Hiddush offers a Passover supplement for your seder

Hiddush is pleased to provide our supporters an additonal reading on the Festival of Freedom.

22/03/2013 14:43

Tags: Passover · freedom of religion · holidays · Gordon Silverman · Rabbi John Rosove

The Festival of Passover is rich with themes of freedom, justice, and equality, and urges us to realize them in our lives. Every year, we include additional prayers, poems, and other thoughtful readings that enhance these themes. Hiddush is pleased to offer you a Passover gift expressing our vision for our own societies and for Israel.

We believe that religious freedom and equality are at the core of the struggle to create just societies, both Jewish and non-Jewish, and in particular, to renew Israel as a democratic and Jewish state. Hiddush asked Rabbi John Rosove, a passionate progressive Reform Zionist who serves as the Senior Rabbi of Temple Israel in Hollywood, California and Gordon Silverman, Hiddush's US representative, to compose special readings to supplement the Passover seder this year.

Rabbi Rosove’s composition is appropriately titled “Imagine.” It focuses on his vision – and ours – of Jewish communities, in Israel and around the world, that are dedicated to equality and inclusion. He emphasizes the principle of "b’tzelem Elohim", that every human is created in the Divine image. Gordon has focused on the traditional Jewish ritual of counting the Omer, the seven-week ceremony begun at the end of the second seder and ending on the holiday of Shavuot. He chose that theme because it serves as a reminder of the holy task of building a just society. As we “turn our eyes toward Sinai” he writes, "we, today, dedicate ourselves to the fulfillment of the dreams of Israel’s founders for a Jewish state in which everyone has equal rights and the richness of Judaism is celebrated”.

We believe that religious freedom and equality are at the core of the struggle to create just societies, both Jewish and non-Jewish, and in particular, to renew Israel as a democratic and Jewish state.

We wish everyone a joyous Festival of Freedom—a wonderful Passover, rich with the warmth of family and celebrating an inspiring seder that will awaken our commitment to freedom and equality.

Click here to view the supplement.