FollowThis year, the night of Friday, April 3rd was the first night of Passover, which is by far the best Jewish holiday, or at least the one with the best food. I hosted a Passover seder for the first time, and while I knew that celebrating my favorite holiday with all my friends was going to be fun, I didn’t realize just how much of a success it was going to be until I looked around the table and saw everyone having a great time.
1. You can make the seder as long or as short as you want. Hell, you can even make it non-existent if that’s your jam. You’ve got the power, baby.
I decided to create my own (really short) seder by compiling excerpts from two haggadot I found online for free, Oranges and Olives: A Modern, Interfaith Family Passover Haggadah by Nancy Cronk, and GLBT Haggadah from JQ International. This way, I was able to tailor the seder to my guests, all college students of mixed faiths and ethnicities.
2. You can invite whoever you want. Passover is a highly accessible, relaxed holiday for not-so-Jewish Jews (like myself) and Gentiles alike, and the more the merrier. Bring on the interfaith matzah.
3. Did I mention the food? Matzoh ball soup, matzoh mac and cheese, charoset (it’s a kind of delicious fruit salad thing for the Gentiles out there), flourless brownies and chocolate cake, the list goes on. Everything is easy to make, and you’ll have leftovers for days.
Seriously. Leftovers for days.
4. Hillel will help you out.
Berkeley’s Hillel organization is awesome; they will give you everything you need to make your seder happen, including a seder plate with all the goodies, haggadot (if you’re not feeling crafty), matzah and grape juice, and even dinner if you want it. Plus, if you ask, they will reimburse you up to $5 for each person that attends your seder, for up to 10 people. All you have to do is fill out a request form and select the “Jew-it-Yourself” option. Now you really have no excuse not to host Passover.
5. Your friends will love you. (Or rather, they will love your cooking.)
I never paid much attention to the Passover seder before, as my mind was much more occupied by the charoset and wine, but by actually being involved in creating the seder and experiencing it with so many who had never been to one before, I was able to learn more about my culture and actually stay awake during the process (Hebrew School was not my forte). This experience taught me not only the importance of sharing your culture and traditions with your friends, but it taught me more about Judaism than my five years in Hebrew School put together.
Image sources: Dakota Goodman, Nerd Fitness, Empty Lemon, Tumblr, Giphy, Paste
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