Passover 2024 will be different from all other Passovers we’ve known. The violent death toll and displacement of Israelis and Palestinians, and the rising political tensions worldwide continue to inflict pain, rupture lives and relationships, raising critical questions of identity, solidarity and the ongoing struggles for human liberation.
SAYDER 2024 is Lab/Shul’s redesigned Everybody-Friendly, God-Optional Passover Seder Insert with FOUR NEW QUESTIONS to integrate into your Haggadah so can better address this complex moment, hear each other’s truths, engage in honest conversations, raise our cups to healing, life and peace, together.
This Passover, let’s designate our Seder tables as sacred and safe spaces for big questions that honor all voices, celebrating our legacy of survival, lifting up our cups for healing and hope, peace and repair.
Whether you join our virtual table in a 4-part series or bring these with you to your own Seder, here are four new questions with prompts designed to inspire heartfelt and honest questions, conversations, meaningful connections and interactions.
A CALL TO PASSOVER ACTION:
Lab/Shul Partners: If you’re hosting a Seder on the first or second night of Passover, would you consider opening one or a couple of seats at your table for Lab/Shul Partners?
Bonus: anyone who signs up to host will receive free entry to SAYDER.
If you’re open to it, please fill out this form. Sam Hipschman, our Director of Community and Culture, will be in touch with you.
Now/Next
MA NISHTANA. How have we changed since last year’s Seder? Since October 7th? Can we engage in difficult conversations about our differences - with respect, love, and commitment to all people’s liberation? Lead by Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie & the Lab/Shul Ritual Team, featuring special guest Aliza Kline from One Table.
AVADIM HAYINU. What stories of collective hardship are we bringing to the Seder table this year? What parts of the Passover story would you want to highlight, as we wish to transform from hurting to healing? Led by Rabbi Amichai & the Lab/Shul Ritual Team featuring special guests Jon Adam Ross and Zhailon Levingston from the Inheritance Theater Project.
DAYENU. How do we say "ENOUGH ALREADY" to stop the tragic cycle of oppression and violence as we commit to repair? What are hopeful narratives, voices and choices that help chart a better path at this time? Led by Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie & the Lab/Shul Ritual Team, featuring special guests Jo Kent Katz & Rebekka Goldsmith.
Celebrate the tastes, smells, and feels of Passover this year with an interactive eve of storytelling and song, crunchy matza baking and spring art making.
Since 1991, City Winery founder and Lab/Shul Partner Michael Dorf has produced this celebrity-driven interpretation of this ancient wine dinner party. This unique take on a divine tradition will open your mind and your senses.
L’SHANA HA'BAA. Next Year! The Seder ends with a hopeful intention - next year in Jerusalem, the symbolic city of peace. What is next in our individual and collective vision for hope and change? What can each of us commit to in the coming year to bring about a better, kinder, and more just world? Led by Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie & the Lab/Shul Ritual Team, featuring special guests Libby Lenkinski, Mushon Zer-Aviv, and David Broza.
News
Join us to ReCollect on Monday
Dear Lab/Shul, My father, Alan Bleyer, died two days before Passover in March 2021, and my mother, Eileen Bleyer, died just 20 months later in November 2022. Even before their deaths, I understood at [...]
Seders ✅ What’s Next?
Dear Lab/Shul, We hope your Seders filled your hearts and your bellies. Wherever you gathered this year, we know that this Passover was different from all others, and we’re here to hold during these [...]
This Passover, We Walk Together
Dear Lab/Shul, “She’s on the horizon. I go two steps, she moves two steps away. I walk ten steps and the horizon runs ten steps ahead. No matter how much I walk, I’ll never [...]
Glow Up: Spring Cleaning for the Soul
Dear Lab/Shul, As a Black, Queer, Jewish, Neurodiverse Earthling, my life has been marked by the will to survive. Survival was central to my character until 2020, when I decided to shift my focus [...]
Seder Anxious?? “SAYDER” Prep Begins Thursday
Dear Lab/Shul, Purim's over -- Whew! We did a lot! Check out photos from PurimMESSther here. And click here for pics from our fundraisers for the Sulha Peace Project and Standing Together. Now that the masks are packed up, it’s time to order your matza -- and we’re getting ready for the next big holiday coming up. Passover Seders are on April 22nd and 23rd - we’ve got you covered for preparing for these rituals around your family table at home. During these difficult days of continued violence and sorrow, with ruptured relationships and tensions growing between friends and family members - this year's Seders may be very different from all other previous years. You might be wondering: How do we prepare for this Passover so that we decrease stress and increase joy and meaning-making, lean into love and raise up our commitment to liberation for all? How do we bring this current complexity to Judaism’s oldest sacred storytelling ritual and celebrate our legacy, survival and optimism?
