Passover is 8 days long. Yeah, that seems like a lot of time to us too. Traditionally there are two Seders, one on the first night and one on the second. The rest of the eight days is when you stay away from bread and close to matzah. The two Seders are exactly the same except that the chicken soup tastes better the second day. The reason for two Seders has to do with the moon, and the calendar, and that the rabbis weren’t exactly sure which night it started in the Diaspora, so they decided we should cover our bases and celebrate Passover twice. True story.

Passover is when we celebrate the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery by retelling the story of the Exodus at a Seder. If you’ve ever seen the classic movie The Ten Commandments starring a ripped Charlton Heston or A Rugrats Passover, you probably know the story. The name Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) comes from the last of the 10 plagues, when the firstborn children of the Egyptians were killed while the Angel of Death literally passed over the Jewish homes. Brutal for sure, but it was the only way to get Pharaoh to release the Jews from slavery (you’d think hail and locusts, etc. would’ve been enough, but the guy really hung on).

So many Seders are as dull as a piece of plain matzah, but leading a kickass Seder is both highly do-able and super important. There are 14 steps to the Seder. The steps help us retell the story of the Exodus, which is when the Jews fled slavery at the hands of the Egyptians, across the desert to their ultimate freedom in the land that was supposed to be flowing with milk and honey, aka: the promised land, aka: Israel. Retelling the story is also meant to take us through our own experience of slavery and pain and to think about what holds us back from freedom in our own lives. We open the door to peace when we welcome Elijah the prophet; we honor women with Miriam’s cup; and we give thanks to people who are Jewish through choice or marriage or spirit with Ruth’s Blessing. This is all explained in detail in our Haggadah so that friends and family at your Seder table who are not Jewish — or who are but didn’t get much Jewish education or maybe need a refresher — won’t feel left out or confused or jewbarrassed.

We have strong, black coffee on our Seder table

as a rallying cry for the Jewish community, and anyone who stands against hate, to wake up to antisemitism. We cannot ignore the danger faced by Jews around the world. Many of our ancestors came here as refugees, worked hard and contributed to society. And while there has always been hate, they were able to live good lives, and so have we. But the wave of antisemitism that is continuing to gain momentum threatens the ability of Jews to live safely and proudly. It is important to take the signs of hate seriously. Remember, it was the “paranoid” Jews in Europe in the 1930s who survived. Their foresight turned into action. We call upon that same willingness to take action now. It is once again time to wake up and fight like our lives depend on it, because they might. Reading the plagues is a good place to start.

(Take turns reading the plagues aloud while taking a sip of coffee.)

Plague 1: Silence

Remaining silent in the face of antisemitism normalizes hate. So does making it someone else’s problem.   No one has ever been antisemitic to me, so how bad could it be?” Well, very. Even if you haven’t experienced it firsthand, your people have, your family has, your community has. Isn’t that enough? All of our voices need to be loud and proud.

Plague 2: Non-Jewish Silence

Name the social cause and Jews are often standing out front supporting it. It would have been logical to assume that there would be many allies who would stand with the Jewish community during this time of great pain. Yet, this has not been the case. The treatment of Jews by our supposed allies is outrageous. While a basic Jewish value is to improve the world, it is important that Jews support the Jewish community, too. Standing up for others more than ourselves isn’t the answer. We know that now. Please let’s not forget.

Plague 3: Anti-Israel

Is Israel perfect? Of course not. But neither is any country. Still, again and again, Israel is the country that people are literally trying to erase from the map. There are forty-nine countries that have a Muslim majority and one hundred and twenty-six countries that have a Christian majority. There is only one country that has a Jewish majority. Why is there so much focus on this one country? Why is Israel held to standards that literally no other country in the world is asked to meet? It is because of antisemitism. The Jewish people need Israel. We’ve been kicked out of every country we’ve ever lived in, other than the United States (yet). The only place where Jews are truly safe from antisemitism is Israel. The Jewish people need Israel for our own safety.

