The Jewish Journey Haggadah

Post date: May 19, 2019 5:59:19 PM

This week I added a new English Haggadah to my personal collection: The Jewish Journey Haggadah, Connecting the Generations" by Rabbanit Adena Berkowitz. I was interested to find out what this author (who I had never heard of) would be able to add to the ever-expanding oeuvre of Haggadot. Would this "rabbanit" turn out to be a female Reform rabbi? Would she make this into a feminist Haggada? Would she show sufficient knowledge of our sources or just be extremely superficial? Yes, I admit, I had stereotypical prejudices.

The promise on the front cover that the Haggadah includes "full transliteration of ALL Hebrew text" helped me guess that apparently, this is not a reform Haggadah. But this became even clearer while reading through it. Rabbanit Adena Berkowitz is a religious woman, a scholar in Residence and co-founder of Kol HaNeshamah and she knows her way around our Jewish sources, I can tell you.

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It was such a joy reading this Haggadah that I could just not put it down and read straight through it in one shabbes. The Haggadah has thought-provoking "Reflections", funny "Humor Corners", interesting "Questions for Discussion", innovating "Suggestions" for the Seder, intriguing "Background" sections, down to earth "Kids' Corner" ideas, mouthwatering Pesach recipes and a surprisingly cute "parody songs" appendix which was a joy to sing through.

Although it is clear this Haggadah was written by a woman, for women or at least with women in mind, it is NOT a blatant tail blazing feminist Haggadah. I actually felt that some of the topics discussed, like the cup of Miriam and the question if women should say "V'al b'rit'cha shechatamta bivsareinu" (and if not, what they can replace it with) resonated with me and made me respect the way these topics were handled from a strictly halachic and Talmudic viewpoint.

If you are going to buy only one more Haggadah this year, I wholeheartedly recommend "The Jewish Journey Haggadah"!

“The Jewish Journey Haggadah: Connecting the Generations” by Rabbanit Adena Berkowitz. Gefen Publishing House. 2019. English. Hardcover. 248 pages. ISBN-13: 978-9652299123.