A Family Haggadah II

It’s accessible, complete, and makes for a fun Seder!

I used these haggadahs for a seder of 10 people, eight of whom were not Jewish. So I was looking for a version that was not too heavy on Hebrew. This haggadah provided as much or as little Hebrew as you wished, with transliterations for the blessings. A good thing. But for the large number of goyim at our seder, I would have liked a more complete telling of the story. This version provided bits of the story in relation to each blessing but it was not cohesive enough to really put together the whole history. Rather, the story was chopped up and hard to follow. My only real complaint/confusion is that this Haggadah had quite a different history and makeup for the Hillel sandwich. I must confess that my participation in organized Judaism is limited so maybe the story has changed. But I had not heard of a Hillel sandwich without charoset! In this book, it said that "...Rabbi Hillel would eat a sandwich made of the Pesach (lamb offering), matzah, and maror. Now we do not bring sacrifices to the Temple, so our sandwich is made only with matzah and maror." We instructed our friends to add charoset because this was our upbringing. Fortunately in Reformed Judaism, you can stray a bit from the service. And I must say that this is a Haggadah for Reformed Jews. In the end, we enjoyed the service, including our non-Jewish friends who seemed at ease with a simpler, easy-to-read Haggadah. A pretty good job.

We bought it this year for our family and it was a huge success. Our Hebrew speaking kids could decide which language they wanted to read and our English speaking son went for the ‘easy’ English version. We all enjoyed this Seder more than any other year due to this addition to our table. Highly recommended.

Simple, easy to follow book. Nice pictures. I like that it includes a brief story of Passover. Everything is in here, just in a simple, brief format. You can skip sections if you want, and read what you want. Plus, there are sort of discussion questions on the left hand page if you want to think more deeply about the seder. This book seems to include some pieces that more religious people would look for like hand washing and full grace after meals. I'm not that religious but the format of this book allows us to easily skip the parts we don't want to do. I like that it includes some of our favorite end of seder songs like One Kid and Who Knows One?

This Haggadah is clear and to the point, which is great for the less religious who,want to cover all the parts of the Seder but not have it go on for hours. In that way it is very accessible for families with busy schedules. I was disappointed that there is not a website link to hear the melodies of the songs/prayers that were included. Some Haggadahs meant for families also include a piano score to help with melodies, but this one does not. This is not a teaching Haggadah, and one must be fairly competent in leading a Seder to make full use of all of its offerings.

Due to covid19 we did a virtual Seder this year. Because of the extenuating circumstances I thought these would be short precise and easy fir the kids. Thinking the adults were the happiest with the abbreviated Seder lol. Would recommend for whomever has needs of a shortened version of the Seder.

We enjoyed this Haggadah because it is relevant to our lives today, pulling in the young adults with questions about how Passover relates to our lives and with suggestions for varied meanings of the Passover symbols. For example, after reading through the page about the Four Sons, we were asked if we had different opinions about what that represented than was written in the book. Passover is about freedom, so I chose this Haggadah because the typical Haggadahs seemed stuck in the old patterns that didn't engage us or stimulate our minds. This Haggadah helps everyone to participate willingly and eagerly in the Seder. The pictures are beautiful, too.

Some lines were a few words off here and there from family which we discovered during our zoom Seder but totally worked! These were the Seder Haggadah we remember from growing up!

A really nice Haggadah; finally bought 12 and we all read from the same book, breaking a family tradition that goes back to 1890. Everyone loved it, for clarity, explanations, transliterations etc without detracting from the Story. Very suitable for families with mixed Hebrew capabilities. Now if they just added a CD with all the tunes - would be unbeatable.

Very useful

I bought this book alongside its sister book, edition 1 'for families with young children'. On the plus side, this has more Hebrew than edition 1, but again whole sections are presented only in English which makes it hard for kids at a Seder wheretheadults are doing a fair amount in Hebrew.These 2 books are overly modern and make it harder, not easier, to run a Seder with kids. I ran a Seder with kids aged 7,5 and 2. Here,s why I wish I had not bought either book.1. Both books insert far too many modernisms right into the heart of the text. I have nothing against progress and innovation, but this is a text that hasn't changed for 2000 years, and where many guests will be using their own versions of the Haggadah. So it's pointless and disruptive to add a tradition or a prayer into the heart of the narrative, as the kids reading this book will be confused as to why, for instance, everyone else thinks the Seder has finished after 4 cups of wine when this book asks you to sing Hatikvah and drink a 5th. Nice Idea. Nice innovation. Worthy of a footnote but not inclusion into the text itself.2. The 2 books don't work together. They focus in, and skip out, different parts of the Seder. My 7 year old reading this would be unable to communicate with her brother, aged 5, reading edition 1, as to where they are in the service and what comes next.3. BIG WARNING. This book stupidly, thoughtlessly, and totally inappropriately, introduces the Holocaust to the Seder table. As an example of a modernism introduced for benign reasons but with bad consequences, you cannot get much better than this.Essentially, midway through the Seder, there is a page with a huge cartoon of skinny people wearing striped pyjamas. The action suggested underneath is 'to pause to reflect on the Holocaust'. There is a pretty dull quote from a rabbi at Bergen-Belsen.Let's get one thing straight. My family lost people in the Holocaust. And as a father of 3, living in a Europe where the Germans are Meant to be a friendly, modern nation, I really struggle with how to educate my kids on the notion of the systematic murder of people like them, by our new allies and partners, all happening in the lifetime of their grandparents. But the Seder is the WRONG place to have this conversation.I would not mind if it were presented as a footnote, so that people who wanted to pause and consider theHolocaust coud do so. But the damn cartoon makes it impossible that bright, interested children will not stop to ask questions.Given that most people don't examine a Haggadah properly before Seder Night, this left me as a parent totally unprepared and genuinely shocked. Maybe it's less shocking for an American audience, but my advice for aEuropean family would be: Stay well clear of this book.4. That is not to mention other modern innovations presented as fact (Miriam's cup, an Orange on the Seder plate, etc) which have no place in a 'traditional' Seder. I would also question if they have a place in a 'modern' Seder, as surely if you are seeking modern metaphors with which to engage progressive minded people you would encourage individuals to create their own, rather than importing someone else's guff. But that is a different question altogether.Hag Sameach everyone..... But avoid this book at all costs.

I have several different Haggadahs and by far this is the best for me.It's easy to follow and even tells you "when" to eat or drink the next food/drink.Some Haggadah don't tell you "when".I do highly recommend this book.I also like the art/graphics and the lay out.