‘In every generation:’ Haggadah supplements put October 7 reckoning on Seder plate

Additions to traditional tract allow holiday celebrants to grapple with trauma of terror and ongoing hostage crisis casting shadow on festival of freedom

Illustrative: Two women, one of them wrapped in an Israeli flag, help to set the 'The Empty Seder Table,’ with 133 chairs and place settings, representing hostages still being held in Gaza by Hamas, in front of Downing Street in London, Britain, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Illustrative: Two women, one of them wrapped in an Israeli flag, help to set the 'The Empty Seder Table,’ with 133 chairs and place settings, representing hostages still being held in Gaza by Hamas, in front of Downing Street in London, Britain, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

With just hours to go before Jews around the world sit down for the first Passover Seder since the October 7 onslaught, many are reckoning fully for the first time with how to discuss the pain of the last seven months at their tables.

On October 7, thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed the Jewish state’s south to kill nearly 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and take over 250 hostages.

A diverse array of Jewish groups and leaders have produced materials designed to help Seder-goers broach the trauma.

The traditional Seder text, the Passover Haggadah, offers a durable framework for grappling with a world that includes both danger and resilience for the Jewish people.

Illustrative: An Israeli man wearing a prayer shawl prays next to houses destroyed by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Be’eri, October 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

The new supplements aim to help Jews connect that story with current events, including the attack on Israel, the Gaza war sparked by the attack and rising reports of antisemitism around the world. The supplements come from Jews and Jewish institutions across the political, ideological and religious spectrum.

Here’s a (non-exhaustive) selection of some of the many supplements released this year, all of which can be printed at home for those who choose to do so.

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