Haggadahs for The Wise, The Wicked, The Simple and Those Who Don't Know How To Ask

I've been looking for a perfect Haggadah. As the buyer for ModernTribe.com, months ago I'd gathered a dozen samples trying to find one or two to offer to my customers. As a rule, I won't sell something I wouldn't recommend to a friend. After reviewing the samples, I chose no Haggadot to sell on ModernTribe. Harsh, huh?

But then I had to choose a Haggadah for our seder, remembering last year's choice was entirely disappointing. I again looked through my stockpile. I chose four.

As is true at many seders, our guests were diverse in age and religious backgrounds. There was me, my athiest-believing-but-Jewish-living husband, my Reform Jewish parents, my four year old daughter, and a Christian friend. Since one of the most important purposes of the seder is to pass-on the story of the Exodus to the younger generation, I tried to gear the seder simple, light, and short, as is shrewd when you are passing-on to a four year old. At the same time, I wanted the seder to be meaningful and fun for the adults as well as informative for my friend for whom this was her first seder.

It wasn't until we got to the section on the Four Sons that I realized how well the four Haggadot I'd chosen fit with each of the four "personalities" or "dispositions" discussed during the seder and, to a degree, present in each of us.

For The Wise Within Us: we used A Family Haggadah II by Shoshana Silberman. This was our grown-up Haggadah which we used to stay in "order" and gain insight and depth when needed.

For The Wicked (Funny): we had Bangitout's Seder Sidekick. The comedic interludes made the adults laugh out loud (while our daughter played with her Ten Plagues Bowling Set). We especially enjoyed the Top 10 lists in David Letterman style.
For Our Simple Sides: we read from Richard Codor's Joyous Haggadah:A Children and Family Cartoon Haggadah for Passover Seder. This comic book style Haggadah is fun and colorful. It covers all the bases but in a very basic way.

For The Child Who Doesn't Yet Know How To Ask: we had Passover by Miriam Nerlove, a nicely illustrated book that explains the seder and the Exodus for young children. My mom showed our daughter the pictures as we discussed the Exodus events.

What a wonderful: wise, wicked, simple, and illustrated seder we had! I realized that as our child grows and as our guest list changes our seder and, therefore, our idea of a "perfect" Haggadah will change. I now understand there is no one "perfect" Haggadah, instead we will have to "blend" to create our own perfect-for-us mix.

If you click on the links for the Haggadot listed here you can buy them on Amazon.com.

Purim Giveaway on Pop Judaica Opens Tuesday, Feb 16

Enter to win at: Pop Judaica's Chosen Blog.

Venetian Masks For Purim

At LimmudLA this week, I did an acting workshop where I was asked write and act a scene where I play Esther as Sarah Jessica Parker would play her. Esther was on a date with Isaac (as played by John Meyer). Talk about hiding identity!

Hiding our identity by dressing in costume is a way for us to experience the Purim story. The story is chock full of people mis-representing themselves and concealing their true identity. Esther is the major incognito who conceals her Jewishness from the King and becomes Queen. Of course, later she reveals she is a Jewess to save her people from Haman's plot to kill the Jews. Other cases of mistaken identity include Mordecai (Esther's Uncle and informant) hiding his language abilities and thus eavesdropping on the plot for Jewish extermination; Mordecai was able to listen with ease because the conspirators felt free to discuss: they thought he didn't know their language. Then Haman (the King's right hand man and striving Jew killer) is mistaken for Mordechai and thus, as it's discussed in the Talmud, Haman's daughter dumps her chamberpot on top of her own father's head! Oops. Shakespeare must have gotten his inspiration from the Purim Megillah.

This is why we dress in costume for Purim. Two years ago we started selling Venetian masks as an adult costume for Purim because Italian Jews, in the middle ages, were the first to adopt the custom of dressing in costume to celebrate Purim. The Italian Jews were inspired to wear costumes by the Roman Carnival, naturally. But the custom spread and stuck, likely because it is so appropriate for The Festival of Lots.

Wikipedia has a great page on Purim: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purim