WORDS THAT BREATHE

A ritual for before dipping the karpas into the salt water, we pause to reflect on what it means to hold both sweetness and sorrow.

Each seder gathered a constellation of color and courage: Blacks and Jews, Black Jews and people of color—Bishops and Rabbis, churches and synagogues, choir singing, and the cacophony of connection and contemplation— We were a veritable mosaic of Moses’ people, linking arms, lifting hearts, lamenting and loving in equal measure.

We sat around tables— round like the world we wished for, flat like the matzah we broke, layered like the stories we shared. Two seders....

My First Music Video! Mi Chamocha, a new version written by Sheryl Braunstein, Daniel Braunstein and me (Rabbi Paul Kipnes).

Seder Prep Tips from the Kipnes/November Seder Table. Plus readings and inserts for your Haggadah.

When pounding started on the front door, we move quickly toward the door, opening it with caution. In front of us stands “Elijah,” the prophet who one day will announce the Messianic era and the redemption of humankind.

What would make your Passover seder — or any hosted meal in your home — meaningful and memorable? Food, fun, music and meaning, play and prayer. While there is a stylized beauty to sitting around a dressed up Passover table, try setting up your seder just as you would a child’s birthday party or an arts and crafts playdate.

Passover invites us to place ourselves within the story of the Exodus from Egypt. In the Haggadah we read: The Seder calls us to journey personally to the promised land, from hopelessness to hopefulness, from pain to healing, from oppression to freedom. As such, the Seder itself needs to involve every person, a feat easily accomplished with one quick email sent to your guests. Imagine asking guests to prepare to share something specific during the Seder. Your email sent even

The end of the Chag (holiday) of Pesach is upon us, and so many who have kept Passover are counting down the moments until they can eat their beloved pizza, morning toast and all kinds of cakes and cookies. I even heard one person pining for a bowl of oatmeal. Is it really that difficult to do without chametz food for seven days (or eight depending upon your custom)? It seems so for so many. Does the discomfort and hunger for that which is forbidden help us meditate on our

Although we started out with the smallest guest list in years, we ended up with the most well attended Seder that we have ever hosted. Thanks to technology, tradition and trust, we had more people at our Seder table than ever before. Technology Although our family is spread all over the globe, we managed to bring them together with the help of a few computers, an iPad and some patience. We Skyped them in - my parents from Cape Cod, my nephew and niece from the Boston-area, a

I asked my rabbinic colleagues (on Facebook): Besides "from slavery to freedom" and "speak truth to power" and "stamp out injustice," what poignant lessons from Pesach speak to you today? 12 Rabbinic Responses Were: Honoring our past while celebrating the future. A willingness to accept the obligation of inconveniencing ourselves for a week in order to gain empathy for those enslaved, for those hungry, for those oppressed today. Remember, you were once slaves, too. Pesach,

The following Seder reading was adapted from the New York Times article by Paul Greenberg, An Oyster on the Seder Plate ? Why is There an Oyster on our Seder Plate? Reader: While I didn’t particularly want to put something traif atop that most kosher of dishes, this Passover falls on the first anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. And since BP, the leaseholder of the failed well, seems intent with its new television ads on making us forget about

Each year, we try to come up with variations on the Seder's rituals and themes so that our seder participants will experience anew and reflect more deeply on this year's Seder. This year's Seder ideas include a reading on Glee characters as depictions of the Four Children, a new ritual for the Zeroah (shankbone) and presentations by grandparents and college students. Make sure to peruse previous years' seder ideas (including my favorite - Why is there a football and a cork

The Zeroah or Shank Bone on the seder plate reminds us of the pascal sacrifice, the sacrifice of a lamb on the eve of the Exodus from Egypt. It served many purposes, including as a thanksgiving offering to God for (soon) bringing us out of Egypt. It also recalls the lamb's blood that our Israelites ancestors put on their doorposts, just before the 10th plague, so that the Angel of Death would pass over their houses. < Other=">Other" Passover="Passover" Resources="Resources"

With thanks to Divrei Derech , blog of my friend Rabbi Rick Winer, I offer you Passover ad Absurdium or Cobert Report on Passover. Gotta love it! The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Passover Commercialism www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

We had a fantastic Seder this year. Engaging, inspiring, relevant. After collecting all the resources, reviewing the Haggadah and planning the Seder activity/discussion inserts, I am always amazed at what actually does and doesn't happen at the Seder. Since the Seder is an organic gathering - part keva/fixed traditional text; part kavannah/inspiration - the plans for the evening give way to inspired discussion, activities used while others are shelved, and more. Read on f

Four daughters worth mentioning at Pesach Professor Rachel Elior ,who teaches Jewish philosophy and mysticism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, offers in Haaretz a new ritual for Passover: mentioning four daughters. Instead of the traditional - wise, rebellious, simple, and one who does not know how to ask - Professor Elior suggests we talk about four women who are: silenced, forgotten, ignored and excluded. The Book of the Generations of Adam (Genesis 5) describes the

Haim Watzman , in South Jerusalem blog, connects the dots from the past to the present, using the lessons of Passover past to goad us toward justice in the present: Rav and Shmuel at the Gym: How Should We Begin the Passover Seder? Between sets of arm curls, Nahum walks over to me and says, “You’re familiar with the disagreement between Rav and Shmuel about the way the Seder should begin?” Nahum doesn’t look like the kind who works on his biceps—he’s a slender guy in his mi

(Daily News, 4/3/07): The dinner table at Rabbi Paul Kipnes' house was topped Monday night with more than the ceremonial food associated with commemorating the Exodus from Egypt. The arrangement of bitter herbs, parsley and matzo also included a football, history book and corkscrew. The purpose of Passover, which began at sundown Monday, is to remind Jews of their deliverance from Pharaoh and to educate Jewish children about the seminal story of their people. So Kipnes, leade