This Purim, The Purpose is Protest
Dear Lab/Shul, The clocks changed, some daffodils are emerging here in New York City— it’s not quite spring yet, but like us, the blooming is in process. There’s no peace yet or progress on [...]
You ready for the next FamilyLab? FAMILYLAB in the Sukkah: Harvest to Table!
FamilyLab is centered around the family table: delicious dinner, sing along, stories, and animated interactive learning to celebrate holidays and delve into life-long Jewish values.
Sukkot invites us to break bread together outdoors under the fall harvest moon. As the leaves change colors we enter into the new year in abundance with special holiday rituals that bring us closer to nature.
Spiritual Leader Shira Kline along with teaching artist Emet (Ari L. Monts) and Stephanie Guedalia, gather us in the Sukkah for the tastes, sounds, and feels of our Fall Harvest Holiday.
With Lab/Shul’s unique God-optional approach to tradition, text and story, FamilyLab is open to those who identify as Jewish, Jew-ish, and everything in between. Whether it’ll be your first lulav shake or you grow your own etrog grove, all families are welcome here!
Sunday, October 20th, 2024
4PM-6PM ET | Brooklyn address provided upon RSVP
🔗Link in bio to join the waitlist: https://www.labshul.org/series/familylab/
#Labshul #labshulpassover #gather #ritual #godoptional #everybodyfriendly #artistdriven #experimentaljudaism #queerjudaism #JewishLife #jewishholidays #jewishevents #jewishtradition #jewishcommunity #nyc #artists #nycartists #purimmessther #family #nycfamily #familylab #familytime #passover #pesach #nyckids #kidsofnyc #nycmom #brooklyn #brooklynkids #brooklynkid
What makes Shabbat so special? Whether it’s your first time for Sabbath bliss or you’re a challah connoisseur, the glow of the candles, the songs and the stories await!
To close out our Woven Week Of Interdependence and focus on the littles, Spiritual Leader @shirakline, along with teaching artist Emet (@arilmonts) and Lab/Shul’s @stephrkane, gather us around the Sabbath table for the tastes, sounds and feels of Shabbat Shalom.
Friday, May 17th 2024 | 5:30pm | Boerum Hill, Brooklyn (exact location provided upon registration)
**UPDATE: waitlist only available**
#Labshul #labshulpassover #gather #ritual #godoptional #everybodyfriendly #artistdriven #experimentaljudaism #queerjudaism #JewishLife #jewishholidays #jewishevents #jewishtradition #jewishcommunity #nyc #artists #nycartists
#familyshabbat #family #nycfamily #familylab #familytime #shabbat #sabbath #nyckids #kidsofnyc #nycmom #brooklyn #brooklynkids #brooklynkid
Looking back on Passover matza making with the Lil Lab/Shulers as we look forward to the next FamilyLab!
Join us on Friday, May 17th for FamilyLab: Shabbat Shalom! Celebrate the tastes, smells, and feels of the Shabbat Table with an interactive evening of storytelling, song, art making, and Sabbath Bliss. Led by @shirakline, @stephrkane, and @arilmonts!
🔗 Link in bio to register
#Labshul #labshulpassover #gather #ritual #godoptional #everybodyfriendly #artistdriven #experimentaljudaism #queerjudaism #JewishLife #jewishholidays #jewishevents #jewishtradition #jewishcommunity #nyc #artists #nycartists #purimmessther #family #nycfamily #familylab #familytime #passover #pesach #nyckids #kidsofnyc #nycmom #brooklyn #brooklynkids #brooklynkid
We hope your Seders filled your hearts and your bellies. Wherever you gathered this year, we know that this Passover was different from all others, and we’re here to hold during these narrow times.
Are you wondering… What’s Next❓❓❓
The Counting of the Omer began last night and goes through June 11. It is a custom designed to express humility and reconnect, recharge, re-examine one’s Jewish life. We will be sharing content here on our Instagram account from some of our favorite partners including:
👉@ayinpress Ayin Press is releasing Jill Hammer’s Omer Calendar of Biblical Women, a meditative guidebook for counting the Omer through the lens of women of the Bible who embody the unique spiritual dimension associated with the particular calendar day.
👉 @beittoratah has been working since 2016 to rewrite the Hebrew Bible, by reversing the genders of all characters. We will be sharing Beit Toratah’s videos bi-weekly throughout the Omer, from the Songs of Toratah live album release on Feb. 29, 2024, artistically produced by our very own @naomiless1.
And…
👉ReCollect is on April 29 – In this Springtime of Nisan/April, while we move from narrowness and constriction into the wider breath, we invite you to join us for our seasonal gathering to remember our loved ones, share stories, lift memory, and say Kaddish: the ancient memorial prayer, together. (🔗Link in bio to register).
