Passover celebrates the story of the Israelites’ liberation from slavery in Egypt. Universal themes include welcoming the stranger, letting all who are hungry eat, committing to eliminate modern forms of slavery, and committing to eliminate modern forms of slavery. These themes begin at the Seder, inspiring us to act during Passover and beyond.
This week we’ll be sharing our work involving these themes and providing some resources for you to make this the most impactful Passover yet!
Be More Welcoming with an Inclusive Haggadah
The Haggadah, the book that provides a storied framework for our Seder (Passover service and meal), can be customized to add other important stories of liberation. Now there are more inclusive Haggadot than ever! Take inspiration or sections from these to incorporate into your Haggadah!
- JQ International GLBT Haggadah
- Nation of Immigrants Seder & Haggadah Supplement
- A Global Justice Seder
- Forward Article about Jewish Teens Feelings on Passover
How we do put this theme into practice?
Leichtag Commons was purchased in 2012 to become the physical platform advancing and amplifying Leichtag Foundation’s four strategic grantmaking areas on a living campus. The Commons is a nexus of social enterprise, agriculture, community engagement, and vibrant Jewish life situated on 67.5 acres in the heart of Encinitas.
We have supported ADL San Diego’s Annual “Nation of Immigrants” Seder, a moving event attended by diverse people and deepened with their Haggadah to guide the service. This Seder honors the immigrants who built and enriched our nation. We’ve held the Seder at Leichtag Commons for several years and this year celebrated it at Seacrest Village Retirement Communities. At every Seder, as we broke matzah and retold the story of the Exodus, we vowed to counteract the modern plagues that face our communities every day, such as anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism and too many others.
See below for pictures from this year’s Seder.
Check out this video from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on their annual “Nation of Immigrants” Seder!
Stacie and Jeff Cook understand commitment. They live it.
Black, Jewish and Queer. These three identities weave the fabric of who I am, but it took a long time to believe that they could exist together.
Lee and Toni Leichtag established the Leichtag Foundation in 1991 following the sale of their business. Lee and Toni were lifelong entrepreneurs with a passion for innovation and for supporting talent. They believed that only with big risk comes big reward. Both born to families in poverty, Toni to a single mother, they strongly believed in helping those most in need and most vulnerable in our community. While they supported many causes, their strongest support was for young children and the elderly, two demographics who particularly lack voice in our society.
Lifelong Baltimoreans, Rabbi George and Alison Wielechowski and their sons, 11-year-old Lennon and 9-year-old Gideon, are more than pursuing the good life in Southern California. Having moved to San Diego more than three years ago, they are fulfilling a lifelong dream.
You would think that as the executive director of San Diego LGBT Pride, Fernando Zweifach López Jr., who uses the pronoun they, has done all the coming out they possibly can. A queer, non-binary individual who has worked for many years on civil rights issues, López also speaks openly and often about their father’s family, Mexican-American migrant workers who tilled the fields of rural California.