frontlines

Born Of Necessity
At The Seder Table

Ellen Futterman
I Editor, St. Louis Jewish Light

I

t's Passover 2010 and you're ready to start the seder
at your sister's home in suburban St. Louis. A few
minutes into the Hagaddah, your grade-school age
niece and nephew, and the other kids at the table, begin
to get antsy. Being the fun, creative aunt you are, you
scramble for cardboard and markers, and
craft makeshift bingo cards with words
that correspond to the Hagaddah and story
of Exodus.
The next thing you know, the children
— as well as the adults — are listening
intently, hoping a word from the board
is read so it can be covered and yelling
"Bingo" is in reach.
That's pretty much how
Tamara Pester came to create
Passover Bingo. The game
includes six colorful
boards, 96 foam pieces
to act as markers for the
bingo squares, instructions
and a word list.
"All of the kids at that Passover
loved it and wanted me to make one
for them for the following year," says
Pester, an attorney who lives in Denver. Most
Passovers, she travels to St. Louis to join her
sister and brother-in-law, Michelle and Dan
Spirn, and their children for the holiday.
"Everyone I talked to about the game thought it was a
great idea," Pester says. "So I got more serious about it,
hired a graphic designer and, once I was satisfied with

the look, found a manufacturer. We got our first shipment
back in the fall."
She says most of the feedback has been very positive,
though she has heard from a few who feel making a game
out of a Passover belittles it.
"I consulted several rabbis in Denver and they support
[the game]," she says. "They felt anything that keeps young
children engaged during the seder — and learning — is a
good thing:'
The game sells for $24.99 at
passoverbingo.com . Ten percent of the
proceeds go to fund various Jewish
nonprofits, including the Jewish Women's
Renaissance Project and Aish HaTorah.

PAS SOVER
lc 6 INGO

JN CONTENTS

Local Ideas
Closer to home, Dr. Joe Lewis of Oak
Park offers his easy-to-use Haggadah
that's especially designed for those who
don't read Hebrew. Available at his
rj
Singlish.com website, his Join In,
Participate, Sing-Along Hagadah,
offers line-by-line English
transliteration and complete
traditional Hebrew text in easy-to-
read phrases as well as instructions
for Passover preparation and all
parts of the seder. It's also non-sexist
and egalitarian and offers singable
English translations for the seder's
most traditional prayers and tunes.
Lewis was recently featured in a JN story ("Highly
Irreverent," Feb. 21, page 40) about reviving Congregation
Beth Shalom's original Purim spiels after 16 years. Lewis
has written and directed the spiels.

❑

JEWISHNEWS

March 14-20, 2013 13-9 Nisan 5773 1 Vol. CXLIII, No. 6

Ann Arbor
14, 39
Around Town
26
Arts/Entertainment
51
42
Business Memos
Calendar
30
Community
32
Food
56
Here's To
22
Home
36
Israel . 5, 20, 24, 40, 44, 54
Letters
5
Life Cycles
60
Marketplace
63
Metro
8

Next Generation
39
Obituaries
68
Out & About
53
Passover
33
Points Of View
44
Sports
48
Staff Box/Phone List ...6
Synagogue List
46
Torah Portion
47
World
40

Columnist
Danny Raskin

Shabbat Lights

Shabbat: Friday, March 15, 7:21 p.m.
Shabbat Ends: Saturday, March 16, 8:23 p.m.

Shabbat: Friday, March 22, 7:29 p.m.
Shabbat Ends: Saturday, March 23, 8:31 p.m.

Times are according to the Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah calendar.

59

On The Cover:

Page design, Michelle Sheridan

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March 14 • 2013

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