Jews Do the Darndest Things (On Passover)

Congratulations to the winners of our Passover giveaway, each of whom will win a copy of New American Haggadah, edited by Jonathan Safran Foer and translated by Nathan Englander. We asked for your family’s favorite Passover tradition or memory; the winners (of a very tough competition) are below:

• @ilanagarber: “My fav: decorate seder table w/mirrors. “B’chol dor” – hold up mirror & SEE urself as having left Egypt.”
• @MindWarp11: “Yearly, we add NEW symbols (a la the orange). Fav: apple w/ a slice removed for the educational achievement gap in the US!”
• @NEXTRafi: “Every year, Dad shows Zayde’s old crowbar (frm unloading produce crates as a grocer) & says ‘Hard Work ddn’t end aftr Egypt'”
• Anita Silvert: “Passover, circa 1980. My grandparent’s tiny apartment in Chicago. My parents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and my two sisters were all sitting around the table, engaged in our Seder with the Maxwell House Haggadah. New to the table was my sister’s fiance, an Israeli of Syrian descent. Suddenly, the phone rang. Since the entire family was present, none of us could imagine who would be calling at such a time. Grandma got up to answer the phone, realized it was an international call from Israel, and handed the phone to my younger sister; she must have given her inlaws-to-be the phone number. We all expected it was a “happy Pesach” call, but her face and voice didn’t match with that kind of message. She said a few words, quietly hung up the phone, and announced to her fiance, and the rest of us, that his aunt, the last left in Syria, had finally been ransomed out of Syria and had arrived in Israel that night. We sat in silence for half a second, then burst into cheers and hugs. The holiday of redemption, of liberation from oppressive lands never seemed so present, so real, so true as it did that night. and hasn’t since.”
• Jerry Kane: “Several years ago we invited our guests to bring a symbol of something from which they wanted to “free” themselves in the coming year. We placed those symbols on a plate alongside our seder plate. Examples of what guests brought were – car… keys — to encourage more walking instead of driving — a cell phone – to encourage more face to face contact — exercise equipment to encourage more physical fitness — and other items. It is a practice we still continue to do at our seders and encourages great discussion and participation.”

And a few honorable mentions that we just couldn’t resist sharing:

• @tktchr: “We use a dog biscuit instead of a shankbone. When we got our 1st dog right b4 Pesach we were so excited we forgot to shop!”
• @adinacate: “My mother lives in ME and can’t get shank bones, so my fiance drew a pic of one 4 the seder plate used each year.”
• @DEHausfrau: “Fav Pesach tradition: Miriam’s Dance/Conga Line complete with timbals and drums!”
• @tbenwdoe: “Free trade chocolate on seder plate, each person stating what need to wash away at this time for first washing of hands.”

Congratulations, and thanks for playing, folks!