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How is this seder different from all other seders? Spring is in the air, and we are just days away from celebrating Chag Ha’Aviv – better known as Pesach! For most, Pesach will look a lot different this year, with virtual seders taking over our normal family gatherings. However, just because we are avoiding big raucous family get togethers, does not mean that our individual seders need to be melancholy or dull. In fact, this is the time to let our creativity shine and have a lot of fun with this holiday! So because this year’s seders will be a little untraditional, I thought it would be great to explore some other FUN ways to make changes to your seders. From table décor, to overall theme, to new and interesting Seder Plate items, here are some ideas to help you prepare your Seder Decorating our Seder Tables I don’t know about you, but I always decorate my Seder table with fresh flowers. But why not take this opportunity to make some of your own? Look below for some methods to create beautiful paper flowers. For full video tutorials, check out our Instagram page @youthbethtikvah Let’s talk Seder Plate: What is all this stuff anyway? Why not consider some new and alternative seder plate options? The Chocolate Seder Plate Beitzah: Cadbury Mini Eggs are Kosher and make a delicious Eggy replacement! cv Chazeret: Let’s showcase the bright colours of spring Z’roah: Since with colourful candy-coated most of us use a chocolates chicken drumstick cv for the shank bone, why not replace with a delicious ICE CREAM drumstick? cv Maror: Don’t worry— Bittersweet Chocolate is still Karpas: Green apples make sweet and yummy for tart and tasty dippables- cv try dunking this twice in salted caramel cv Charoset: Chocolate spread would make a GREAT mortar for building tasty pyramids cv Don’t forget about the Matzah! Try making delicious Matzah Crunch: Melt together ¾ cup butter with 1 cup of brown sugar. Once all of the sugar is dissolved, pour over sheets of matzah on a lined baking sheet. Once the caramel has cooled slightly, cover with chocolate ships and allow to sit for 3 minutes. Now the chocolate will be spreadble and you have a created a fantastic Pesach snack! cv Or maybe update your Seder plate with a tasty trip Around the world with some international versions of charoset… Mexican Charoset Indian Charoset Syrian Charoset ½ cup coconut, shredded 1 large papaya, seeded and 3 lb large pitted dates 1 lb rose apples, peeled diced 1 tsp cinnamon and diced small 1 cup dried mango, diced ½ cup sweet wine or grape 12 oz banana, peeled and ¾ cup whole raw chashews juice diced Juice of 1 lemon 1 cup chopped walnuts 1 lb dates, pitted and ½ tsp grated ginger 1-2 tbsp matzah meal, as diced ¼ tsp cinnamon needed to bind 8 oz almonds, chopped 1/8 tsp cloves Place the dates in a 2 tbsp cinnamon 1/8 tsp cardamom saucepan. Add water to 1 cup pomegranate seeds Mix all of the ingredients cover and bring to a boil. 3 tangerines, diced together and serve! Once boiling, lower the 1 cup Riesling wine or Alternatively, you can heat and simmer until the grape juice grind all of the ingredients dates are soft. Pass the Quickly sauté the fruit together to create a dates through a strainer and nuts in a frying pan paste, like the mortar used or use a food processor. and add the wine. Cook by slaves to build the Add remaining ingredients. until the fruit has pyramids. softened but not broken down. Italian Charoset Greek Charoset Israeli Charoset 3 apples, peeled diced 2 cups pitted dates, cut in 4 Granny Smith apples, 2 pears, peeled and diced half peeled ¾ cup golden raisins ½ cup raisins 2 bananas 1 cup prunes, pitted and ¾ cup plus 2 tbsp chopped ½ cup raisins chopped walnuts ¼ cup almonds 1 1/3 cup dates, pitted and ¼ cup chopped pine nuts ¼ cup pistachios chopped ½ tsp ground ginger ¼ cup pecans 2 cups sweet red wine or ½ cup sweet red wine or 2-4 tbsp red wine or grape grape juice grape juice juice 1/3 cup pine nuts Blend the dates and raisins 2 tbsp orange juice ½ cup sugar or honey in a food processor until ½ tsp cinnamon 1 tsp cinnamon very finely minced. Optional ½ tsp sugar ½ tsp ground ginger Transfer to a large bowl In a food processor, puree Put all of the ingredients and add the walnuts, pine the apples, bananas, raisins in a saucepan and cook, nuts, ginger and wine and and nuts (to a consistency stirring occasionally for mix well. Cover with that you enjoy). Add the 20-30 minutes until the plastic wrap and chill 1 remaining ingredients and fruits are very soft (add a hour. chill. little bit of water if it becomes too dry) Additions to the seder plate The items on our traditional seder plate offer great lessons, and remind us of an important time in our history – our slavery in Egypt. However, over the years, people have started adding items that carry a personal significance to them, and the trends have been catching on! Professor Susannah Heschel began the practice of placing an orange on her family's seder plate and asking each attendee to take a segment of the orange, make the blessing over fruit, and eat it as a gesture of solidarity with LGBTQ Jews and others who are marginalized within the Jewish community. They spit out the orange seeds, which were said to represent homophobia. Miriam’s Cup celebrates Miriam’s role in the deliverance from slavery and her help throughout the wandering in the wilderness. Place an empty cup alongside Elijah's cup and ask each attendee at the seder to pour a bit of water into the cup. With this new custom, we recognize that women have always been – and continue to be – integral to the continued survival of the Jewish community. In 1991, Israel launched Operation Solomon, a covert plan to bring Ethiopian Jews to the Holy Land. When these famished, downtrodden Jews arrived in Israel, many were so hungry and ill that they were unable to digest substantial food. Israeli doctors fed these new immigrants simple boiled potatoes and rice until their systems could take more food. To commemorate this at your seder, eat small red potatoes alongside the karpas (green spring vegetable). Announce to those present that this addition honors a wondrous exodus in our own time, from Ethiopia to Israel. Fair Trade certified chocolate and cocoa beans are grown under standards that prohibit the use of forced labor. They can be included on the seder plate to remind us that although we escaped from slavery in Egypt, forced labor is still very much an issue today. Rabbi Wesley Gardenswartz started the tradition of adding cashews to the seder plate to honor American troops. The idea came from a sign at a drug store that asked customers to consider buying bags of cashews to send to troops stationed in Iraq; an employee whose son was serving abroad explained that the salted cashews provided sustenance and hydration in Iraq's desert climate. What would you and your family like to add to the seder plate? Perhaps it is something different that I have not included yet! Send me a picture of your updated seder plate, with the story of why this item is important to you and your family ([email protected]) and I will include it on our Instagram page! What about your actual Virtual Seder? How can we update this to add a little bit of extra fun? Here are a few suggestions that can easily be added into the Seder! A Seinfeldian Karpas Skit: Before saying the blessing over Karpas, have your family join you in reciting this fun play! INT. JERRY'S APARTMENT ELAINE Now do we eat? I’m starving. KRAMER Sort of. Next up is the Karpas. Who wants to do the Karpas? Yael? George's love interest Yael replies: YAEL I’d be honored. For the Karpas, we dip fresh green vegetables into bitter, salty water. It symbolizes the celebration of a painful moment in Jewish history, by combining a metaphor of tears and slavery, the salt water, with one of spring and rebirth, the green vegetable, in this case, the big salad Elaine brought. YAEL DIPS SOME OF THE BIG SALAD INTO THE SALT WATER. SHE BITES THE VEGETABLE. YAEL Mmm. YAEL PASSES THE KARPAS TO GEORGE. HE TAKES THE BIG SALAD AND SALT WATER NEXT, DIPS, AND BITES. GEORGE Mmm. YAEL SMILES. HOWEVER, GEORGE THEN RE-DIPS THE BITTEN VEGETABLE INTO THE SALT WATER AND TAKES ANOTHER BITE. GEORGE Mmmmmmm. YAEL LOOKS AT GEORGE. SHE’S DISGUSTED. YAEL What are you doing? GEORGE What? YAEL You just double dipped the Karpas? GEORGE Excuse me? YAEL You dipped the Karpas. Bit it. And dipped it again. GEORGE So? George's Father, Frank, yells at him: FRANK It’s like putting your whole mouth in the Karpas, George! GEORGE I didn’t get enough salt water the first time. I like to really feel the tears of our people. Is that so bad? YAEL There’s no double dipping. In general. Of anything. George's mother criticizes him: ESTELLE Who raised you to double dip? We didn’t raise him to double dip. I can tell you that. FRANK I’m sorry you had to see that, Yael. GEORGE Can we just say the prayer already?! EVERYONE: Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha`olam, bo'rei p'ri ha'adama.

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