Picking a Haggadah is no easy magic trick

Whenever preparing lesson plans I am reminded of my late teacher, Rabbi David Mogilner, who used to ask educators what their first question should be. And his answer was, “It depends on your goal.”Similarly the first habit of Stephen Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” is “begin with the end in mind.”

And whenever the festival of Passover approaches, I take some time with my wife to think about what we need to do to make our Seder special and different from those of previous years. The text that we will study and use to guide us is the Haggadah (from the Hebrew word for narrative). It is a text, which was compiled over time, to fulfill the Biblical command to tell our children the history of what God did for us when we left Egypt and were liberated from cruel slavery.

There is a basic text common to all traditional editions of the Haggadah, but since hundreds if not thousands of editions of the Haggadah have been published over time I am frequently asked which edition I prefer.

My answer is always, “It depends on your goal. Begin with the end in mind.” What are the take-away lessons that you want your guests to consider? Is your goal to emphasize the message that in each generation there arose those who were out to destroy us?

Or are you more inclined to stress the joys and miracles of the Jewish state of Israel? Perhaps you are motivated by social justice issues or maybe you are looking for an edition that incorporates a contemporary feminist message.

All of these options are available separately in different editions of the Haggadah. But there are some recent editions, which supplement the traditional text with additional source material for contemplation not in order to drag out the Seder experience but to give us choices in determining what will make the evening most meaningful. Our family has found that the various editions of the Haggadah edited by Noam Zion and his son Rabbi Mishael Zion, best help us to meet this goal.

Noam Zion, along with David Dishon, published “A Different Night” under the auspices of the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. For each portion of the Seder the Haggadah includes the traditional text along with artwork and literary or historical materials intended to direct and deepen the messages of the original text.

The editors clearly intend for the participants to accept the supplementary materials as suggestions. There are so many of these options from which to choose that one can return year after year to “A Different Night” without returning to the sources looked at during previous years.

The same organizational concept underlies the structure of Noam Zion’s first effort with his son, Rabbi Mishael Zion, “A Night to Remember.” They also collaborated on an all Hebrew version for Israelis “Ha-Lailah Ha-zed: Haggadah Yisraelit” (This Night: An Israeli Haggadah). Both versions are as informative as “A Different Night,” but these offer a lighter approach to our Passover study.

We especially enjoy using the many artistic depictions included in all three editions of the Four Sons/Children — to inspire us to think about our Jewish priorities today after considering how previous generations understood the differences between the wise, wicked and simple children as well as the one who could not ask questions.

In order to encourage our family and guests to ask great questions we devote time on Shabbat Ha-Gadol (the Great Sabbath) — the Sabbath before Passover — to reviewing the narrative section of the Haggadah.

This is important because the Seder is not a meal like other festive Jewish meals. The Seder is the ultimate opportunity for family and group study, as we learn together from the text of the Haggadah. In order for the Seder to be meaningful for all of us we determine our goals in advance and begin with the end in mind.

By the way, we are going to surprise our Harry Potter-addicted niece with a copy of the new Harry Potter Haggadah. Please don’t tell her.

Wishing all who celebrate a kosher and Happy Passover.