As the Pesah holiday approaches many of us are busy with preparations. These include cleaning our homes, especially our kitchens, inviting guests to celebrate together, and finding new materials with which to enhance our seders.

To help with these preparations I list some helpful resources:

The Rabbinical Assembly publishes a Pesah Guide every year, focusing on keeping kosher for Passover. Here is a link to this year’s version.

This year’s guide includes reference to the Law Committee’s recently adopted guidelines allowing the eating of “kitniyot” – often translated as “legumes,” but referring to rice, corn and other foods – on Passover, even for Ashkenazi families.  (Sefardi families have always eaten kitniyot, as allowed by the Talmud and traditional law.) As the guide makes clear, care must be taken that these foods not include real hametz. Please consult the guide for details.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. The published Guide is only a guide. It does not clarify all options available.

Regarding hospitality – as we have publicized, please use our Passover Matchmaking service if you would like to host guests or if you are looking for a place for a seder.

The amount of creative materials available to add to our seders has reached amazing proportions. There are many on’line sites to consult as well as published and manufactured materials one may utilize.

As a family holiday and one involving the kids, we seek new ideas and ways to be inclusive of everyone. Here is a link from Kveller about family-friendly haggadot, including links to other useful resources.

Pesah is not just for the kids, of course. As the Festival of Freedom, Passover challenges us to appreciate our freedom and explore how to increase freedom in the world. Here are a few new resources created for this year which provide selections on many social justice issues:

From  the Rabbinical Assembly

From the American Jewish World Service

From the Reform Movement center for Social Justice

Image(s):  Passover-Shalom © Paurian used with permission via Creative Commons License