However you mark these sacred days, we pray for a season of connection and hope, progress and healthy growth, for us all.
#labshul #labshulpassover #omer #countingoftheomer #recollect #nisan #spring #kaddish #nyc #joinus
Rabbi @amichailaulavie is getting ready for this evening’s paradox of Passover with the preparation of the bitter flavor of the night … even on this night, so different, so difficult when all we really crave is sweetness —
In the Rabbi’s family, he takes a horseradish root and grinds it down and mixes it with a bit of salt and vinegar, it’s strong stuff. And when his family eats a spoonful during Seder, when it comes time to Maror - the bitterness of our ancestors - they actually cry, tears somatic memory, alive with sorrow and release this year. This year - more than ever - he plans to bite the bitter for our collective tears to quench the earth as seeds of trust and seeds of hope and seeds of healing. Every tear is a bittersweet reminder that these rituals have purpose - to help us process.
We sow in tears, we will one day reap in joy.
Here at Lab/Shul, to help prepare for Passover, we hosted a series of SAYDER conversations (🔗link in bio to watch the recordings). The concept of SAYDER 2024 was built around the idea of designating our Seder tables as sacred and safe spaces for big questions. Questions that honor all voices, celebrating our legacy of survival and lifting up our cups for healing and hope, peace and repair.
👀 check out our Passover Portal (link in bio) for printable versions of Lab/Shul’s reimagined FOUR QUESTIONS and the recorded conversations with the past month’s illustrious guests… @amichailaulavie @shirakline @mushon @alizakline @jokentkatz @rebekkagoldsmithmusic @jonadamross @zhailon @libbylenkinski @davidbroza1
#labshul #artistsoninstagram #jewishart #nyc #nycevents #labshulpassover
#passover #pesach #jewish #seder #matzah #israel #love #kosherfood #jewishholidays #paskah #torah #shabbatshalom #jewishfood #kosherforpassover #jerusalem #pesaj #judaica #happypassover #sabbath #family #hagaddah #fourcups #wine #passoverwine
Chag Pesach Sameach!
Lab/Shul is here for you as we embark on our Passover seders this evening. In a year different than those that have come before, we reimagined our 4 questions - SAYDER 2024 - to help read less and SAY more around our Seder tables.
This Passover, let’s designate our Seder tables
as sacred and safe spaces for big questions
that honor all voices, celebrating our legacy of survival and lifting up our cups for healing and
hope, peace and repair.
👀 check out our Passover Portal (link in bio) for printable versions of SAYDER and the recorded conversations with the past month’s illustrious guests… @amichailaulavie @shirakline @mushon @alizakline @jokentkatz @rebekkagoldsmithmusic @jonadamross @zhailon @libbylenkinski @davidbroza1
#labshul #artistsoninstagram #jewishart #nyc #nycevents #labshulpassover
#passover #pesach #jewish #seder #matzah #israel #love #kosherfood #jewishholidays #paskah #torah #shabbatshalom #jewishfood #kosherforpassover #jerusalem #pesaj #judaica #happypassover #sabbath #family #hagaddah #fourcups #wine #passoverwine
Futurist @mushon, one of the leaders of ‘A Land for All’ who joined Lab/Shul’s SAYDER prep session on 4/18, reimagines how to end the Passover Seder. Next year? It begins right now. Keep Walking. This is how we walk the talk of liberation.
Watch a snippet of his futurist vision to release the power of our imagination and check out the full talk on our YouTube (also featuring @davidbroza1, @libbylenkinski, and @shirakline) to upgrade your Seder.
How can we walk to release the bitter, discard despair raise up cups of hope and honestly liberate? Together.
🔗Link in bio
#labshul #artistsoninstagram #jewishart #nyc #nycevents #labshulpassover
#passover #pesach #jewish #seder #matzah #israel #love #kosherfood #jewishholidays #paskah #torah #shabbatshalom #jewishfood #kosherforpassover #jerusalem #pesaj #judaica #happypassover #sabbath #family #hagaddah #fourcups #wine #passoverwine
With all the tensions and sorrows of these difficult days, it’s extra exciting and meaningful to celebrate good news - especially when it’s been two decades in the making! We are thrilled to announce that “Sabbath Queen,” @amichailaulavie and @sandidubowski’s 21 year long documentary collaboration, will be making its premiere this June at @tribeca.
Join us in celebrating Rabbi Amichai’s courageous leadership and bold response to the challenges of today and tomorrow.
Hear more about @sabbathqueenfilm from our Co-Founder and Executive Director @sarahsokolic on our blog!
🔗Link I’m bio!
#labshul #sabbath #sabbathqueen #queens #labshulpassover #liberation #everpresence #sabbathqueenfilm #tribeca #tribecafilmfestival #judaism #religion
