These Minnesotans are bringing social justice to the Seder table

As Jewish families in Minnesota gather around Seder dinner tables to celebrate Passover, some will add stories of struggles a lot more recent — and a lot closer to home — to their retelling of the Israelites' escape from slavery in Egypt.

Stories about George Floyd, or about neighbors who can't afford to pay for housing.

In doing so, they're following a guide created by the nonprofit Jewish Community Action, which wrote a "Social Justice Haggadah Supplement" for the second year running this spring.

"The story of Passover is not just in the past — it is something that we live every day and we want to connect that as specifically as possible," said Jonathan Gershberg, communications and membership manager at the organization, which is based in St. Paul.

Hundreds have downloaded the supplement, he said.

The haggadah (which literally means "telling" in Hebrew) is a guide to the spiritual steps that are a part of every Seder and the meanings behind them — from washing hands to dipping herbs in salt water to breaking matzo and refilling wine glasses.

One of the most commonly used haggadot in the United States is a booklet printed by Maxwell House, which first began distributing a version in the 1920s to advertise that coffee (unlike leavened bread, for example) was kosher for Passover.

Many Seder hosts decide to bring in their own prayers, readings and interpretations. Over the decades, this has meant adding references to the Holocaust, the civil rights movement, the struggle for LGBTQ rights, or issues like immigration.

In recent years, there has also been a flurry of pop culture-themed haggadot, drawing on parallels in television shows like "Seinfeld," "The Golden Girls" and even "Schitt's Creek." Maxwell House printed a limited-edition pink "Marvelous Mrs. Maisel"-themed haggadah that included a recipe for "Midge's brisket."

"One of the great things about the Seder tradition is that it's a hodgepodge," said Gershberg. "You can bring in so many different texts. It's very common for people to bring in resources and readings. You might have the main haggadah, the main story, and then you might bring in a reading from here, or a reading from here, or a supplement. A lot of people create their own."

Other current Jewish social justice groups have created similar supplements that bring in present-day movements. But Jewish Community Action's is the only one with a Minnesota focus, Gershberg said.

This year's PDF supplement brings a 2022 focus to several important haggadah elements, including an interpretation of the Ten Plagues in the context of white supremacy and a reimagining of one of the questions traditionally asked by the youngest at the Seder table.

The fourth question is: "On all other nights we eat sitting or reclining, and on this night we only recline?" While the traditional response is that reclining is a symbol of freedom, the supplement instead suggests sitting up and standing with those who are not free.

"When will we create a world where no one is killed by the very people employed to protect them?" it reads. "We know the path to these answers is long and winding. But we are walking alongside many other communities, having the hard conversations about what a safer, more just world looks like, and getting closer, step by step, together."