Looking at the news online is always an iffy proposition.  There's not room for a lot of daylight between the nastiness in our public policy debate, the current build up of tensions between the US and Israel and just the plain old fashioned "if it bleeds it leads"coverage of human beings acting inhuman toward each other.  Throw in natural disasters and pop culture meltdowns and its a dangerous landscape.  But every once in a while a headline peeks through that demands attention.  That's what drew me to the link "Tweeting the tale of Passover: Rabbis find ways to modernize grim holiday"

The idea of tweeting the story of the Exodus sounded interesting and reminded  me that last year an internet sensation was the very funny "Facebook Hagaddah".  After playing around with the possibilities of how the popular social networking site would capture the activities and inner thoughts of both traditional Biblical characters and modern celebrities, the satire ended by "promising/threatening next year on Twitter!"

What got me about the headline though wasn't that someone thought about a new way to connect to the story of Passover, it was the fact that the person writing the story was under the impression that Passover is a grim holiday.

This characterization wasn't just her idea.  The Jews she spoke to for her article broke down into one of two camps. On one side were those that thought the seder and the holiday in general were deadly boring and quite morose and insisted that it was time to add some fun and lightheartedness. On the other were those that insisted that the seder was deadly boring and quite morose, while demanding that it should stay exactly that way.  Boring, morose, grim.  These are not the words I would use to describe Passover as a holiday.  Parts of the conversation may be serious, but often, ironically, its the parts that should be the most morose that we set to the happiest music, like the bouncy "Frogs here, frogs there" or chad gadya's ditty about goats getting eaten by cats and oxes sent to slaughter. 

What it comes down to is that this article showed that there are a good number of people who think that this holiday is supposed to be as dry as matzah and hard to swallow as bitter herbs with maybe a little noxiously sweet wine thrown in.  But, that is not true.  Passover is meant to be a happy time full of fine wines, scrumptious meals, and most importantly, exciting and memorable ways to tell our story.  The Sages of old stated "Each should see ourself as if it were we who came out of the land of Egypt".  To do that you may have to reach into the [plague] bag of tricks!

If you find yourself sympathizing with the "grim gripers" here are a couple of simple tips that might help inspire an experience that is meaningful and fun. 

1)  Passover is a natural time to involve kids, but don't forget to involve the kid inside you, too.  If there are children at the table, give them a skit or other project to do for the seder.  Encourage participation with pure bribery -- throw marshmellows or candies out to anyone who participates in the conversation or asks a good question.  Have adults get in the act too!  Play trivia games or other fun ways to make things different.  In honor of the NCAA (No Crusts Are Allowed!) fill out a bracket for a tournament between different Jewish heroes or other champions of freedom... the possibilities are endless

2)  Passover is not Yom Kippur!  Let your people snack!  Early on in the traditional seder there is a chance to eat a piece of parsley or vegetable dipped in salt water.  While the rest of the meal waits until the story is told, there is no reason not to serve salad or pass out nuts, raisins or similar snacks.  
 
3)  A picture is worth a thousand words! Many hagaddot have great illustrations or other drawings that remind us that there are many ways to tell a story.  Websites have images that can be printed out and added to the conversation.  Here is one that depicts different versions of the "Four Children" which shows that its not so easy to tell who the "wise child" or "the simple child" or who any of them are.  Let your imagination go wild -- puppets, homemade plagues, decorative placemats or napkins. Don't be limited to the table.  In our house we always set aside a space to decorate as the splitting Red Sea and, at an appropriate time, have a young Moses lead all the guests through to freedom...

These are just a few ideas, join us for Pesach University on Sunday morning between 9 and 11:30 for more!  We will also be talking about the "Art of the Four Children" on Thursday morning "Learning with the Rabbi" at Cuzi from 8-9AM.  Oh and if you dare, check out Tweet_the_Exodus  to see the latest in the Passover tradition of each participant seeing ourself as if they personally left Egypt... with a Blackberry of course. 

I'd love to hear what ideas you have and I'll post them (with permission) as we go. 

Shabbat Shalom and see you soon,

Rabbi Michael