The JFREJ Haggadah Library

Passover Resources to Enrich Your Seder

Passover Resources

  • Freedom To Thrive: Seder in the Streets Haggadah supplement [PDF] Our city continues to be rocked by violence — hate violence, gun violence, and police violence. This Passover, we invite you to join us as we reflect on what it means to take responsibility for the safety of our neighbors, and how we can take a leap of faith in order to discard the systems of safety that aren’t working for us, and instead find a promised land in which all New Yorkers have the resources and freedom to thrive.
  • Black Lives Matter Haggadah Supplement [PDF] Jews For Racial & Economic Justice collaborated with inspiring activists and leaders from around the country to produce this Haggadah supplement. In it you will find additions to the Seder rituals & Haggadah text intended to highlight the role we believe Jews must play in confronting racism and abusive policing. Each piece of the supplement may provoke discussion, reflection or even contention. We hope that this wrestling, thinking and feeling—in the great tradition of our people—will be a powerful part of your Seder and will lead to meaningful action for justice.
  • Jewish Resistance at the Seder Table [PDF] In the face of deportations, border walls, hate crimes, religious bigotry and police violence, Pesach is a gift from the very heart of our traditions, giving us the strength to take action and the tools to change our own story. Just when we need it most, it reminds us that we know how to resist oppression and win. We will eat, celebrate, sing and honor our 5777-year history of Jewish Resistance by taking action—demanding that Mayor de Blasio make New York a real Sanctuary City for all of those facing oppression today.
  • Mixed Multitudes: Nobody’s Free ’til Everybody’s Free (A Racial Justice Haggadah)The Mixed Multitudes Haggadah, created for the 2016 Racial Justice Seder at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Manhattan, offers vision for collective liberation blended with Jewish tradition and grounding.
  • השתא הכא A justice-oriented Haggadah reader for Pesach 5784/2024 with contributions from multiple JFREJ members as well as members of Halachic Left, All That's Left, and HaSmol HaEmuni.
  • Freedom for All Haggadah The Freedom for All Haggadah is an initiative of Na’amod (UK), IfNotNow (USA), Freedom4All Zurich Group (Switzerland), Laboratorio Ebraico Antirazzista (Italy), Jews For Racial & Economic Justice (NYC) and All That’s Left (Israel/Palestine). In the rich tradition of activist seders including Arthur Waskow’s 1969 Freedom Seder, we have come together to create a new Haggadah, songbook, and Seder toolkit in response to this moment. Our seder will honor the diversity of our diaspora and bring our traditions together. Through this initiative, we embody a Jewish tradition committed to resistance against oppression and devoted to freedom for all — Palestinians, Jews, and all people everywhere.
  • Migrant & Housing Justice Haggadah insert The Passover narrative begins in the haggadah with Arami Oved Avi: My father was a wandering Aramean, a story of collective migration. Today in New York City, migration is met with cruel and xenophobic policies like forced shelter evictions for newcomers to the city. This Pesach 5784 insert offers a way to take action to end shelter evictions.

Shavuot & Counting the Omer Resources:

  • Counting the Omer for Black Lives From the second day of Passover until Shavuot — for 49 days — Jews count the Omer. This daily counting practice, traditionally done out loud by blessing and counting the days, brings us from our break for freedom in the exodus into revelation at Mt. Sinai. There is a link here, in our Jewish calendar, between the actuality of our liberation and the act of receiving texts that challenge and inspire us, directing us towards building a world rooted in justice and liberation. White supremacy seeks to position Jews and other historically marginalized people against each other, attempting to prevent us from building solidarity together. We defy this by supporting each other and amplifying our collective power, instead. Sharing our commitment through Jewish ritual is one meaningful way to do this, which is what inspires us to count the Omer this year with the Movement for Black Lives policy platform: A Vision for Black Lives.
  • Shavuot for Black Lives [PDF] As Shavuot approaches, we are excited for our Jewish communities to immerse themselves in the Vision for Black Lives through our Shavuot for Black Lives Study Guide. This Vision offers a way forward into a different world, which is exactly what Shavuot is about: Revelation. Coming face-to-face with a vision of the world as it could be, and a way towards making that happen. We have constructed the guide to resemble a page of Talmud, with the Vision as the central text, surrounded by Jewish text, and texts by others fighting for racial and economic justice in keeping with the Vision’s platform demands.

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