Rabbi Ethan Tucker Attempting the daunting task of preparing your house for Pesah? This guide is meant to make the process less intimidating and to answer common questions about getting ready for the holiday. Download the guide here.
The Haggadah & Seder
Dena Weiss Four Different Questions: A Hassidic Approach to the Beginning of the Seder How a person of faith might have a crisis of faith. Dena Weiss expounds on the Pesah Hagaddah through four questions of the Hassidic scholar Ma'or VaShemesh. Read more and listen to the podcast.
Rabbi Elie Kaunfer What is the Story of the Jewish People A Close Reading of the Haggadah Narrative At its core, the Haggadah is a story about the formation of the Jewish people. How one tells this story has great significance for how we think of ourselves as Jews and as freed people. So, what are the different approaches to telling the story that are embedded in the Haggadah? Read more and listen to the podcast.
Rabbi Ethan Tucker Commemoration or Reenactment? The Exodus and the Timing of the Seder. The question of when to start (and end) the Seder is ancient in its pedigree and contemporary in its ongoing ability to create family tension. But behind the technical debate is a deeper discussion over the Seder and whether it is primarily a commemoration or a reenactment. Listen to the podcast and download the full essay.
Themes of the Holiday
Rabbi Avi Killip When Redemption Comes at Night Nighttime can be scary. Things that seem easy and doable during the daytime can be overwhelming, even paralyzing at night. How can remembering the Exodus help us overcome our fear of the night? The biblical text, which we read on the 7th day of Pesah, tells us that this miraculous sea crossing took place at night. Read more and listen to the podcast here.
Rabbi Jason Rubenstein For You Were Refugees in the Land of Egypt When we remember the Exodus from Egypt at Seder night, we should remember that there are really two Egypts: the one that enslaved us; and the one that welcomed us as refugees with open arms.Read more.
Rabbi Shai Held Turning Memory into Empathy One of the Torah's central projects is to turn memory into empathy and moral responsibility. Appealing to our experience of defenselessness in Egypt, the Torah seeks to transform us into people who see those who are vulnerable and exposed rather than looking past them. Read more and listen to the podcast.
