Making Tonight Different


The Haggadah recalls slavery as a historic moment but also declares that “we still are slaves now, though next year we will be free.” To encourage your guests to contemplate the meanings of freedom and slavery, distribute this list of quotations to your guests prior to the Seder. At the table, ask participants to read the quote that expresses something felt deeply and explain their reasons for choosing it. The Seder Tips will help you create a memorable Seder. Choose the tips with which you feel most comfortable. Then, next year, try some of the others!


Seder Tips:

Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote the freedom to err.
- Mahatma Gandhi (20th c. Indian Freedom Leader)

Better to be a free bird than a captive king.
- Danish proverb

It is not good to be too free. It is not good to have everything one wants.
- Blaise Pascal (France)

The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good, in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.
- J.S. Mill (English 19th c. Political Philosopher)

Freedom is taken, not given.
- Ahad Haam (Zionist, 20th c. Thinker)

When is a man free? Not when he is driftwood on the stream of life...free of all cares or worries or ambitions....He is not free at all—not drugged, like the lotus eaters in the Odyssey... To be free in actions, in struggle, in undiverted and purposeful achievement, to move forward towards a worthy objective across a fierce terrain of resistance, to be vital and aglow in the exercise of a great enterprise–that is to be free, and to know the joy and exhilaration of true freedom. A man is free only when he has an errand on earth.
- Abba Hillel Silver (20th c. Reform Rabbi and Zionist Leader)

What then is the meaning of freedom for modern man? He has become free from the external bonds that would prevent him from doing and thinking as he sees fit. He would be free to act according to his will, if he knew what he wanted, thought, and felt. But he does not know. He conforms to anonymous authorities and adopts a self which is not his. The more he does this, the more powerless he feels, the more is he forced to conform. In spite of a veneer of optimism and initiative, modern man is overcome by a profound feeling of powerlessness and enslavement.
- Erich Fromm, (20th c. German Jewish Psychologist)

There is no boredom like that which can afflict people who are free, and nothing else. Ralph Barton Perry No human being is free who is not master of himself.
- Epictetus (Ancient Greek Philosopher)

The Fifth Question
We ask guests to think of a fifth question to ask after the traditional four. Later, when it’s time to fill Elijah’s cup, we ask our guests to pour wine from their glasses into the cup and express a personal wish for the future.
Rabbi Philip Warmflash, Executive Director, Jewish Outreach Partnership of Greater Philadelphia

Kiddush Countdown
Before the Seder, we draw four wine cups on construction paper, cut them out, and number the cups one to four. At the appropriate time, children hold them up to show which cup is being blessed.
Shoshana Silberman, Auerbach Central Agency for Jewish Education

When are We Going to eat?…
To help the kids follow the Seder, we cut out fifteen footprints. On each footprint we write, in Hebrew and English, the step of the Seder with an illustration.We place the footprints on the floor as we move along in the Seder to create our Seder journey.
Carol Oseran Starin, Director, Seattle Bureau of Jewish Education

Theme Tablecloths
On inexpensive white sheets, we outline illustrations in permanent marker; our daughters color them in using fabric crayons. Each cloth has a theme: the ten plagues; wandering in the desert (footprints made from a cardboard tracing of the smallest foot in the house); the song “Who Knows One?” Find other themes in the Haggadah!
Ellen & Jonathan Kremer

A What on the Seder Plate?
When the question of whether women becoming rabbis was discussed, a certain man said, “A woman belongs on the pulpit like an orange belongs on the Seder plate!” To symbolize the changes in gender roles in Judaism over the past few decades, we put an orange right in the middle of our Seder plate.
Debby Malissa, Director, Melton Mini School, Philadelphia, PA

Plague in Your House…
Make your own Plague Box, rather than buying a commercially produced one, with items easily found in a supermarket, variety store or carnival supply store. For example, plastic frogs, especially those that make a croaking sound, can represent Tz’fardaya (Frogs). Stickers of cows represent Dever (Cattle disease), while ping-pong balls represent Barad (Hail). Sunglasses or eyeshades given out on long plane flights represent Choshech (Darkness). The more creative the better! Put all the plagues in a container, and pull out the appropriate item as each plague is read during the Seder.
Joan Wolchansky, Family Educator, Central Agency for Jewish Education, St. Louis, Missouri

Oh Nuts!
The Talmud suggests allowing children to play with walnuts during the Seder in order to keep them awake—and asking questions. So we have nuts in bags for the children who use them to play different kinds of games: give them a small ball and let them play jacks, or empty a bag of nuts onto the floor and play pick-up sticks, picking each one up without moving the others.
Rabbi Alan & Jo Kay, New York

Haggadah Hopping
Use a common Haggadah for one Seder and at the second Seder, everyone brings a Haggadah of their choice. Explore different readings or translations from the various editions. Try to have a new Haggadah at your Seder table each year! This Year at Our Seder… At the beginning of the Seder give everyone a post-it and ask them to write the name of someone, they wish could be at the Seder. It can be anyone: a family member, a friend, even a fictional character. Place the post-its on the plate that holds Elijah’s Cup. Seder Surprises We slip into each Haggadah a different reading, meditation or reflection to be presented at various points during the Seder. For example, we added some lines to Dayyenu and put them in one guest’s Haggadah. That person read the additional verses aloud when we got to that part. You can invite everyone to formulate new lines on the spot!
Rabbi David Ackerman, Tiferet Bet Israel, Blue Bell, PA

Sing, Sing, Sing!
This is a joyous time; bring music! There are lots of traditional Passover melodies and new ones that you can find on CDs and tapes. Learn them and sing them. Don’t be afraid to add your own songs of freedom to your Seder. Enliven Chad Gadya, the story of the goat, by making the sound of each character as you sing. Assign parts: the goat, the cat, the dog, the stick, the fire, water, the ox and the butcher. Pick someone creative to be Death. Then all stand and cheer as God vanquishes Death.
Rabbi Ed Feinstein, Valley Beth Shalom, Encino, California