We are two short weeks away from Pesach. The grocery stores are full with matzo and macaroons. The Jewish people are scheduling their shopping, cleaning and cooking. We plan our cooking and our cleaning. This year, I’d like to invite you to put something else on your preparation list. This year, we’re two weeks away; now is the perfect time to talk about Seder Improvement. The Pesach Seder is by far the most observed Jewish ritual. Statistics show that 9 out of every 10 Jews attend some sort of Passover Seder. Affiliated and unaffiliated, religious and secular, the Jewish People embrace the ritual of the Pesach Seder. The irony is that, all too often, the Pesach Seder can become one of the most rote and boring rituals of them all—as we take turns going around the table reading by rote, the same inaccessible text—year after year.

Let’s take few moments understand the mitzvah, the obligation of the Passover Seder, and then I’ll make few recommendation on how improve your Seders this year.

The primary mitzvah of the Seder night is to tell the story of Exodus—sipput yetziat mitzrayim. A question is asked, if the primary mitzvah is to tell the story, and we have a text to recite, then why don’t we say a blessing on the Seder? Why don’t we say a blessing on the reading of the hagaddah? After all, we say a blessing on the reading of the megillah! We say a blessing on the reading of the Torah! We say a blessing on everything! Why don’t we say a blessing, Barukh ata hashem … Asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav vetzivanu likro et hahagaddah, who commanded us to read the hagaddah?

With very few exceptions, we only recite a blessing when we have a concrete action to perform. The rabbis were very careful to make the system of blessing concrete. When we eat food, we say a blessing. When we see a rainbow, we say a blessing. When we recover from an illness, we say a blessing. It’s a practical and concrete system. So why don’t we say a blessing on the telling of the story of Exodus? To further the intensity of the question, we do say a blessing when we recite other sacred texts. Like what? When we recite the Torah text, we say a blessing. When we recite the Megillah text, we say a blessing. We recite blessings on all kinds of readings of texts, why don’t we recite a blessing on the reading of the Hagaddah. Blessed are You, our God, Master of the Universe, who commanded us to tell the Passover Story.

Let’s understand what the hagaddah is for us. The Torah is a sacred text. The mitzvah is to read and hear the words of the Torah text. The megillah scroll is a sacred text. The mitzvah is to read and hear the words of the megillah text. The hagaddah is very different kind of text; the mitzvah is to tell a story, not to read the text. The mitzvah is to tell the story of the Exodus in a way that the participants will be engaged and transformed. The mitzvah is not to read and hear the hagaddah. In fact, I would argue that one can read the full text of the hagaddah, and never fulfill the obligation of telling the story.  One can read the hagaddah from cover to cover and never fulfill the mitzvah of sippur or telling of the story of the Exodus. According to our sages, the obligation of the Seder is to feel as if you yourself came out of Egypt. The hagaddah is a tool to accomplish the mitzvah, the hagaddah is not the mitzvah itself. That’s different than a Torah reading. That’s different than a Megillah reading. For Torah and Megillah, the mitzvah is the reading, and that’s why there’s a blessing. It’s a concrete and straightforward mitzvah. But, there’s no blessing for the hagaddah, because the mitzvah isn’t the reading, the mitzvah is an interaction. The mitzvah is an experience. The mitzvah is a telling. And so, there’s not blessing, because it’s a complex and ethereal experience that can’t be quantified.

John Dewey, one of the founders of modern educational philosophy, transformed the way we think about education. What I learned from Dewey was that good teaching—

effective teaching—isn’t just presenting material to students. Good teaching is not filling up student heads with information. Good teaching is a process of designing authentic experiences. Good teaching is facilitating experiences that help them grow by acquiring skills. Good teaching is facilitating experiences that help them grow by realizing deep truths. On the Seder night, we are meant to experience freedom, not just read about freedom.

 If you read the text carefully, your can read that, “everyone who elaborates on the story of the Exodus deserves praise.” Harei zeh meshubach. If you read the text carefully, you can read about Rabbis who did just that, who discussed the Exodus all through the night. If you read the text carefully, you can read about Rabbi Akiva who spent his Seder night recalculating the number of plagues from 10 to 50 and 250! If you read the text carefully, you can read about how other people spent their Seder night playing with numbers, discussing ideas, creating a lively, dynamic Seder experience that gave the participants a feel for the Exodus, each in their own way.

If you’re leading a Seder this year, or participating in a Seder this year, I encourage you to give some thought as to how you can bring something more to the Seder table this year. I’ll give you three ideas this morning and present some resources.

Idea number one: Dress up. Last year, I brought a costume to the Seder table—a long grey fake beard and my white bathrobe. I hid it under the table, for when it was time for Eliyahu come through the door. Like every year, the children at the Seder opened the door for Eliyahu—guess who walked through the door! Eliyahu himself. And he told a story about Eliyahu, sang the song, and went on his way. The year Eliyahu actually came to my Seder. You can dress up as Moses with sandals, or Miriam with her tambourine, the choice is yours, but a costume presentation will definitely liven up your Seder.

Idea number two: Ask every participant to prepare something to present at the Seder. The Seder is divided into 12 parts; they are listed at the front of every hagaddah. Send an email requesting every guest to prepare a short, interactive presentation on one part of the Seder service. Invite them to use the internet to do some research—it’s all there.

Idea number three: Write the names of famous characters or family ancestors on little pieces of paper, and place them underneath everybody’s plate. At some point in the evening, invite participants to lift their plates to find their character. Then, ask them to respond to the following question, in character, to role play in first person, and respond to the question, “What does freedom mean to you?” You can use Biblical characters; you can use historical figures, Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr., Natan Sharansky, Abraham Lincoln. You can use family ancestors such as grandparents and great-grandparents as long as everyone responds in first person and in character.

These are three ideas: Dressing up, participant presentations, and the name game, but there are books and websites that can help you create an engaging and inspiring Seder this year. Please feel free to contact me for websites or suggestions. 

The Pesach Seder is the perfect vehicle to experience the joy of family and community. It is the ultimate tool to appreciate and experience our blessing of freedom. It is well worth the effort to maximize its impact on your family and friends.

Shabbat Shalom!

© Ranon Teller 2008

Sermon Classification: 49

Key Words: Passover, blessings, telling the story, Seder ideas