I like to plan ahead. My mother used to tease me about coming down to breakfast on the morning of November 1 and announcing “Next year for Halloween I’m going to be…..”
With that in mind, it’s not too early to start thinking about Passover 2019. People who are new to Jewish tradition are often startled to realize that there is no single text for the Seder service, that any individual, family, rabbi, congregation, is free to write his/her/their own text, which will then be just as valid, in a religious sense, as any other. The text, known as the Haggadah (accent on the second syllable, plural is Haggadot) may therefore take a near infinity of approaches: There are Haggadot that emphasize inclusiveness and the Community of Mankind, and Haggadot that emphasize the celebrants’ Jewishness; there are Marxist Haggadot, feminist Haggadot, Haggadot for people following 12-Step programs, for LGBTQ celebrants, for animal-rights activists, and etc. Somewhere in this incredibly rich selection is the Haggadah that speaks perfectly to the people at your Passover table. And if you don’t find it, write your own!
Whether you’re choosing, or choosing to write, this piece from the good folks at Politics & Prose Bookstore, will help get you started. And if it all seems too much – you’ve got to make the matzoh balls AND keep Uncle Leo from getting sloshed on the four cups of wine AND write the &*&%(!! Hagaddah??? – just remember: Ain’t nothin’ wrong with Maxwell House.