OTHER ACTIVITIES
• Ten Plague Tzedakah. The Ten Plagues reminds us that our own joy is lessened by the pain the Egyptians experienced. Hide coins around the room (or throughout the house) and place a tzedakah box on the table. After draining wine/grape juice for the Ten Plagues, invite children to seek out the coins and place them in the tzedakah box. Announce that we lessen our own joy by giving these coins to help others who are experiencing misfortune. Predetermine the recipient tzedakah organization.
• Toothbrush on the Table or Football for Freedom. The Seder plate symbols are intended as a multi-sensory trigger to teach lessons about Passover. Surround the Seder plate with non-traditional objects you have around the home. After reading the explanation for karpas and for the maror, invites teams of individuals to make connections between these non-traditional objects on the table and the lessons of Passover. A football might remind us of when the angel passed over the Israelite homes. An iPod might remind us that the Israelites sang songs of praise while going through Red Sea. A toothbrush might recall the rush the Israelites were in to escape Egyptian slavery.
• Picture the Promised Land. The Seder concludes with “Next Year in Jerusalem” to remind us about our dedication to being a free people in our own land. Following the meal, invite participants who have traveled to Israel to share a favorite picture and anecdote from their trip.
• Make a Miracle Happen. Take a bowl of water. Pour pepper onto the surface. Without anyone seeing, place a small amount of dish soap on your finger. Talk about the miracle of the parting of the sea and place your finger in the water. The pepper will immediately separate on the water's surface. The children will cry out, "Do it again! Do it again!" So put more pepper on the water. Again, place a small amount of soap on your finger. Place it in the water... Nothing will happen! MESSAGE: MIRACLES ONLY HAPPEN ONCE!
• Put on the table some of the food items mentioned in Numbers 11:5, where the Israelites complain about not having the food they remember from Egypt. I put out gefilte fish, cucumbers, melon, and leeks at the beginning of the seder, and ask the question, "Why are these things here?" Somebody is bound to remember the source close enough to engender a discussion. It's also useful to discuss out how like the Israelites we are today. We frequently complain about what we don't have, and forget to be thankful for the blessing of freedom. Putting the food out means that people can nosh throughout the first part of the seder, and not complain, "When do we eat?" It also omits the need for a fish course.
• Put several small items in a small shopping bag. Pass the bag around the table, so one person at a time takes out an object. The person has to describe how the item might have been used during the Exodus from Egypt. From band-aids, Swiss Army knife, flashlight, walkman, etc—be creative.
• Write, on four or five note cards, brief scenarios. Space these throughout the first part of the Seder. Each card should describe a situation in which an Israelite might have found him or herself. Example: you're shut up in your house the night of the killing of the first born. You hear the cries of your Egyptian neighbors. You care about them. What do you do?
• Begin the Seder in the living room—allow everyone to recline. Instead of reading the story, just tell it. One person starts, another picks up. You can interrupt, bring in stories, questions, etc. This makes for a much livelier and enjoyable experience for all.
• Have everyone come with 4 questions written; put them in a basket and ask them throughout the seder.
• Paper bag dramatics/ Act out the story with costumes, props, puppets and/or music
• Ask everyone to bring a physical object that represents his or her own liberation, this year. Put all these objects on a special Freedom Plate. During the Seder, ask folks to lift their object, just as we lift the matzah and the bitter herb, to tell its story and explain to each other what freedom means to them.
• Ransom the Afikomen by asking the children to look for it together, not in competition - and when they find it, invite them to work out what social-action project they'd like the Seder group to support. Ask every grown-up to contribute some multiple of $18 ("life"), depending on what s/he can afford.
• Lightly whip each other with leeks or scallions while singing Dayenu to symbolize the taskmaster’s whip (Sephardic tradition)
• Give homework in advance:
Ask your guests to prepare a presentation—a play, song, game show, drash, etc.
Have one person throw a bag with the afikomen over his shoulder like a knapsack and circle the table while telling the others about his experiences and the miracles he witnessed as he came from Egypt (Yemenite tradition)
• Encourage everyone to interrupt with questions and debate throughout the service
• Use musical instruments
• Set up several sets of candlesticks for many people to light
• Tzedakah—help make Passover possible for other people, bringing them food or giving money to organizations that help provide food for the needy within the Jewish community.
• Give each person a different Kiddush cup, or have them bring their own, and tell the story behind it.
• Create representations of the Four Children—different faces, abstract models, songs, etc. Have others at the table guess which child is represented.
• Afikomen Alternative: Make a chart with the order of the seder, put one letter from each word on 3-by-5 cards and hide them around the house. Tell the children to find the cards and bring them to the table. The adults should figure out a jumbled clue from the letters. Once the clue is deciphered, everyone runs to the location and finds the real afikomen.
