Board of Trustees
Events @ PSJC
Welcome to the PSJC Events Page! Here you can find a listing of all of the classes, religious services, social and special events that are coming up at PSJC.
Events @ PSJC
Welcome to the PSJC Events Page! Here you can find a listing of all of the classes, religious services, social and special events that are coming up at PSJC.
The PSJC office will be closed in observance of Passover on
Monday, April 29th, and Tuesday, April 30th.
PSJC affirms its solidarity with Medinat Israel and its people. We pray for the well-being of those defending it and those who have been taken hostage. We are committed to helping ensure a secure and peaceful future for Israel and its neighbors.
Pesach
Dear PSJC,
Even as we are finishing off our Hamentaschen from a good and meaningful Purim celebration, we know one thing for sure: Pesach is just around the corner! Pesach (Passover) is our great holiday of freedom of possibility, of moving through the “narrow places” of our lives.
But this year, when Israel, America, and the world as a whole feel stuck in so many narrow places, how do we enter this Festival of our Freedom? How do we celebrate our freedom when more than 100 people remain captive in Gaza? How do we dare to imagine a future redemption when we sit with the trauma of October 7th, the ongoing war in Gaza, the threat of expansion on other fronts? How do we invite all who are in need of a Pesach seder to join us when thousands of Israelis are literally displaced from their homes, unable to return to their seder tables out of fear of rocket attacks? How do we say: “Let all who are hungry come and eat” when so many Palestinians are on the brink of famine? In this age of rising anti-Semitism and feelings of isolation, how do we take this holiday of Spring and Hope, and allow it to speak to us today, this year, in this moment?
This is our challenge, and it is one we will face together.
This year, the first Seder begins Monday night, April 22, 2024. May it carry with it the hope of Spring, the inspiration of liberation, and the conviction that can come by connecting to our past, engaging with the challenges of the present, and collectively imagining our future.
We are excited to announce that PSJC is hosting a second-night seder on Tuesday night, April 23, 2024. To join us, click here.
We know this will be a Passover unlike others we have experienced. May we each find the courage to engage with the ancient stories that have been passed onto us through the living-document that is the Haggadah in new and old ways, to help us to face the real challenges of this moment in our collective history.
It is our hope that these resources and the community at PSJC will help you have a meaningful, sweet Passover even amidst the seemingly overwhelming challenges of this year. More will be added, particularly about how we might support efforts for returning the hostages and creating conditions for peace for Israel, its neighbors, and the world entire.
Zissen Pesach (A sweet and meaningful Passover)
-Rabbi Carie Carter & Rabbi Hayley Goldstein
Sale of Chametz
To sell your chametz, you may use our online form. It gives Rabbi Carie permission to sell your chametz to a non-Jewish person for the duration of Passover. Just put your leftover chametz in a sealed cabinet/separate location in your home and allow me to sell it for you. Please fill out our online Chametz Sale form by Sunday, April 21, 2024.*
*Note: The chametz that is sold will not be available to you from the time of sale (Monday morning) until 1 hour after the end of Passover.
Rabbinical Assembly
Passover Guide
What can I eat? How do I prepare? Here is a helpful guide to help navigate food and
preparations for Pesach 2024. If you have any questions/concerns, please contact Rabbi Carter.
Feed Your Body as Well as Your Soul
Revisit PSJC's first-ever progressive Passover cooking lesson! Learn from our community’s creative cooks how to make halek (Indian charoset), special matzo balls, Pesach rolls and more. Get inspiration for your own sedarim and the days that follow.
Resources for Families with Young Children
Still looking for a Haggadah to meet the needs of your whole family? Check out the PJ Library Haggadah. You can download it or order hard copies. Plus you can check out all of the resources from PJ Library on how to host a seder, crafts, and more.
The PJ Library Podcast, Have I Got a Story for You, offers an audio version of the Passover Story, or you can check out their Steps of the Seder video.
Concerned about a "I only eat plain pasta" kid and Passover? Check out these recipes from PJ Library. If all else fails, milkshakes, with or without nut butter, make a great fall back. It's only a week!
Kveller has put together a great list of Passover crafts. If you're looking to try something new for Seder this year, check out K'ilu Kit for a truly interactive experience. Remember that Passover is about telling the story of the Exodus from one generation to another. Everything else is commentary!
Passover Songs
Passover is filled with wonderful songs—both old and new. Here is a collection of PSJC favorites.
Pesach Dates
Pesach is such an involved, central holiday of the Jewish year, it can not be entered without preparation. This includes physically cleaning our homes and emotionally trying to rid ourselves of internal chametz (that which puffs us up). It is a time of trying to clearly identify our
own “narrow places” and to find the courage (like the Israelites at the Sea of Reeds) to step through that narrow place and begin a new journey, one filled with unknowns but also with amazing possibility. So, even as you are filled with the efforts of cleaning and cooking for this Feast of Freedom, please don’t forget to find time for yourself, to prepare yourself and your soul for the journey ahead.
