Passover

Passover

Would You Rather Passover - The JCC of Greater Pittsburgh (JCCPGH) (2021)

This celebration was intended to help families prepare for the upcoming holiday. “Would You Rather”, is a popular format for ice breakers, conversation starters, and all-around amusement in which two equally unpleasant choices are presented and each participant has to make a choice and explain their choice.

For Example:
Question: “Would you rather swim in a lake filled with charoset or maror?”
Answer: “I would rather swim in a lake filled with charoset because I love the taste of all the things mixed together. Also, swimming in maror would probably burn my eyes and make me cry!”

During the celebration, families created several “card containers” that helped mark key points in the Seder. The boxes were filled with “Would You Rather” questions related to the Seder. Through this activity families gained a deeper understanding of the elements, rituals, and food used throughout the Seder. Following the celebration, families could use the question boxes to add conversation and family involvement during their Seders.

“We want them to raise their children as Jews with Jewish values, customs, traditions, foods, celebrations, holidays... as a part of their regular life cycle.”
- Rabbi Ron Symon

Box of Freedom Passover kit - The Buffalo Jewish Federation (Spring 2023)

The educational team produced a curated box of Passover content to help multi-faith families with young children celebrate Passover and connect to the Jewish community. The box offered 4 activities for families to learn about the holiday, including crafts, textual explorations, and projects. There were activities for both younger and older children.

Marketing: The program was promoted through email communications, mass text messages, newspaper ads, social media, and one on one outreach. Funds from the NCEJ grant enabled the Buffalo federation to expand their marketing efforts.

BI in Your Neighbourhood: Passover - Congregation Beth Israel, Vancouver Canada (2021)

The congregation put together a Pesach Kit for families, with haggadahs, a Seder plate, a bag of plagues, kids kiddush cups, and other items. For the first time, there was a small suggested donation. One of the congregation’s rabbis hosted a Zoom Seder on the first night of Pesach where everyone could use their items.

Advertising: The program was advertised through email, social media, posters, individual phone calls reaching out and in-person connections. What seemed to work best? Emails, followed by an individual invitation (either via text or call). Seeing the event advertised either on email or social media, and then in the synagogue was also effective.

“Through BI Neighbourhoods we are able to create a welcoming Jewish environment where families can learn simple and easy traditions, children can participate in Jewish crafts (usually related to holidays, Shabbat, etc.), and families can connect with each other and with Beth Israel.”
- Debra Bulmash

Inclusive Outreach Pesach Seder - Temple Shalom Manitoba, Winnipeg Canada (2024)

This past year Temple Shalom of Manitoba received an unprecedented number of inquiries from people who wanted to learn more about Judaism. In April the congregation will be providing a Seder designed for people attending a Passover Seder for the first time. This will include new Jews by Choice and people who are exploring the possibility of becoming Jewish. The Seder will include uplifting music, contemporary readings, traditional and newer symbolic foods, games and a catered meal. Readings, music, discussions and symbols will reflect a progressive and inclusive Jewish lens.

“The Seder's themes are timeless and will be explored with the goal to make this ritual meaningful and relevant to our modern Jewish lives.”
- Sherry Wolfe Elazar, Jewish Learning Educator

The music, both traditional and contemporary, will encourage people to sing along and will complement the themes of the seder. Before the seder, a playlist will be made available to all attendees to ensure their comfort and familiarity with the music. The seder will be participatory with opportunities for volunteer readers, small group discussions and games to highlight the telling of the Passover story. All materials will be highly accessible to everyone with readings in Hebrew, English, and transliteration. “The message will be that there is room for everyone at our table.”

Cost to Participants: $36

Marketing: The Seder will be promoted in the local Jewish community newspaper, in the Federation’s calendar, on social media, and in the congregation’s email blasts and bulletins.

Program Materials: The NCEJ grant will help cover the cost of the haggadot, the symbolic foods, booklets of contemporary readings and new songs.

Staff Support: The grant will also help cover the cost of security, musicians, a sound technician, and a custodian.

Passover Preparation Workshops for Kavkazi Olim - Midor Lidor

Midor Lidor is an Israeli organization focusing on people who immigrated from the Caucasian Mountain region of the former Soviet Union. The NCEJ grant helped support Passover programming for newcomers to Judaism, and those who did not understand their heritage. Topics included shopping for Passover, the Biblical basis for the holiday and traditions, songs and prayers, and how to make enjoyable and interesting family-oriented Seders.

