The Israelites wandered the desert for 40 years so yeah, an hour-long Haggadah seems downright reasonable.

Passover starts sunset Wednesday, April 5, 2023 and ends sunset Thursday, April 13, 2023. Yeah, that seems like a lot of time to us too. Traditionally there are two Seders, one on the first night and one on the second. The rest of the eight days is when you stay away from bread and close to matzah. The two Seders are exactly the same except that the chicken soup tastes better the second day. The reason for two Seders has to do with the moon, and the calendar, and that the rabbis weren’t exactly sure which night it started in the Diaspora, so they decided we should cover our bases and celebrate Passover twice. True story.

Passover is when we celebrate the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery by retelling the story of Exodus at a Seder. If you’ve ever seen the classic movie The Ten Commandments starring a ripped Charlton Heston or A Rugrats Passover, you probably know the story. The name Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) comes from the last of the 10 plagues, when the firstborn children of the Egyptians were killed while the Angel of Death literally passed over the Jewish homes. Brutal for sure, but it was the only way to get Pharaoh to release the Jews from slavery (you’d think hail and locusts, etc. would’ve been enough, but the guy really hung on).

So many Seders are as dull as a piece of plain matzah, but leading a kick-ass Seder is both highly do-able and super important. There are 14 steps to the Seder. The steps help us retell the story of Exodus, which is when the Jews fled slavery at the hands of the Egyptians, across the desert to their ultimate freedom in the land that was supposed to be flowing with milk and honey, aka: the promised land, aka: Israel. Retelling the story is also meant to take us through our own experience of slavery and pain and to think about what holds us back from freedom in our own lives. We open the door to peace when we welcome Elijah the prophet; we honor women with Miriam’s cup; and we give thanks to people who are Jewish through choice or marriage or spirit with Ruth’s Blessing. This is all explained in detail in our Haggadah so that friends and family at your Seder table who are not Jewish — or who are but didn’t get much Jewish education or maybe need a refresher — won’t feel left out or confused or jewbarrassed.

Hosting a Seder is a lot like throwing an awesome dinner party with props and a set agenda. It includes lots of drinking and eating and singing, which generally makes for happy guests. And you don’t have to worry about what to serve or whether your guests will find anything to talk about. The Seder will keep them busy, and since most of the food is traditional, menu planning is a snap. Just remember that making the Passover story come to life for your guests matters more than the matzah balls. What if it’s the only Jewish experience some of your guests have the entire year? It’s your job to inspire them with some fun and spirituality. Yes, that’s a lot of pressure, but you’re up to it! (Plus, we’ve got you covered with these steps for a Kick-Ass Seder.) Side note for hosts: We’re not sure whose genius idea it was to ask the littlest kid at the table to recite the Four Questions, in Hebrew no less, but if you’re planning to go with tradition, make sure to check in with the kid or the parent first. Clearly, we’re projecting, but some of us at JewBelong still remember the anxiety we felt when it was our turn.

Passover is a big food holiday, with many traditional foods and one big “don’t.” The don’t is bread or any leavened food. That leaves lots of other foods to eat though, starting with matzah — which includes matzah balls, matzah brei, matzah kugel… you get the picture. Hard boiled eggs, green herbs dipped in saltwater, horseradish and matzah and charoset sandwiches help us experience the Passover story. Another traditional Seder dish is gefilte fish, which is like a cold ground fish mousse. (You either love it or you don’t.) Many families will also have the kinds of foods they’d normally eat at Thanksgiving at their Seder, minus the stuffing, obviously. Keeping kosher for passover means not eating bread or other leavened foods, but there are way more rules than that, like not even having foods with leaven in their homes. Many people keep kosher for Passover the whole eight days of the holiday. For families with little kids a dramatic part of Passover preparation is searching for the last traces of chametz in the dark using just a candle to find any lingering crumbs. There are lots more rules and activities like that. Google them if you’re ready to take a deeper dive.