Seder overview

[magid]

With thanks to my hosts both nights.

	Seder 1	Seder 2
Distance from home	~1 mile	~3 miles
People	9 adults, 4 kids under 3	7 adults, 4 kids from kindergarten to fourth grade
Haggadahs	all Artscroll (aka R. Arthur Scroll)	all different; I ended up with the Nechama Leibowitz Hagaddah, which has a lovely clear Hebrew font, also much commentary I didn't have time to read
Props	four question finger puppets ten plagues finger puppets animal masks animal figurines ping-pong-ball hail black masks for the band of emissaries of evil (but no toy guitars) hats for different rabbis (including a sombrero for R. Jose/Yossi)	ten plagues finger puppets Chad Gadyah masks mini-marshmallow hail
Karpas	flat-leaf parsley	tray 1 (fresh): parsley, baby carrots, celery sticks tray 2 (cooked): boiled potatoes, boiled carrots, boiled parsnip
Approximate seder start time	7:00	9:00
Approximate seder end time	11:00	2
Misc. other	As requested, brought fresh fruit, chunks of pineapple and honeydew. The kids were well behaved, but most of the parents didn't get a lot of seder time. Some silly voices, most notably Southern accents, including preacherman. Much punchiness, enhanced by being incredibly underslept. (Hints of Chinese Jewry: "Li, v'lo lo....") Maximized singing of Hallel, both before and after the meal, also the songs at the end. Sitting next to a friend I hadn't seen in a long while, and talking about getting together sometime not on Shabbat/yom tov. Food highlight: chicken marbella over quinoa pilaf with pine nuts.	"Chartumim" may refer to residents of Khartoum. A seder can be in two different rooms, and worked our fairly well that way, too. The kids went to bed during the meal, rather than staying up the whole time. Eating the afikoman right at chatzot. Not taking the time for the songs at the end due to everyone being really tired. Remembering to count the omer, despite some haggadot not including it, plus a discussion of why that might have been an editorial choice (which I still think isn't right, but hey). Food highlight: chocolate over matza bits and almonds. Or perhaps the brisket. Or possibly the roasted Brussels sprouts.

Realized: the oddest part of the seder for me is "pour out your wrath" with the not-officially-mentioned Elijah's cup stuff. It just doesn't fit in the flow. And, as always, I wonder about how these particular songs got appended to the end. So many of them could work the rest of the year.

Omer: 2₇
Also, for comparison: last year's seder table

Comments

[fj.livejournal.com]

You made a table.

You. Made. A. Comparison. Table.

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

I had heard that the "Pour out your wrath" started by us checking to see if the Xians had murdered one of their babies and left it on our doorstep to frame us for the blood libel. After dinner, if you open the door and see a body, it's time to flee the impending pogrom. I'll see if I can find a source.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Um, yes. Why is this notable?

[magid.livejournal.com]

Oy. (Didn't they know that we had to _finish_ the matza by then? All that blood's not useful then ;-P)

I wonder how Elijah got tacked on to this.

[fj.livejournal.com]

It's not very usual.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I guess it's just how I think, sometimes. What else would people do to compare things like this?

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

Clearly, magid holds by the Shulchan Aruch

[magid.livejournal.com]

::groan::

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

If I had to guess, I'd reconstruct the timeline as:

1. Pogroms/blood libel lead to proactive door-checking
2. Door-checking and resentment that they keep killing us leads to the addition of verses from Tanach expressing our frustration and a plea for God to avenge us
3. Hope for vengeance gets tempered with hope for redemption
4. Elijah is associated with the ultimate redeption, so kos eliyahu is added

But that's just me hypothesizing. This is an excellent research topic for my planned "Why Do You Do This? A Haggadah for the Rasha" which I'm hoping to have done in time for next year.