Customer Reviews

The Journey Continues: The Ma'yan Passover Haggadah

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As a Jew and a committed feminist, I thought I knew everything there was to know about feminist seders. Boy (Girl!), was I wrong! This hagadah is brilliant. It is beautiful to look at, it is filled with creative innovations that build on Jewish tradition while at the same time transforming it, and it takes social action seriously -- throughout the book there are boxes inviting the reader to do something and get involved. My family is used to a more traditional seder, so I wouldn't use this book as our only hagadah -- I absolutely will cut and paste from it to make our seder a richer experience. I am so excited for my daughters to grow up in a world where this kind of stuff is commonplace.

This engaging hagadah is in Right to Left format. It includes instructions for the additional use of Miriams Cup, tambourines, and an orange. It open with an invocation. It includes voweled Hebrew, English translations, english transliterations, readings, remembrances, commentaries, and explanations, which makes for a great symposium around the table. Shifra and Puah are recalled and given voices. Blessings that traditionally start "baruch ata" are also rendered in the feminine "Birucha at yah", using the innovative god language of "yah" as in "Hallelu-yah". You have the option of using "ruach ha-Olam" instead of "melech ha-olam." Photos from past seders are interspersed in the text. Also includes bios on famous women for the four cups (bella abzug, emma lazarus, szold, leibowitz, etc.). At the back are a couple of pages of addresses for interesting organizations and resources. Only drawback.. Dayenu has just three verses, and not the traditional billions.