A Passover Inspired Writing Tip

And how my family makes the holiday feel like us

I live 6.5 miles from my parents, which means I can easily come home for the holidays. Passover is one of my favorite holidays and I really love the way our family celebrates it. Passover is a holiday celebrated around the table with a story and symbolic foods (ideal). There are books called Haggadahs that guide the meal and there are so many versions of this book. When my sister and I were really little, we used a preschool version of the Hagaddah to get in and out of the seder before bedtime or any meltdowns. Many years ago, when I was still in middle school, my parents started putting together their own Haggadah. This was after a few years of mixing favorite readings from different books. My sister drew a cover and we’ve continued to evolve the Haggadah year after year. So many of the themes of the holiday are achingly relevant: freedom, plagues, starting a journey that you won’t see the end of and this version of a Haggadah allows us to add readings that address topics like Covid, white supremacy and police violence, gun violence, etc. We’re also referencing Taylor Swift in this year’s version. Other seders center music or feminism or traditions from a specific region.