Passover is almost upon us! This one happens to be my favorite Jewish holiday… Partially because I have always loved watching The Prince of Egypt and drinking copious amounts of wine. But I’ve also been known to dork out over the Exodus and all the magical pieces of the Passover story. More recently, thanks to some of the things I’ve learned from At The Well, I’ve been loving Miriam’s story, learning more about her leadership style, and thinking a lot about what it means to break out of slavery and into freedom this month.
The first night of Passover is Friday, March 30th! I’ll be hearing the story of Passover as told by mother, who wrote her own Haggadah and narrates her own original Passover play every year – costumes, mics, props and all.
As you may be able to tell, I come from a line of Jews who always find the freedom to be creative within the world of our ancient traditions. And in the vein of freedom, creativity, and tradition, here is our list of must-see Passover event options in and around Philly:
1. JEVS Career Services 13th Annual Women’s Seder
Celebrate hope at this Seder! You’ll hear from various women in the JEVS network about how benefitting from JEVS parallels the promise of the Passover Seder experience. Insiders Tip: this event is happening at Green Valley Country Club in Lafayette Hill, which is just off the 27 bus.
2. First Person Arts & NMAJH host 6th Annual Freedom Seder Revisited
What does freedom mean to you? Gather around the Passover table and hear from storytellers and performers from the Philly community. This interpretive Seder will create space to explore the meaning of freedom in America today. Plus you’ll have access to NMAJH’s newest exhibit, Leonard Bernstein: The Power of Music.
3. Grad Network’s Annual First Night of Passover Seder
Always a crowd favorite! For those who can’t be with their family & friends back home for Passover, join the grad students and young professionals of Philly this first night Seder! The evening including a traditional (yet slightly abbreviated) Seder, kosher dinner, and of course plenty of wine. L’chaim!
4. Chabad Young Philly’s First & Second Night Seder
Both of these dinners are totally free for young professionals: no cost, zilch shekels, FREEdom for all!
5. Rodeph Shalom’s Congregational Second Seder
Join in on this family-friendly, intergenerational Seder led by the clergy at Rodeph Shalom. Pro tip: this event is BYOB!
6. LGBTQ Passover Seder
Another crowd favorite! Come over to Kol Tzedek on April 1st for an inclusive, LGBTQA, family-friendly Seder. For more info as the event details come together, contact Rachel A at Tribe 12.
You may have noticed we have some killer resources over on our digital hub, gobejewish.com. Maybe you’ve seen our job board or our directory of all Jewish orgs in Philly who work with 20s / 30s… Of all the awesome features on gobejewish.com, our favorite is definitely the community events calendar. The gobejewish calendar aggregates all Jewish events for Philly’s 20s / 30s IN ONE PLACE.
It’s looking like an awesome Passover lineup this year… and these are just the highlights! Check gobejewish.com for the full Passover events listing.
