Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with seder

Inspiring short readings (poems?) about freedom and hope

jeffmshaw — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 08:29:14 -0800

I'm looking for inspiring short readings (poems? selections from essays?) loosely organized around the themes of freedom from oppression. Bonus points if they're fun to read and hear, building to a nice crescendo. For Seder, some friends have asked each of us to prepare a short reading. It can be about anything related to freedom, or hope, and I'd like it if there were progressive political connotations.

I've been looking at poems by Rita Dove, June Jordan, and Martin Espada, all of which are amazing, but might not be perfect read-out-loud material. I'm looking for something that isn't just artful, but engages the listener. Perhaps something closer to the spoken word tradition might work?

Espada's poem "For the Jim Crow Mexican Restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts Where My Cousin Esteban Was Forbidden to Wait Tables Because He Wears Dreadlocks" is closest to what I'm looking for -- but I think a friend wants to steal it, so I'd like to consider something else.

Besides, can you really have enough inspiring reading material? I think not. Please hit me with any recommendations that you would appreciate hearing in this context. Thanks in advance!

No, seriously, what's different about tonight?

zazerr — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:23:33 -0800

SederFilter: I'm having my first Passover Seder and I asked guests to bring food to share. They asked me what they ought to bring. So, what are your favorite passover-appropriate recipes? I'm not religious, but was raised Jewish, and thought it would be fun to have a Seder with my (twenty-something) friends (gentile and otherwise) where we can turn it into the red-wine-drinking game that I've always thought the holiday was intended as.

So what should I ask my friends to make and bring? Recipes for foods actual crucial to the Seder are welcome, but I'll be hitting up my mother for those. What else? I'd like to keep it kosher-for-passover, but don't really care about actual kosher-ness.

How do I have a seder-less Passover?

Smalltown Girl — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:15:21 -0800

How do I observe Passover alone? Should I just forget it? How do I observe Passover alone in a small town that's predominantly Catholic, Methodist and Baptist? Am one of very few Jews, most of whom are not observant and don't have Seders. But I would like to observe Passover somehow, even if it's just reading to myself. (Spouse, albeit a heathen... er, a nonbeliever, is tolerant of my religious side.) I'm not upset that there's no Seder to be found for hundreds of miles, but I'd like to commemorate Pesach. Ideas?

Any interesting, meaningful readings for a liberal Passover Seder on the theme of hope?

aquafortis — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 09:52:55 -0800

Any interesting, meaningful readings for a liberal Passover Seder on the theme of hope? My friend is hosting a Passover Seder, and asked me to help him find readings on the theme of hope. It's a very liberal group, and not everyone at the dinner will be Jewish. (Personally, I'm not religious at all.) Last year, he gave a little free-form nondenominational speech/lecture and passed out a xeroxed packet of readings like a college professor. He seemed to think Reinhold Niebuhr might have something interesting; poetry, philosophy, thoughts on the election...anything you think might be appropriate would be most welcome!

If he had given us this instead of the bread of our affliction--deyanu!

sourwookie — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:37:27 -0800

I've been tasked with making the charoset for my family's seder this year. But I'm tired of the same-old-same-old. Got any recipes you love? While we all do dig it, traditionally we've always done the apples-walnuts-honey-cinnamon-wine variety.

I've found plenty of recipes online--too many. Anyone got one they've used, eaten, and loved?

New recipe? Surprise twist? Unexpected add-in? I'm all ears!

A salad that enu would die for

Dasein — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:23:08 -0800

I have to make a salad for a Passover seder with a lot of people. Can anyone think of a good recipe for a salad that is kosher, filling (I'm thinking maybe nuts or beans), easy to make in large quantities, and delicious? Thanks for your help!

Shagitz and shikse seek Passover Seder.

HotPatatta — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 13:44:09 -0800

Where can I, a gentile with no Jewish friends, participate in a Passover Seder in Los Angeles? Are there restaurants that will do it? Are there Jewish cultural organizations that host large Seders open to the public (<$40/person)? Are you a Jew who would let my girl friend and I join your mishpacha for dinner?

How can my Jewish girlfriend and I find a family to have a Passover Seder with in Bordeaux, France?

jordanian2 — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 11:09:58 -0800

How can my Jewish girlfriend and I find a family to have a Passover Seder with in Bordeaux, France? My girlfriend and I are studying in France for a semester, and we will be in Bordeaux on April 2nd, the first day of Passover. She wants to see if we can join a Jewish family for Seder that evening. It's really important to her. The problem is, we don't know a single soul in Bordeaux, and the temples in Bordeaux are charging more than our backpackers' wallets can afford for a Seder ceremony.

How can we find a Jewish family for this year's Passover in Bordeaux? Bonus points if you can tell us how to find a Jewish reform family!

More progressive, younger seders in San Francisco?

squirrel — Wed, 24 Mar 2004 12:10:16 -0800

Seders in San Francisco? My partner and I are looking for a Passover gathering in the Bay Area that is focused on a younger (25-40), more progressive crowd. We're frankly a little tired of the same old seder with her family and want to meet more young people who, like us, may be actively constructing or redefining their Jewishness.