By Cantor Audrey Klein:
Years ago, I created a game for my students exploring Passover customs from around the world. It’s a playful mix of Apples to Apples and Dictionary: a collection of unique traditions is placed into a hat or basket, and students work in teams to guess both where each custom comes from (with a list of possible countries/regions on the board—plus a few decoys!) and what it symbolizes. Because, of course, every part of the Seder carries deeper meaning.
Let’s test your international Pesach knowledge with a few examples (answers at the end!):
- Hitting each other with scallions
- Walking around the table with a sack on your back
- Eating brick dust
Cantor Julie Newman, a dear friend and colleague, often says about living in our diverse Jewish world: “We all do the same thing, differently.” And nowhere is that more beautifully true than at the Seder table. Across continents and cultures, the details may change—the foods, the songs, the playful rituals—but the story remains the same. We all tell of liberation, of journey, of hope, each in a way shaped by our history and community. These differences don’t divide us; they deepen and enrich our shared tradition, reminding us that there is more than one way to enter the story and make it our own.
Wishing you and your loved ones a wonderful, meaningful, and joy-filled Passover.
Shabbat Shalom,
Cantor Audrey
Answers:
- Hitting each other with scallions: Iran and Afghanistan (both answers are correct)In Persian and Afghani Jewish communities, there is a playful yet meaningful custom of lightly hitting one another with scallions during the Seder, symbolizing the lashes endured by the Israelite slaves under Egyptian taskmasters.
- Walking around the table with a sack on your back: Yemen Among Jews from Yemen, the Seder becomes a fully embodied experience. As the Haggadah is read, participants reenact the Exodus story—most vividly when one person walks around the table with a sack slung over their shoulder, as if they themselves have just left Egypt, bringing the journey from slavery to freedom to life in a powerful and tangible way.
- Eating brick dust: GibraltarJews from Gibraltar (at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula) add a small amount of real brick dust to their charoset, not only symbolizing the mortar our ancestors used, but quite literally incorporating it into the ritual food itself.