Holidays

Relearn and Rethink the Passover Saga

By:

Arthur Waskow and Phyllis Berman

If a pharaoh fell in the Red Sea but nobody told the story, did it actually happen? No. If no pharaoh fell in the Red Sea, but we told the story for 3,000 years, did it actually happen? Yes. Is it still happening? Yes. To people brought up in the modern mode of focusing on cold, hard facts, these responses...

Passover

Finding Unleavened Heaven

By:

Edmon J. Rodman

Los Angeles In every generation, the Haggadah tells us, the wise, the simple, the non-askers and even the baddies are obligated to see themselves as though they themselves actually had come out from Egypt. Unfortunately, the closest many of us come to this ideal is a stroll through the Passover aisle of our neighborhood supermarket. Why does Passover have to...

Passover

Springing into Passover

By:

Leah Koenig, JTA

One of the secrets about the Jewish calendar is that many of the holidays have agricultural subtexts, which over time have been muted or lost completely under the historical and religious themes that were layered on top of them. Two of these -- Sukkot and Shavuot -- have maintained a relatively transparent relationship to their earthy roots. But finding the...

Passover

What's App-enin for Pesach?

By:

Deborah Hirsch

Talk about a tech-minded culture: This Passover season, you can get rid of chametz with the help of your cell phone. Seriously. A free iPhone app just released by New York software development company RustyBrick provides guidance for seeking, selling and destroying the leavened goods. The app includes rabbinic explanations of the Jewish laws regarding the removal of chametz prior...

Passover

A Few New Melodies for This Year's Seders

By:

Dr. Marsha B. Edelman

Across the centuries, as Jewish families gathered to celebrate Passover, their observances were accompanied by songs of the season. As the rituals evolved, so did the variety of melodies used to sing the texts of the Haggadah. In communities around the world, the music of Passover quickly took on the individual sounds of the local majority culture. Passover songs have...