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Liberation: Personal and Recurring
This source sheet explores how one of the Torah’s few prescribed oral declarations transforms ancestral history into a first-person script, while widening the Exodus from a single historical moment into a recurring pattern of threat and deliverance
Entitlement Reform cont.
Parshat Beha'alotcha - How the Torah demoted priests, firstborn sons, and every inherited claim to power.
From Disgrace to Praise - Finding the Stranger in the Hagaddah
"You shall not oppress a stranger, ... having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt" and the motif of loving the stranger is not found in the Haggadah unless we follow the advise of the Mishnah and read the parsha until the end...
Pour out Your Wrath on my Hametz
An analysis of the "Pour out Your Wrath" incantation to understand the propriety of it's inclusion at the most climactic moment of the Seder, and some suggestions for alternatively authentic replacements.
The Haggadah After October 7
This episode explores the kibbutz tradition of rewriting the Haggadah, featuring voices from communities who continue to shape Jewish ritual in response to contemporary experience, including the aftermath of October 7.
Where has all the Hametz Gone? ClubHouse
Source Sheet for Discussion on ClubHouse March 12, 2021 4:00pm ET
Madlik Model Seder 2024
This year our Seder will be different from other years. For the first time in many of our lives it will be a Leil s\Shimurim,, a night of concern, uncertainty, fatigue and confusion. Let us follow the advice of the Rabbis to see ourselves as though we too are leaving our Egypt.
Where has all the Hametz Gone?
Why does the prohibition of owning or benefiting from Hametz (leavened bread) not appear in the Haggadah? We explore different suggestions such as simple male chauvinism or the schism with Christianity and suggest some alternative texts which would address this glaring oversight.
A New Meaning of Matzah
Parshat Vayikra - Leviticus opens its treatment of the sacrifices with the meal offering of unleavened cakes. The Rabbis ascribe the showcasing of this simple gift to the purity of intent of the poor and we use it to add a new perspective on the iconic start to our Seder.
Nachson
Parshat Barmidbar - We visit with a man called Nachshon ben Aminadav with only a insignificant walk-on role in the text of the Torah but an iconic presence in Jewish religious and secular culture and mythology
Protest Haggadah
Parshat Vayikra - Vayikra is a call to action. In every generation we are admonished to imagine ourselves overthrowing the Pharaoh of our day. Today we’ll survey haggadot that take this challenge and re-imagine the Haggadah for their time. We challenge our Israeli brothers and sisters to join this tradition and write today's Hagaddah.
From Freedom Back to Slavery
Parshat Mishpatim - We are struck with the irony that the first law discussed in the Israelite Legal code is slavery and instead of outlawing slavery it has provisions for it.
Bo - Who's In - Who's Out
Parshat Bo - Pharoah asks exactly who will leave and Moses replies, everyone. We discuss the politics of inclusion and exclusion.
The Kibbutz Haggadah - a visit to The Shittim Institute
Preparing for our Passover Seder we continue our exploration of the Kibbutz Haggadah with a visit to the Shittim Institute on kibbutz Beit Hashita in Northern Israel. Machon Shittim has the largest collection of Kibbutz Hagadot and an archive of close to a million texts which constitute Yahadut Yisraeli; Israeli Judaism.
Connected Through Aramaic
Parshat Vayetzei - Like the Rosetta Stone the Torah provides a Aramaic translation for Jacob's Gal-Ed treaty stone. Wit our guest Shadi Khalloul we explore the shared language, culture and impact of this unique language.
Left Behind and the Polemics of Redemption
Parshat Beshalach - A single word in the Exodus narrative—וַחֲמֻשִׁים (chamushim)—opens a fault line in rabbinic interpretation.
Reading Out Loud
Parshat Shemot - As we start a new Book of the Torah we entertain a New Year's resolution: To read more Torah to our children and grandchildren. We invite scholar and author Ilana Kurshan to share her new book: Children of the Book
What does Sukkot Really Mean?
Sukkot - Ancient holidays were repurposed by the Israelite religion to commemorate the Exodus and Sukkot appears to be the most natural. The Torah itself connects the temporary booths of the Fall harvest with the temporary boots of the migrating Israelite tribes .. or not
You are what you eat, or are you?
Parshat Shemini - While Passover celebrates freedom, it does it with a restrictive diet. The Book of Leviticus introduces the Kosher diet and gives us an opportunity to explore how food can uplift, unite, inspire, delight but also disgust, divide and impoverish.