Plague 4: Hamas

Hamas is a terrorist organization, not a resistance movement. Those who support Hamas are trying to dress up their Jew-hate as social justice. Hamas literally uses Palestinian civilians as human shields. Hamas also hates America, Christians, democracy, the LGBTQ community, women’s rights and more. They might be starting with Israel, but they sure as heck aren’t going to end there.

Plague 5: Hiding

We can’t hide. It doesn’t work. From tucking your Star of David necklace into your t-shirt, to letting an antisemitic slur slide, to not using your platform for good. If we assimilate out of fear and abandon our Jewishness, the bigots win.

Plague 6: Stereotypes/Scapegoating

Antisemitism has become so normalized that we may not always notice it. When someone says that Jews are cheap, or that our community doesn’t need allies because we’re all white/privileged, that’s antisemitism. Conspiracy theories, like Jews controlling finance, the media, politics, even the weather, are used to blame Jews and encourage more hate.

Plague 7: Tolerating Hate

Jews are oppressors. Jews are all successful. American Jews are white and privileged. If the vitriol that is being leveled against the Jewish community was directed at any other marginalized group, people would not stand for it. But again and again, Jews are being singled out.

Plague 8: Schools

73% of Jewish college students have experienced antisemitic incidents since the beginning of the 2023-24 school year. How much more evidence do we need that campuses across the country are simply not safe for Jewish students? But the problem doesn’t start in college. There are high schools, middle schools and even grade schools across the country where it is unsafe for Jewish students. There are antisemitic books being inserted into the curriculum of schools across the country. This is because those who are anti-Israel are working hard to move their agenda into places it does not belong. It’s up to every Jewish adult sitting at this table to take action.

Plague 9: Social Media

Social media has become a cesspool of antisemitism. Wishing someone a Happy Passover on social media will be met with messages like: “Baby Killer,”  “Free Palestine,” and “Hitler should have finished the job.”  There is no longer any space between antisemitism and Israel hate. If we are to have a hope of the next generation not hating Israel and the Jewish people, there needs to be an enormous correction of the way social media is handled and tolerated.

Plague 10: Small-mindedness

It is entirely possible to stand for the humanity of both Palestinians and Israelis. We do not need to be pro anything except pro-peace.

Hosting a Seder is a lot like throwing an awesome dinner party with props and a set agenda. It includes lots of drinking and eating and singing, which generally makes for happy guests. And you don’t have to worry about what to serve or whether your guests will find anything to talk about. The Seder will keep them busy, and since most of the food is traditional, menu planning is a snap. Just remember that making the Passover story come to life for your guests matters more than the matzah balls. What if it’s the only Jewish experience some of your guests have the entire year? It’s your job to inspire them with some fun and spirituality. Yes, that’s a lot of pressure, but you’re up to it! (Plus, we’ve got you covered with these steps for a Kickass Seder.) Side note for hosts: We’re not sure whose genius idea it was to ask the littlest kid at the table to recite the Four Questions, in Hebrew no less, but if you’re planning to go with tradition, make sure to check in with the kid or the parent first. Clearly, we’re projecting, but some of us at JewBelong still remember the anxiety we felt when it was our turn.

Passover is a big food holiday, with many traditional foods and one big “don’t.” The don’t is bread or any leavened food. That leaves lots of other foods to eat though, starting with matzah — which includes matzah balls, matzah brei, matzah kugel… you get the picture. Hard boiled eggs, green herbs dipped in saltwater, horseradish and matzah and charoset sandwiches help us experience the Passover story. Another traditional Seder dish is gefilte fish, which is like a cold ground fish mousse. (You either love it or you don’t.) Many families will also have the kinds of foods they’d normally eat at Thanksgiving at their Seder, minus the stuffing, obviously. Keeping kosher for passover means not eating bread or other leavened foods (a.k.a chametz), but there are way more rules than that, like not even having foods with leaven in their homes. Many people keep kosher for Passover the whole eight days of the holiday. For families with little kids a dramatic part of Passover preparation is searching for the last traces of chametz in the dark using just a candle to find any lingering crumbs. There are lots more rules and activities like that. Google them if you’re ready to take a deeper dive.