How to keep your
Sunday morning
tradition during
Passover.
Our best wishes to your
family for a healthy, happy
and well-fed holiday!
4/14
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Creating New Traditions
bages. This combines "the symbolic
dipping with a little more sense of an
hors d'oeuvre," she says. The family fol-
lows the vegetarian tradition of adding a
beet next to the shank bone on the
seder plate, in deference to the non-
meat-eating Lerner.
Important to their seder is instituting
ways to "encourage the children to do
as much as possible physically, beyond
ransoming back the afikomen," Shapiro
says. Following an Ethiopian Jewish tra-
dition, the children at the seder "hold
matzot over their heads, circling the
group as if they were slaves in Egypt,"
while singing "Avodim Hayinu" ("We
Were Slaves.")
Ziony Zevit, professor of Bible at the
University of Judaism in Los Angeles,
says the same reading from the Haggada
shares another following. "The Persians
begin the seder with leeks and, at
Avodim Hayinu,' the kids beat their
elders with the leeks."
Many families share the Passover tra-
dition of opening up their homes to
seder guests who might otherwise have
no place to go. Thirty years ago, a well-
received program involving "the empty
chair" was a tribute to families in the
Soviet Union unable to observe the hol-
iday. This has evolved into a hugely suc-
cessful, two-year-old Detroit-area pro-
gram of filling places at the seder table
with those new to the United States and
to Jewish laws and customs.
Andy Beider of West Bloomfield,
who created the project, says last year
accommodations were made for 350
families. A program that started with an
invitation to only .new Americans
brought a revelation to those involved.
"There are plenty of American families,
singles, those with no relatives in town,
those who are not working or are dis-
abled, who would love to be able to go
to a seder," says Beider. The program
has since expanded to include all who
need a place to go.
In addition to those who call Beider
and his wife Libby for placement, fami-
lies are invited from among those pick-
ing up Passover orders at Yad Ezra, the
Oak Park-based kosher food pantry. Yad
Ezra is co-sponsoring the program this
year with the Congregation Shaarey
Zedek Men's Club.
After spending an entire Sunday at
Yad Ezra, Beider found the key to mak-
ing new Americans feel comfortable
with the program — attempt to speak
in their language. Now he can offer the
invitation in Russian.
He and Libby have spent countless
hours matching families for the seders,
based not only on number of people,
but also on location and religious
stream. Andy Beider also printed a
Russian-Hebrew Haggada for seders his
family will host; he expects to include
40 to 50 participants each night.
Some families organize their seders
using a Haggada they created them-
selves. They design them with alterna-
tives gleaned from existing sources, then
add favorite family traditions. A wide
variety of Haggadot are available.
Among them, at Esther's Judaica in
West Bloomfield, Helen Youngworth
offers a pop-up Haggadot for children,
a youth Haggada and a pre-teen
Haggada. Haggadot can be found that
include not only recipes but entire meal
menus.
Some Haggadot discuss traditions
from around the world, offer commen-
tary, political and folk origins of the
seder as well as games, crafts and seder
questions. There are editions that
include a Hebrew-English glossary,
transliterations and step-by-step instruc-
tions on running a seder. Various reli-
gious movements offer their own
Haggadot, including some with egali-
tarian liturgy. Others include sections
on the Holocaust or Israel, some with
specific prayers for soldiers in the army.
Some synagogues have instituted
programs to help teach how to conduct
a seder, making it a learning experience
as well as more fun. A first-time pro-
gram at Congregation B'nai Moshe
offered six classes this year, including
seder singing and a comparison of cul-
tural differences throughout the world
as well as learning about conducting a
women's seder.
"In the last few years, women want
to bring Miriam to the seder in the
form of a Miriam cup," says
Youngworth at Esther's. With her tam-
bourine and long flowing robe and rib-
bons, Miriam, the sister of Moses and
Aaron, is a symbol of redemption. The
cup, gaining in popularity, is created in
various media, including stained glass
and silver. Some have matching seder
plates and mar7a trays.
With the advent of modern ways to
creatively add to the seder, the key to
being interesting, energizing and mean-
ingful still is often found through
encouraging the old traditions of ques-
tions, answers and dialogue.
High-tech visual aids, like "The
Interactive Haggada" CD-Rom for
Windows, still stress learning by doing.
Even Chabad's Seder-to-Go, for the col-
lege student who can't attend a seder,
includes matza, kosher-for-Passover
wine and a seder guide serving a group
of four. Like any seder, this one is
intended for sharing.
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