Big Tent Judaism

Passover and Jewish Identity

Growing up a child of intermarriage, Passover was the time I felt the most “Jewish.” We had an otherwise secular household—went to High Holiday services, but not much else. For Passover, however, my mother went all out.

A few weeks ahead of time, my mom would bring up the Passover dishes from the basement. A few days before the Seder, she would become a cleaning maniac, on a mission to get out every single crumb in the entire house. She’d pull out all of the couch cushions and move the furniture. My sister and I had to clean our rooms, under our beds, even our closets. We’d even burn the remains of last year’s afikoman to symbolically nullify all of the crumbs that might have been overlooked.

All this care and attention may also happen in other Jewish households, but in my home it came from a woman who was raised protestant. She was doing her part to make sure we were raised in a Jewish household.

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Combined Influences on Passover

In “Crash Course,” an article in Tablet Magazine, Patrick Huguenin describes his efforts to become an expert in Passover dietary laws in time to prepare a dish for his Jewish friend’s Seder (ritual Passover meal). Huguenin, who describes himself as an “agnostic Christian,” throws himself head-first into researching the details and techniques of preparing kosher-for-Passover chopped liver, a classic Ashkenazi Jewish food.

After two “trial” batches of chopped liver, during which Hugenin stresses about everything from chicken fat ratios to finding the perfect snacks to “dunk” with, he discovers the biggest shock of all: Matt, his Jewish friend doesn’t really care about keeping kosher for Passover.

“You know,” said Matt as he noshed, “we’re not that strict, and it’s not even sundown yet. You could have served this pate on toast.”

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Mutli-Faith Passover Blessing

Craig Taubman, a Jewish musician, has teamed up with American Greeting Cards to create an electronic Passover card that “celebrates the universal message of the holiday.” The card features a video in which rabbis are joined by religious leaders of other faiths to show how Passover’s themes of freedom and hope have inspired humanity for generations. The card can also be personalized, so we encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity to share with your family and friends this wonderful Passover blessing.

Guide for an Inclusive Interfaith Seder

Passover begins soon, and for many families that means preparations are well underway. And with increasing rates of intermarriage, more Seders will be populated by people unfamiliar with Passover and all of its traditions. That’s why we created a guide for holding an Inclusive Interfaith Seder, printed yesterday by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on its Passover blog. It also mentions our ongoing “Preparing for Passover” blog series written by participants in The Mothers Circle. The purpose of the guide is to show how using the holiday’s themes of freedom and welcoming can help interfaith families make their Seder an inclusive event the will resonate with everyone.

Click the link below to read all of our suggestions. What else would you add to the list?

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New Passover Resources for Grandparents of Interfaith Grandchildren

We have added exciting new resources to the Passover section of the Grandparents Circle website. The goal of Grandparents Circle is to provide Jewish grandparents whose adult children have intermarried with tools they can use to help nurture – and in some cases establish – the Jewish identity of their grandchildren. This new section of the website provides specific tools that grandparents can use to connect their grandchildren to Passover.

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