Here are some dates to keep in mind to help bring Pesach into your life and to share it with the PSJC Community.
“Little Things”—A Reminder about Kitniyot
The question of whether or not to eat kitniyot (legumes) during Passover has challenged Ashkenazi Jews for generations. Here is a teshuvah addressing that question —reminding us not to let “the little things” take on too much importance…in our eating and in our lives.
Passover Justice Resources
Pesach is an important moment in the Jewish year in which we are encouraged to speak with family and friends about the very real needs of our world, the places where justice is lacking, where oppression abounds. Here are some great sites filled with readings and information to
help those conversations and actions along.
**Please check back on this site as we will be updating it frequently in the weeks prior to Pesach.
Ha Lachma Anya—Di Achalu? “This bread of Affliction—Why do we eat it?—because
our ancestors were slaves in the Land of Egypt” How can we tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt with an eye towards the issues of our world today?
Repair the World and HIAS have developed special material for Seder night to help us respond to the current refugee crisis in our world through the eyes of our own story of escape from Egypt and wandering to freedom in the Promised Land.
Religious Action Center contains a huge array of material on social justice issues related to Passover including a series of themed haggadot (such as Invisible: The Story of Modern Slavery, A Social Justice Haggadah; a Hunger Seder Haggadah; an Earth Seder Haggadah). This site also shares the stories behind some of the new/modern additions to our seder plate including: potatoes, Miriam’s Cup, an orange, fair trade chocolate or cocoa beans, tomatoes.
Hazon includes Resources for a Sustainable Pesach, a great resource for ways to protect our environment during Passover.
Kol Dichfin Yeitei v’yei-chul; Kol Ditzrich Yetei v’yifsach—Let all who are hungry comeand eat. Let all who are in need come and celebrate. The high cost of Passover supplies makes this a difficult time for many Jewish families. Donations to the Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund at this season are used for Ma’ot Chittin to provide matzah and other Passover items for those in need.
This year, with so many displaced from their homes as a result of the war, many Jewish Israelis will not be able to gather around their seder tables. Leket Israel, the leading food rescue organization in Israel, provides hundreds of thousands of hot meals and tons of fresh fruits and vegetables to those deeply impacted by this war.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is overwhelming. It is essential that we feed the hungry and protect the vulnerable, including innocents in Gaza used as human shields by Hamas. Consider donating to Rabbis for World Central Kitchen to support efforts to feed the hungry in Gaza.
Hashata hacha, L’shanah haba’ah b’arah d’Yisrael. “ This year we are here, next year in the Land of Israel.” This year, support an organization that supports the vital work done for the well-being of Israel: Magen David Adom, Israel Trauma Coalition (focusing on mental health support), Masorti Movement (Conservative movement in Israel), and others. Consider also Givat Haviva, Standing Together, and other organizations that are dedicated to creating a “Shared Society” among Arab and Jewish Israelis.
Hashata Avdei, L’shanah haba’ah b’nai chorin. “This year we are slaves, next year, may we all be free.” Learn more about modern-day slavery at Free the Slaves.
See also Made by Survivors to learn how you might help support the victims of human trafficking.
T’ruah offers: The Other Side of the Sea: A Haggadah for Fighting Modern Slavery.
The Anti-Racism Committee of Rodfei Tzedek has been doing a good deal of work with the Jewish Coalition for Criminal Justice Reform. Consider these texts as a jumping off point for discussions around imprisonment and freedom.
May these and other resources help you bring Pesach’s message forward in deep and relevant ways this year.
An Addition to the Passover Plate
As you are considering additions to your seder plate along with the orange (for inclusion), olives (for peace in the Middle East), tomatoes (for workers' rights), and ginger (anti-Asian hate) of years past, I want to invite you to consider sunflower seeds (if you are comfortable with Kitniyot)
or a sunflower for the people of Ukraine. Consider for yourself what might be a good symbolic item for the struggles in Israel, Israel’s war against Hamas, hunger in Gaza, anti-semitism here and around the world, and so many other challenges we are facing today. Some have suggested leaving an empty setting at the table or a yahrzeit candle for those who died as a
result of the terror of October 7 and the war that followed. While we pray that those who are being held hostage will be in their homes at their families’ seder tables this year, and remain committed to that reality, if G-d forbid, they are not yet home, please consider a symbolic gesture at your seder table to remind us of the need to bring them home. Perhaps an empty chair or a third cup of hope, along with those of Elijah and Miriam. As it gets closer to Pesach and we understand the realities on the ground more clearly, if the need remains, we will send appropriate blessings that can be added on behalf of those held hostage in Gaza.
Keep an eye on our website as we will be adding links to various resources to help you find readings, rituals, and images that might help add to your seder experience as each of us “sees ourselves as if we too are going forth from Egypt.”