Friend --
For Jews around the world, this will be a very different Passover than what we’re used to.
Because of the COVID-19 crisis, many of us are downsizing seders or attempting to do them virtually. We may not be able to celebrate as we’d like with our communities and loved ones, or to travel to join them. We’re experiencing great uncertainty and working to overcome a sense of isolation.
At the same time, we’re drawing strength, wisdom and comfort from our traditions. Passover offers us so many valuable lessons and messages for this time: the importance of sticking together as a people and as a community in times of crisis. Gratefulness for the ways in which we are fortunate. Concern and compassion for those who are less fortunate than we are. Hope and persistence in the face of darkness.
As we were crafting J Street’s new 2020 haggadah, the threat of a global pandemic was far from our minds as we focused on the long-term challenges that ongoing conflict and occupation pose for Israelis, Palestinians and all of us who care about their future. Yet the lasting themes of solidarity and empathy still run through it, along with important reminders of the common goals and mission we all share.
View or download J Street’s 2020 haggadah here.
Our haggadah approaches all of the core components of the Passover seder through the lens of J Street’s work and issues. It’s chock full of thought-provoking readings, poems, discussion questions and artwork. We’ve chosen some of our favorite writings from the existing work of great Jewish spiritual leaders, teachers and writers, like Rabbi Sharon Brous and Amos Oz -- and we’re so grateful to be able to draw on such a wealth of great work from the Jewish social justice community of the past and of today. Other pieces are inspiring original contributions from members of our movement, including members of our Rabbinic and Cantorial Cabinet and J Street U leaders.
We’re proud of it and so grateful to all those whose work helped make it possible. However you choose to observe Passover or hold your seder this year, we hope you’ll find meaningful passages in the J Street haggadah to incorporate into your holiday rituals and discussions.
We hope you’ll feel inspired to reflect on our shared work and all the work we still have to do to combat xenophobia and bigotry, to promote peace, to defend democracy and to end occupation. We hope that it will give you a stronger sense of community with the wider J Street family and the entire pro-Israel, pro-peace movement, even as we all grapple with the strain of isolation and the changes that are now taking place in our day-to-day lives.
Download the J Street haggadah
I know I speak for all of us at J Street when I send my best wishes to you, your family and your community. If there’s any way that we can offer further support, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Yours in gratitude and hope,
Shaina Wasserman
Director of Rabbinic and Community Engagement
