Saturday Night Seder by Erich Bergen et al., and: Mishkan HaSeder, A Passover Haggadah ed. by Rabbi Hara E. Person and Jessica Greenbaum
2021; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 105; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/ajh.2021.0061
ISSN1086-3141
Autores Tópico(s)Media, Religion, Digital Communication
ResumoReviewed by: Saturday Night Sederby Erich Bergen et al., and: Mishkan HaSeder, A Passover Haggadahed. by Rabbi Hara E. Person and Jessica Greenbaum Vanessa Ochs (bio) Saturday Night Seder, executive producers Erich Bergen, Alex Edelman, Talia Halperin, Adam Kantor, Benj Pasek, and Reboot, 04 11, 2020, https://www.saturdaynightSeder.com/ Mishkan HaSeder, A Passover Haggadah. Edited by Rabbi Hara E. Person and Jessica Greenbaum. New York: CCAR, 2021. Only weeks after COVID-19 sent us home in March of 2020, shutting down houses of worship and halting travel, many Jews were bewildered: How would we prepare and make plans for Passover? Just in time to observe the holiday, whose essence is gathering with family and friends, Jewish organizations with online presences provided free resources, including specially themed coronavirus Haggadot for having one's own very first Passover seder on Zoom: a technology that was new to many and, at first, complicated. Jewish groups have been providing socially relevant online materials for some time now. In the wake of 9/11, for instance, the Union for Reform Judaism rapidly posted a "Survivor Tree Planting Ceremony," a memorial service for religious schools, an interfaith dialogue guide, and readings and prayers for congregations and individuals. Before widespread internet access, Jewish groups routinely mailed out ritual resources keyed to issues of the day, especially free thematic Passover Haggadot or supplements. These materials addressed Soviet Jewry, civil rights, environmentalism, and feminism, and recipients of Passover guides were expected to reciprocate with donations. Making a Haggadah overtly relevant to the current moment sparked, as well, a cottage industry of DIY family Haggadot, later facilitated by the website haggadot.com, which made compiling one's own text comparatively effortless. Synagogues and Jewish organizations quickly issued instructional webinars and guides for the Zoom seders of 2020. Hillel International advised: 1) less is more—the Seder should be no longer than 20–30 minutes; 2) only one person sings aloud while everyone else is muted; 3) ask timely, open-ended questions, beyond the traditional Four Questions. For example: What are you grateful for at this moment? In the future, [End Page 591]what story do we want to tell about this period in our lives? Rabbis, who would in regular times ponder matters of law (halakha) at a snail's pace, hustled to consider complex dilemmas posed by using a computer for a seder during the pandemic. For instance: If you did not regularly use technology on a seder night and wanted to include a lonely, homebound family member, could you have a Zoom seder? 1 I attended my family's Zoom seders skeptically and reluctantly, tuning in only to compensate for the holiday without the extended family. To my surprise, having an online Passover seder not only felt real, but it was meaningful, touching, comforting, healing, intense, and focused. Even without breaking matzah together, I felt more connected to my family than usual, for we spoke personally instead of bantering. It felt both authentic and sacred, even without all the edible symbols, which were difficult to secure. The Zoom seder was cathartic and entertaining. We laughed, we cried. We dined on a pared down meal. Rabbis, Jewish educators, and communal organizations were not the only ones enriching Passover 2020 and making a bad situation less unbearable. The entertainment industry also pitched in. Lyricist Ben Pasek had the idea for a star-studded online Seder to raise money for the CDC Foundation's COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund, thereby performing doing a holiday-appropriate mitzvah. In addition to writers and producers who stepped up to track a hopeful response to the coronavirus onto the Passover Seder, there were popular performers: some Jews, some who play Jews, some "Jew-ish" fellow travelers. Actors included Jason Alexander, Ben Platt, Rachel Brosnahan, Fran Drescher, Tan France, Harvey Fierstein, Josh Groban, Idina Menzel, Bette Midler, Billy Porter, Sarah Silverman, Henry Winkler, and Whoopi Goldberg. Prominent rabbis Sharon Brous, Amichai Lau-Lavie and David Wolpe added gravitas. Saturday Night Seder, which streamed on April 11, 2020, the third night of Passover, relied upon the creative work of a volunteer team of writers, musicians and producers working around the clock on Zoom to...
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