For Parents
Focus on the Family: Creative Ideas for Passover
by Barbara Mollin Lerner,
Consultant for Family Education
A. Planning Ahead
1. Create a Passover family cookbook with treasured recipes from relatives who live near and far. Provide copies of the cookbook as a keepsake for Seder guests and your family.
2. Plant herbs. Even the youngest children can help plant parsley, chives, etc. in small pots several weeks before Passover. Use them at your own Seder, or bring them as a house gift to your host to be used for karpas.
For additional ideas for your family's Passover cleaning and shopping lists, see:
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Passover/TO_Pesach_Home/PassoverPreparationHowTo.htmFor an on-line class on Preparing for Passover, see:
http://www.dawnschuman.org/online_classes/passover/passover_prepare.jsp
B. Thinking of Others
Providing Passover food to those in need can
become a family project.
1. Set aside special tzedakah for Maot Hittim /“Wheat” Funds for Passover food for the needy. Many congregations collect tzedakah funds or they can be given directly to the Passover League of Philadelphia at 215 Presidential Blvd., 1st floor, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004. Tel: 610-660-0530.
2. Volunteer as a family at the next distribution of the Jewish Relief Agency. For more information: http://jewishrelief.org/volunteer.shtml.
3. Donate food to the "Chametz Drive" of the Mitzvah Food Project of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.
http://www.jewishphilly.org and click on Chametz Drive on the left menu bar.4. Clear out non-Passover items from your pantry and donate them to a local food bank, i.e., http://www.greaterphiladelphiafoodbank.org.
C. Getting Ready
1. Create stickers: have both younger and older children design stickers or magnets with drawings or computer clip art that can be attached to cabinets, closets, and boxes containing hametz or Passover items.
Find instructions for making refrigerator and personalized magnets at:
http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/makingmagnets/
For stickers: http://familyinternet.about.com/cs/recipes1/a/blstickers.htm
Make your own – or download Passover pictures from sites including:
http://kosher4passover.com/clipart.htm
http://www.bitsela.com/passover.htm.2. Investigate - take your children to visit the “Kosher for Passover” aisle in a local supermarket before or during Passover. Find out which foods are marked “Kosher for Passover.” Then find foods that can never be kosher for Passover (e.g., bread), those that don’t need any markings (e.g., fresh apples), and products that need labels marking them “Kosher for Passover” (e.g., cake mixes). Watch the list grow each year as more companies create special foods for Passover!
3. Involve your children in creating place cards for all the Seder guests at your own Seder table or as a present for your host. Matzah backgrounds and other Passover theme clip art are available on the web. [See hint #1].
4. Search - the Search for Leaven/Bedikat Hametz is the formal search for any leaven that may remain after a thorough cleaning for Passover is completed. Use a pre-made kit or have your children assemble one with your own candle (or small flashlight), a wooden spoon, and a feather. Look for pieces of bread that have been specially placed around the home – preferably in plastic bags. Children can take turns hiding and/or searching for the specially placed hametz. The background, rituals, ceremony, and the translated blessings are found at http://www.beingjewish.com/yomtov/passover/search.html
http://members.aol.com/wiseacrebk/Haggadah/02preparing.htmlhttp://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach.asp?AID=1744.
D. For
the Seder
1. Give homework to your Seder guests when you invite them. Each family or person can be assigned in advance to research, explain, or lead a different part of the Haggadah. This division of the Seder encourages more participation.
2. Take photographs of your holiday table and your family and guests just before the Seder begins to keep in a Passover family memory book. Some families may choose to videotape Seder memories and recollections.
3. Prepare new verses for Dayenu for your Seder. Choose verses that relate to each person’s family history, modern Israel, and world Jewry.
4. Download a Passover ‘madlibs’ and use it at your Seder. http://www.kolel.org/pages/holidays/Pesach_madlibs.html.
E. Find more ideas to add to your Family Seder:
Seder games and activities
http://www.aish.com/passfamily/passfamilydefault/Games_and_Tips_for_the_Seder.asp
Interactive animated Haggadah with audio and background information
http://www.jdc.org.il/fsu/pesach/english/title.html
Creating memories for a family Seder
http://www.jopp.org/mc_kits/passoverindex.htm
Innovative ideas for each part of the Seder
http://learn.jtsa.edu/passover/seder/steps.html
Passover preparation and Seder tips for families with
young children
http://www.kolel.org/pages/holidays/Pesach_families.html
Passover family discussion questions and activities
http://uahc.org/educate/parent/pdfdl/0706.pdf
The Auerbach Central Agency for Jewish Education
7607 Old York Road
Melrose Park, PA 19027
215-635-8940 Fax: 215-635-8946
www.acaje.org info@acaje.org
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