“Thank you for making this program and Passover such a meaningful experience for everyone.”
- Yisrael Margolin, Director of International Development

One participant said, “As a result of the Midor Lidor workshops, we ran our first Seder, including all our parents, siblings and children, and we stayed up until one in the morning.”

Passover Seder Workshop and Book Festival - The Jewish Enrichment Center (JEC) - Chicago (2019) (pre-Covid)

The program had two parts. First, there was a Seder DIY Workshop. It introduced participants to formats and materials they could use to lead a personalized Seder, one in which people of all ages could grapple with a core Passover theme of their choice (e.g., freedom, refugees, power, responsibility). Many participants felt the workshop gave them the tools to launch meaningful conversations at their own Seders. The workshop also included a discussion of ways to include non-Jewish family and friends in the Seder.

Next, the JEC set up a display of over thirty haggadot in an atrium of a building used by many different groups. The display included descriptions of each haggadah and recommendations for different kinds of seders. The haggadot were available for browsing for over two weeks.

Advertising: The Center advertised on Facebook and Instagram. JEC also purchased an advertisement in the local Jewish federation’s online portal, called OyChicago. OyChicago reached an audience well outside of the Center’s normal reach, including several who attended the program. These online advertisements ran for a full month before the program.

“An NCEJ grant enabled us to advertise our program. We’ve done little advertising in the past, and having a chance to advertise showed us just how beneficial it can be.”
- Sara Grossman

In addition, the Center purchased a print advertisement in the local neighborhood paper, the Hyde Park Herald. JEC also printed postcards about the event and distributed them into local coffee shops, stores, and other buildings. Finally, JEC advertised in the weekly newsletters of local Jewish organizations, e.g., synagogues, a day school, and their own newsletter. Marketing outside of the usual channels was an effective way to reach new people.

A Marvel-ous Passover - Congregation Kol Emeth, Skokie, IL (2022)

Kol Emeth will be hosting an event in April called “Marvel-ous Passover.” The congregation hopes to attract both Jews and Jew-interested people who want to learn more about Passover.

This event will feature Jordan Gorfinkle, a veteran Batman Comic Book editor and creator of the “Passover Haggadah Graphic Novel.” He will teach about the story of Passover through analogies of the 4 children/questions in the Haggadah to the modern-day Marvel superheroes and real-life heroes in sports and politics. By using modern-day superheroes and celebrities to explain characters in the Passover Haggadah, children and adults alike will find a connection to Passover that is both entertaining and scholarly.

Kol Emeth’s goal is to show that the synagogue is a warm and inviting place where interested individuals can gently learn about Jewish holidays and traditions.

Advertising: The event will be publicized on the congregation’s website. In addition, Kol Emeth will send out postcards, put ads in neighborhood newspapers, make fliers and banners, and run Facebook ads for three weeks leading up to the event.

Other Expenses: The grant will cover some of the costs of a security guard, if the event is held in person.

Follow-up: Kol Emeth will collect contact information at the event and then send updates about upcoming programs.

“Funding from NCEJ enables us to attract more participants from a wide variety of backgrounds, ages, and religious practices... Together, we will learn, eat and celebrate in a warm and welcoming environment - the perfect gateway to fostering future interest in Jewish tradition.”
- Jennifer Blitz

Celebrating Passover - Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), Tallinn, Estonia (2021)

Children and adults found a wealth of Pesach information and activities on the Passover page of the JCC Tallin website, including crafts, games, video performances for children, a practical review of Passover traditions, and a video reading of the Haggadah in Russian.

Couples and families also participated in an outdoor, in-person “Afikoman Hunt”, guided by a special mobile app. The JCC Tallinn team developed the activity and its content so they could communicate with participants easily. They decided to use WhatsApp as a tool to make it accessible. This allowed a few people who organized the hunt to send out the tasks and follow the game, and enabled participants to send in their answers in a timely manner.

Online Passover Activities - Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), Riga, Latvia (2021)

For Passover, the Riga JCC organized its online activities in collaboration with a Jewish school in Riga. These included:

• A discussion about freedom with lecturers from Israel and Latvia
• A culinary master class on making desserts from matzah
• A model seder for the entire family
• A session of Pesach songs
• Preparatory sessions with local rabbis for conducting a seder at home
• A Pesach “board game” for younger children
• An online Zoom quest called “Escaping Egypt” for young adults. This was a Passover online event via zoom for students. The JCC Riga partnered with a Jewish educator from Moscow and his team. The event included different workshops all connected to Passover.