Welcome to Virtual Seder. Below you will find more than 70 videos from educators, scholars, and clergy from around the world and across denominations to help you enrich and enliven your seder.
The Passover Seder is a time to come together to recount, reenact, and reconsider the story of the Exodus from Egypt. Although many of us are sad not to celebrate Passover at the same table, technology allows us not only to expand our guest list, but also to think more expansively about how we tell this timeless story.
The video offerings are short (~2 minutes), so you don't have to worry about it taking too much time, and they end with a question, so that afterwards you and your guests can discuss and debate different parts of the story or Seder.
For more detailed descriptions of the offerings, please look at our Virtual Guide.
Introductions
Introduction to the Virtual Seder (Gabe Miner)
Seder Preparations — Getting Ready
Seder Preparation (Rabbi Fredi Cooper)
Calling Our Seder to Order (Shalom Orzach)
Pre-Seder Reminder and Intention (Rabbi Pesach Stadlin)
Creativity and Catastrophe (Rabbi Dalia Marx)
The Seder Melody (Singing the Seder) (Rabbi Isaiah Rothstein)
Opening Meditation (Natalie Goldfein)
1. Kadesh (Blessing the Wine) - The 1st Cup of Wine
Sanctifying in This Year (Dr. Shuly Rubin Schwartz)
Freedom and Sanctification (Allie Conn Kanter)
Why We Recline (Rabbi Avi Katz Orlow)
2. Urchatz (Washing the Hands)
Hand washing with Intention (Blair Nosanwisch)
Urchatz (Jon Adam Ross)
Urchatz (Becca Sykes)
3. Karpas (Eating a Green Vegetable Dipped in Salt Water)
Emerging Spring (Amanda Herring)
What Can Karpas Mean? (Aviva Lauer Golbert)
Passover’s Agricultural Roots (Josh Lake)
4. Yachatz (Break the Middle Matzah and Save Half as the Afikoman)
Brokenness and Protection (with Rabbi Jason Miller)
How Things Break (with Professor Stanislaw Krajewski)
5. Maggid (Tell the Passover Story and Drink the 2nd Cup of Wine)
Exodus and Dogs (Aaron Friedman)
Thinking About The Future (Eli Reiter)
Inserting Ourselves Into The Story (Josh Jacobs)
Maggid - A Seder Play (with Gabe Miner...and everyone at the Seder!) - click links for the script and character assignment sheet
Maggid (Katka Reszke)
What Would You Do (Evelyn "Ms. Eve" Goldfinger)
Ha Lachma Anya - Disorienting Ourselves (Max Edwards)
Ha Lachma Anya - Slavery and Freedom (Dr. Arnold Eisein)
The Four Questions - Noticing The Difference (Rabbi Ariella Rosen)
Questioning the Questions (Gabe Goldman)
Avadim Hayinu - Wealth and Reparations (Nati Passow)
Five Rabbis Sitting in Bnai Brak (Rabbi Gabi Weinberg)
The Four Children (Rabbi Megan GoldMarche)
The Four Children (Micol Zimmerman Burkeman)
The Wicked Child (Saul Kaiserman)
Vehi Sheamda - God's Promise (Rabbi Stas Wojciechowicz)
My Father Was A Wandering Aramean (Rav Shai Cherry)
Wandering Arameans and Jewish Gender (Rena Yehuda Newman)
The Ten Plagues (Sara Beth Berman)
The Ten Plagues (Dan Libenson)
Dayeinu (Rabbi Jay Michaelson)
Dayeinu - Was it really enough? (Ayala Wasser)
Dayeinu and Enoughness (Jonah Canner)
Dayeinu - Time for Some Gratitude (Mark Young)
In Every Generation - As If (David Bryfman)
In Each Generation - Experiencing the Exodus (Akiko Yonekawa)
In Each Generation - A Rap Challenge (Matt Bar)
B'chol Dor Vador (a song with Rabbi Josh Warshawsky)
The Second Cup of Wine (Myra Meskin)
6. Rachtzah (Wash Hands Again)
The Second Hand Washing (Sarah Chandler)
7. Motzi Matzah (Say the Blessing and Eat Matzah)
Motzi Matzah - A Yiddish Poem (Dr. Jessica Kirzane)
8. Maror (Eat Bitter Herbs)
Bitterness and Sweetness (Rabbi Brandon Bernstein)
Why Be Bitter? (Joshua Schwartz)
9. Korech (Eat Bitter Herb, Charoset, and Matzah Sandwich, a.k.a. “The Hillel Sandwich”)
The Hillel Sandwich (Chana Rothman)
Hillel Sandwich (Lex Rofeberg)
Korech and Emotions (Rabbi Loren Berman)
10. Shulchan Orech (Eat a Festive Meal)
Enjoying the Meal (Rabbi Rory Katz)
11. Tzafun (Eat the Afikoman . . . if you can find it)
The Afikoman (Rabbi Louis Polisson)
12. Barech (Say the Grace After Meals, Drink the 3rd Cup of Wine)
Gratitude (Rabbi Roy Feldman)
The Third Cup of Wine (Eliana Light)
Miriam's Cup - Time to Hydrate (Rabbi Ariel Root Wolpe)
Elijah's Cup (Rabbi Ariel Root Wolpe)
13. Hallel (Recite the Celebratory Hallel Prayer, Drink the 4th Cup of Wine)
Hallel - A Unique Recitation (with Cantor Shayna Postman)
The Fourth Cup of Wine (Jake Goodman)
The 5th Cup of Wine - Beyond The Seder (Dr. Barry Mesch)
14. Nirtzah (Sing Passover Songs, Conclude the Seder)
Concluding the Seder (Todd Shotz)
Doikayt (Hereness) in Jerusalem (Cameron Bernstein)
How Fast Can You Sing “Echad Mi Yodea?” (“Who Knows One?”) (Rebecca Joey Schwab)
Ḥad Gadya - A Radical Midrash (Aharon N. Varady)
Closing Reflections
The Inevitability of the Unexpected Challenges to Freedom (Rabbi Seymour Rosenbloom)
Meditation on “Narrow Space” (Shawn Shafner)
Narrowness and Building a More Just Society (Dr. Dani Holtz)
Narrow Spaces (Jay Rapoport)
The Ten Commandments and Etching Freedom (with Mollie Andron)
Freedom (Marcus J Freed)
For more Passover-related thinking, check out these related projects…
Virtual Seder was created by Jewish educator Gabe Miner, initially for Passover of 2020 — the first Passover of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are pleased to be able to share Virtual Seder here on jewishLIVE for Passover 2021 and beyond, now with additional content.