Welcome to the Davidson Hillel Seder! We are so excited to spend it with all of you.

There's a few things to explain about Judaism and Jewish texts before we start.

First, the word Seder, means order, and so the Passover seder has a specific order that we will follow tonight.

Second, If you're wondering why the book is backwards, it actually isn't! We read right to left, because that's the way the Torah is written. Another thing, is that each prayer and song has Hebrew, English, and something called a transliteration, which is the Hebrew translated into English, so that everyone can follow along.

Third, this Haggadah, was created by a Hillel student during her Ministry Fellowship along with her wonderful mentor, Rabbi Michael Streiffer, on a website that can be added and edited at any time, so the hope is that it will be edited in years to come. It is a mix of different Haggadot around the world and Passover related books. The goal was to make a Haggadah that was accessible for both Jewish and non-Jewish students, since at the Davidson Seder, we have a lot of both. There is not much God language because many Jewish people celebrate Passover more as a tradition and to be with family and friends than to celebrate a belief in God.

Finally, the Haggadah has some extra interpretations for certain parts of the Seder because in the Jewish tradition, there are always more interpretations as rabbis through history visit and revise the thoughts of those before them. For the purpose of the Seder, that means that we'll be following certain pages together, but feel free to look at the pages we don't read and read them on your own if they sound of interest to you.

Thanks and enjoy!


haggadah Section: Introduction
Source: Rabbi Micah Streiffer and Ava Pomerantz