Creating Lively Passover Seders

Acknowledgments xi Preface xiii Introduction xv How to Use This Book xix A Few Words for Seder Leaders xxi A Note on Rabbinic Literature, the Haggadah, and Translations xxiii 1 The Long Road from Slavery to Freedom: From Ancient Egypt to Our Time 1 Slavery in Ancient Times . Exodus and the American Ethos . Vengeance versus Empathy . The Great Seal of the United States: Israelites Crossing the Red Sea versus a Pyramid . Former Slaves Speak . Let Freedom Ring: Historic Words on Freedom . Jewish Values and Social Justice:American Jews in the Antebellum South . Slavery in Our Time 02 The Four "Questions": Who's Asking What and Why? 25 Engaging Children during the Seder: An Ancient Lesson . Questions about Questions . The Greek Symposium and the Jewish Seder . Why These Particular Questions? 03 Two Haggadot in One: The Haggadah's Early Development 33 When Two Sages Disagree: A Story about the Haggadah's Early Development . Art Midrash:"Begin with Disgrace and End with Praise" . Crossing Rivers and Taking Responsibility 04 The Five Sages' Seder: Who Were They and What Kept Them So Late? 43 Five Super-Sages:Their Times and Teachings . Banning Rabbi Eliezer . The Seder in B'nei B'rak: Reconstructing the Conversation 05 The Four Children: A Seat at the Table for Everyone 57 The Four Children . Torah versus Haggadah . The Wise versus the Wicked: A Recipe for Conflict or Conflict Resolution? . Four Voices on Four Children 6 Hardening Pharaoh's Heart: The Toughest Part of the Story 71 The Bible and the Hardening of Pharaoh's Heart . The Commentators' Struggle . "I Will Send All My Plagues into Your Heart . . . " . The Softening of God's Heart 07 The Festival of Spring: Reconnecting Passover and Nature 85 On Spring and Time . The Origins of Passover:Two Views . History Trumps Nature . Activities, Blessings, and Readings 08 The Exodus as a Personal Spiritual Journey 103 Exodus:The Spiritual Journey . Milestones along the Road . Crossing the Sea and the First Song . The Journey's Ultimate Purpose 09 Enslaved in Egypt: Why? 115 The Covenant of the Pieces . Israel Enslaved: Many Questions, Many Answers . Joseph and the Enslavement? . The Self-Critical Voice: Benefits and Dangers 10 "Strangers in a Land Not Theirs": Remembering to Treat the Strangers among Us Justly 129 Knowing the Heart of the Stranger . A Blessing:Treating Strangers Justly . Israel and Its Minority of Arab Citizens 11 "In Every Generation . . ."? God's Role in History and the Jewish People's History among the Nations 137 God: The Elephant, as It Were, at the Seder . Arguing with God . The Sages on Innocent Suffering . Modern Voices 12 "Go Out and Learn . . .": How the Haggadah Tells the Story of the Exodus 153 How the Haggadah Tells the Story . The Pilgrims' Prayer and the Haggadah . Jacob in the House of Laban . A Much-Interpreted Phrase . Moses in the Haggadah . Deuteronomy's Israelite History without Sinai 13 Women of the Exodus: Redeemed by Their Righteousness 169 Passover in an Upside-Down World . Women and the Haggadah: Missing in Action . Women of the Exodus in Midrash . Eden and Egypt:Two Tales of Exodus . Serakh bat Asher and the Exodus . The Legend of Miriam's Well . The Ritual of Miriam's Cup . Redeemed through Blood and Water: Balancing Elijah's Cup with Miriam's Cup 14 The Ten Plagues: Who Suffered and Why? 189 Plagues Against the Israelites? . Why Spill Wine from Our Cups? . When Our Enemies Fall . The Plagues and Knowing God . Signs, Wonders, and Faith: Or Did the Plagues Fail? . Measure for Measure . Revealing the Creator through Anti-Creation 15 Rabban Gamaliel: An Embattled Leader 205 Who Was Gamaliel? . Deposed and Reinstated . Fingerprints on the Haggadah viii 16 Reliving the Exodus: The Story of the Last Night in Egypt 213 Setting the Stage . The Last Night in Egypt . Bibliodrama: Knocking in the Night . Bibliodrama:To Stay or to Leave? . A Prayer for the Journey . Marching from Egypt to the Promised Land 17 Israel and the Haggadah 225 The Fruits of Israel versus Egypt: A Puzzle . Israel's Absence from the Heart of the Haggadah . Whither Israel? . The Fifth Cup . Readings for the Fifth Cup . Passover, Messianism, and Israel 18 The Restoration of Wonder: The Miracles of Egypt and Our Day 241 The Bible and the Dictionary . The Sages on Miracles . The Restoration of Wonder . Jewish Voices on Miracles . At the Red Sea: Two Midrashim . Between Pharoah and the Red Sea . The Horse and Driver 19 "From Darkness to Great Light": What Do These Words Mean to Us Today? 259 An Art Midrash Project . Variations on a Theme . Four Interpretations of Five Phrases . A Deeper Look at a Memorable Passage . The Cultural Milieu 20 "Blessed Are You . . . Who Redeemed Us": The Seder of Redemption 271 The Seder of Hope: Tuning in to Themes of Redemption . Redemption in the Bible and the Ancient Near East . An Age-Old Question:Why Did God Redeem the Israelites? . The Four Cups of Redemption . A Quartet of Twentieth-Century Voices on Redemption . On Faith in Redemption 21 "A Remembrance of the Temple": The Life and Times of Hillel 287 The Meaning of Hillel's Sandwich . A Legendary Leader . Hillel's Teachings . The Talmud on the Destruction of the Temple 22 Elijah's Transformation: From Zealot to Folk Hero 301 Elijah Comes to the Seder . Elijah's Cup . The Biblical Elijah . The Elijah Puzzle . Modeling the Potential to Change . A Mirror: A Tale of Elijah and the Seder . "Pour Out Your Wrath" versus "Give Up Anger" 23 The Exodus from Egypt: The Question of Archeology 315 History and Story . Five Sage Perspectives on the Exodus and History Appendix I: Chapter Ten of the Mishnah Pesachim, the Night of Passover 323 Appendix II: What Is Midrash? 325 Appendix III: Directions for Art Midrash Projects 326 Appendix IV: Blessing for the New Moon 327 Abbreviations and Abbreviated Titles Used in This Book 329 Notes 331 Select Bibliography 360 Index 365