
Making New Passover Traditions
Hevreh Hipsters 5th Night Passover Seder, Great Barrington, MA
Jodie FriedmanThe first of its kind, this Seder appealed to the Jewish millennial with an angle of social awareness and a push toward justice. We used both the Maxwell House and JFREJ Seder companions to blend generational traditions and actionable progress as these are the motivations for our participants to do Jewish. Program participants were asked to choose a part of the holiday where they have a tradition/song/dish/idea and then we shared them.
Desert Wanderings of Adolescence, Oakland, CA
Nina Gordon Kirsch This program was a storytelling event about Passover, followed by folks coming up to share their own stories of wandering through the deserts of their personal history and making it to the promised land. In a cultural society that hardly recognizes the immense transition from adolescence to adulthood (let’s be real – bar and bat mitzvahs no longer initiate us into adulthood), this event gave people in their 20s and 30s a time to be witnessed in their storytelling of their wanderings in the desert of adolescence and how far they’ve come into the promised land of adulthood now.
Annual Matzah Pizza + Prince of Egypt, Boston, MA
Emily MogaveroWe set up a make-your-own matzah pizza bar with toppings like cheese, mushrooms, spinach, and more! Then, we watched my favorite Passover movie, the Prince of Egypt. It was fun to sing along together during the movie, discuss the historical accuracy, and to have friends to not eat Chametz with.
Culinary party “Without chametz”, Perm, Russia
Anna TonkonogayaWe had a culinary party called “Without chametz”. It was a cooking workshop for making traditional Pesach dishes like matzo ball soup and matzo brei. While enjoying our creations, we did a discussion about the meaning and history of this festival.
Host a Tikkun Olam program
Passover has a long tradition of being associated with taking care of those less fortunate. As far back as 1,600 years ago, Jewish communities started Ma’ot Chitim or “Wheat Funds” to collect funds from the community to make sure that everyone had flour to make the matza for the Seder. The instruction to give to others is spelled in the first paragraph of the Haggadah where it states: “All who are hungry, let them come and eat”. In addition to the wide variety of unique, action-based, Tikkun Olam opportunities that are available in each of your own communities, we wanted to introduce you to a different kind of program…a pop up giving circle. This is an opportunity for you to gather friends who are interested in multiplying the impact of their donations by pooling them with others in your community. The program will give your group the chance to identify what you are passionate about and work as a group to identify where you want to donate your money. For detailed instructions, check out Amplifier’ Pop Up Giving Circle program.Do a craft program

Burn some Chametz
What is Chametz? It is all of the foods that are forbidden to consume or even own during Passover. Here is a quick definition of the foods that are considered Chametz: If one of the five grains – wheat, barley, rye, oats and spelt – sits in water for more than 18 minutes it becomes chametz, and one may not eat, derive benefit from or own it on Pesach. In addition, Ashkenazim don’t eat kitniyot – a group of foods which includes rice, corn, soy, and their derivatives – but are allowed to own kitniyot foods on Pesach. How do you get rid of it? Before Passover, take the time to go through your entire home and remove any Chametz you find. On the night before Passover, search your home with a lit candle, looking for any crumbs or pieces of chametz that were left behind. In many traditions, adults will hide 10 pieces of hard bread around the home for children to find. Once all of the chametz is collected, it is placed in a paper bag and stored until the morning of Passover. The following morning, you can burn the Chametz in its paper bag. Check out this graphic for a more detailed explanation of the tradition.Kosher-for-Passover Wine Tasting
