Meaningful Questions for Your Seder

This year we are still praying for the return and safety of the remaining hostages and many Seders will again include an empty chair and a prayer for a hostage who is still waiting to come home.

Asking yourself and your family meaningful questions at the Seder table can help transform Passover into an opportunity to reflect, grow and bring some inspiring light into the darkness. Here are some meaningful questions for your Seder this year.

1. What hard challenge have you overcome this past year?

Passover is a time to reflect upon the times when you have felt stuck in a narrow place and somehow found a way to make it through. What helped you see hope and possibility? What did you learn from that experience? What do you think keeps you stuck in life and what do you think helps you to overcome narrow perspectives and limitations?

You begin the Seder with kiddush, which is a time to sanctify the holiday and its precious opportunity to help you through your own challenges and narrow spaces. Take a moment to express and feel gratitude to God for the times He helped you find a way through.

2. What is the story of your own family’s journey?

At the Seder table, the Hagaddah guides you through the story of the Jewish people from the very beginning. It describes the pain and challenge of our suffering in Egypt but also the faith and miracle of our redemption.

Where did your family’s story begin and what were the moments of redemption that led to the miracle of everyone sitting around your table today? When you say the blessing of Shechayanu, think of all the big and tiny moments and experiences that have brought you and your family to this moment.

3. Has October 7th and the rise of antisemitism changed your Jewish identity? How?

There are many pivotal events and moments in the Haggadah that change not only the course of Jewish history, but also the way the Jewish people saw themselves and their role in this world. Do you see your purpose in this world differently? Do you think October 7th has changed your role or responsibility as a Jew? How do you think it will change our history and our story as a nation?

When you say “In every generation they rise up to destroy us. But the Holy One, Blessed be He, delivers us from their hands” think about the miracle of Jewish survival throughout Jewish history. Reflect upon the miraculous survival of the hostages that have returned home and upon the courage and tenacity shown by Jews across the world in these turbulent times.

4. What are you most grateful for at this moment?

At the end of the Hagaddah, you recite the Hallel prayer which expresses your gratitude to God for everything in your life. Reflect upon what you are most grateful for at this moment as you sit around the Seder table with your family.

When the hostages returned home, they expressed gratitude for the smallest gestures and moments that we so often take for granted. They were grateful to be able to hold their spouse’s hand. To hear their children’s laughter. To hug their grandparents and siblings. To see the sky. To pet their dog. But more than anything, they were grateful to finally, simply be free.

Ultimately, Passover is about celebrating this freedom that allows you to continue living as a Jew and gathering your children around your Seder table, the same way your great grandparents gathered their children around their Seder tables. The freedom to tell your family’s story. The freedom to seek out the truth even as others try to hide it. The freedom to say thank You to the One who has brought us all to our Seder tables once again this year.

May all of the remaining hostages come home soon and take their places around their own family tables. And may the Jewish nation be redeemed from its suffering today.

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