redemption
The Seder of Hope: Tuning in to Themes of Redemption • Redemption in the Bible and the Ancient Near East • An Age-Old Question: Why Did God Redeem the Israelites from Egypt? • The Four Cups of Redemption • A Quartet of Twentieth-Century Jewish Voices on Redemption • On Faith in Redemption
22
Passover without a Seder: The Paschal Sacrifice
Passover in Egypt • In Temple Times • The Passover Rite • Sources on Sacrifice • Sacrifice in Our Lives Today
23
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 Mirror: A Tale of Elijah and the Seder • Pour Out Your Wrath versus Give Up Anger • More Than Vengeance Alone
24
Two Seder Songs: Echad Mi Yodea and Chad Gadya
Echad Mi Yodea : Mysterious Origins • A Night of Numbers • Counting What Matters • The Ba al Shem Tov • Chad Gadya • Inspiration?• Came the Commentators • Modern Voices • The Haggadah s Last Word: A World of Eternal Life
25
The Exodus from Egypt: The Question of Archeology
History and Story • Five Sage Perspectives on the Exodus and History

Appendix I:
Chapter Ten of the Mishnah Pesachim, the Night of Passover
Appendix II:
What Is Midrash?
Appendix III:
Directions for Art Midrash Projects
Appendix IV:
Blessing for the New Moon

Abbreviations and Abbreviated Titles Used in This Book
Notes
Select Bibliography
Permissions

About Jewish Lights
Copyright
Acknowledgments to the Second Edition —
A number of people deserve thanks for helping with various aspects of the second edition. Rabbi Jeffrey Hoffman, with whom I have been studying for the last few years, has been a great sounding board for ideas, a wonderful guide through some of the challenging texts that appear in the book, and a patient teacher. Avraham Holtz, Joel M. Hoffman, Nathan Shapira, and Rabbi Burton L. Visotzky provided good answers to a few arcane questions. I ve learned a great deal from the rabbis who have served at Temple Israel Center-Rabbis Gordon Tucker, Neil Zuckerman, Dina Shargel, Tamar Elad-Appelbaum, and Michael Goldman-and Rabbi Lester Bronstein of Bet Am Shalom. Many