Surveys of the Jewish community in America consistently reveal that Passover has become the most widely observed Jewish holiday. These surveys indicate that approximately 80-90%of the Jewish community observe Passover, either through participation in a Seder or through observance of the prohibition on eating chamatz, foods with leavening agents, during the Passover holiday. By contrast, only about 60-70% of Jews in America observe Yom Kippur, traditionally considered the most holy of the Jewish observances. What explains this attachment to the rituals of Passover?

Some people point to the attractiveness of the story of the transition from slavery to freedom told in the Haggadah. The account of the Exodus from Egypt serves as a powerful metaphor for all kinds of physical and spiritual subordination, whether ancient or modern. The narrative contained in the Haggadah has heroes and villains, miracles and betrayals, triumphs and struggles that speak to audiences of all ages and sensibilities because, down deep, almost all of us believe that all human beings deserve the freedom to choose their own destiny. Down deep,most of us also want to believe that God is just and that God’s justice will not sleep forever in the face of oppression. The story of the Exodus from Egypt addresses these beliefs in a way that condescends to neither adults nor children and delivers a most satisfying ending. The resonance we all feel in retelling this story around the Seder table certainly explains part of the appeal of Passover but is it the only reason?

Others believe that the real appeal of Passover lies in the gathering of the generations around the same table to share a familiar story in which we all play a part. From the youngest to the oldest, everyone at the Seder either has lines to say or finds themselves represented in the characters presented. As we grow from childhood to adulthood, our lines may change and the individuals we identify with may adjust to fit our circumstances, but which one of us has not seen something of ourselves in the description of one or more of the four children set forth in the Haggadah? Whether wise or wicked, seriously or in jest, which one of us has not been assigned one of those roles by our families as we make our way through the Haggadah?

Often our most cherished memories of Passover concern those moments of shared conversation sparked by some verse or description read around the Seder table. In those memories, parents and grandparents return in all their vigor, enacting a ritual dear both to Judaism and to our own family histories. We may remember the children begging to eat and leave the table as much as Uncle Sol’s distinctive style of chanting the Passover Kiddush, yet we cherish both memories whenever we gather again around the family table to recount the ancient story of our people.

To this intersection of great story with family togetherness, we need add only one other factor to explain the popularity of Passover: Nobody can tell us how to conduct our Seders except our own families and friends. As Jews, particularly Reform Jews, we have a great deal of freedom to experiment with different Haggadot and diverse rituals in order to find meaningful ways to observe the holiday. During Passover we strive to find meaning in our own homes and on our own time, largely unrestricted by fixed liturgy and established service hours. We are, each of us, masters of the parts of the Haggadah we will recite, and which we will omit, as we make our way through the story of the journey from oppression to freedom.

This freedom of observance reinforces the message of the Haggadah without undercutting participation. Indeed, this factor, along with the others mentioned above, combines to make Passover the most widely observed Jewish holiday and, I can only hope, among the most meaningful on our calendar.

Chag Samai’akh.

Rabbi Michael Howald

We are a member of URJ - the Union of Reform Judaism