Eileen Levinson: Judaism Unbound Episode 212 - Haggadot.com
Eileen Levinson, founder of Haggadot.com, [1] joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about crowd-sourced Haggadot (guide-books to the Passover seder), and about re-imagining Passover more generally. We hope to use this series as a case study of concrete practices for finding deeper meaning in contemporary Jewish practice.
(0:01 - 16:27): To open the conversation, Eileen Levinson reflects on creating Haggadot.com, as someone who felt like a Jewish outsider. [2] She decided to create an interactive, community-generated Hagaddah similar to Dan Sieradski’s vision for the Open Source Haggadah. [3] Levinson explains that she makes the full traditional Haggadah text accessible, offering people the freedom (Freedom!) to include as much or as little as they want. This leads into a discussion about the idea of “Jewish authenticity.” Levinson remembers participating in Jewish communal experiences with her former roommate Esther Kustanowitz, [4] and realizing that she wanted them to feel more accessible. Levinson credits her confidence — a prerequisite to creating something new, like Haggadot.com — to her life-long aversion to being told what to do.
(16:27 - 28:55): Levinson takes a moment to describe what Haggadot.com is and what kinds of people use it. The site offers ready-made Haggadot, or open-ended templates for people to make their own. [5] People can also share “clips,” or modules, from each other’s haggadot. Dan and Lex ask about the idea of a mix-and-match approach to Jewish ritual and how that could be applied to the whole Jewish calendar year. Levinson says this approach inspired her project Custom & Craft, a website where people can create their own liturgy and programs for Jewish experiences. [6]
(28:55-50:18): Levinson identifies the social and spiritual needs that her ritual resources help to meet. She notes that she tries to promote pieces that might not be the most popular, but provide something new, like feminist content or humorous skits. Dan sees connections between Levinson’s approach and a TED Talk by Simon Sinek, about the importance of “starting with why.” [7] Returning to the idea of popularity, Levinson and the two co-hosts consider how experimenting with parts of Jewish ritual that aren’t already popular might lead to new forms of meaning-making. Levinson says she’s excited about the practice of tashlich, the ritual casting out of sins by throwing bread into a river during the high holidays, and innovations like an apology booth she created for people to experience that ritual in a new way. [8] We wrap up the conversation by reflecting on the Jewish community’s tendency to try to include everyone, and the problem of balancing the needs of Jews whose practices differ starkly from one another. Levinson stresses the importance of being transparent about the intentions of a Seder, and of making sure that as a host one doesn’t sacrifice their own needs, in order to make everyone else comfortable.
[1] Find a bio of Eileen Levinson here. Take a look at some of Haggadot.com’s features at the following links, including an introduction to Passover, a Haggadah library, and space to make your own Haggadah.
[2] Read about the launch of Haggadot.com here.
[3] Levinson references Dan Sieradski’s attempt to create an open source Haggadah. Read about some of the history behind Open Source Judaism here.
[4] Learn more about Jewish writer Esther Kustanowitz and find her work here, including her new podcast on Jewish culture, called The Bagel Report.
[5] You can view and print the liberal haggadah from JewishBoston or a Revenge of Dinah haggadah on rape culture on Haggadot.com.
[6] Explore Levinson’s build-your-own resource for Jewish ritual and experiences, Custom & Craft.
[7] Watch the Simon Sinek TED Talk that we reference here.
[8] Learn more about Levinson’s apology-booth project, for tashlich, here.