A Twist on Traditions
Family favorites from JCC staff
What’s your favorite part of the seder? For many of our JCC employees, it’s their unique family traditions that make the holiday truly exceptional. These special seder rituals are steeped in love, humor and empowerment. Take a look and get inspired! You might just find one to borrow for your seders this weekend.
Think about water and our world
“At our seder, which has many professional women, we put an empty crystal goblet on the table, which we call Miriam’s cup. Before or during the seder we pass the goblet around. Each guest drops water from their own glass into it. This represents Miriam’s connection to water and our connection to each other. We tell stories and think about our role in this vast world. It’s a way to represent what we have to give as individuals and our collective impact on the community.”
– Terri Blenner, Director, “Z” Frank Apachi Day Camp
Reflections
“My grandmother, parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, and now, the great grandkids, have taken a family vacation every Passover since before I was born. This year we are a group of 23! One of our many traditions is during the second seder, everyone has an opportunity to showcase a personal accomplishment of the year.”
-Zivya Feifel Mosbacher, Manager of Business & Site Operations Bernard Horwich JCC and Mayer Kaplan JCC
Cell Phone-less Seder
“Last year my daughter had a large table of young people at the seder. Before we began, she passed a decorated basket around the table and asked each person to put their cell phones in the basket until after the service. Interestingly the only two who objected were her sons (my grandsons!). It worked and everyone did their part with no interruptions (a sign of the times).”
– Marlene Silverman, Admin, Bernard Weinger JCC
Kids Rule!
“In our house, the 2nd Seder is led by the children. They work together and choose the ceremonials, the music, which Hagaddah to use, the parts of the story to act out, who reads the four questions, and even hide the afikomen!”
– Lorrie Applebey, Early Childhood Manager, Curriculum and Professional Development
A Passover Parody
When our children were in elementary school, we began to write a parody of the Passover story. This tradition has continued over the past 15 years. The very first one was a Sesame Street spoof. As the children, who are now adults, got older the parodies were based off of politics, TV shows, local sportscasters, teams and more. The collaboration between our children, our guests’ children and the family has made for very fond memories.”
–Robin Bright, Teacher “Z” Frank Apachi
Make Clean-Up a Breeze
“Each Greenberg seder ends with a rousing rendition of 80’s songs! Not only does it make clean up go faster (and make it more fun) but we “adults” love to embarrass the teens with our antics!”
– Beth Greenberg, Manager, Human, Resources