Gateways Haggadah: A Seder for the Whole Family

by Rebecca Redner

Overview

Everyone has a place at the Passover table. Let's celebrate together!

The Gateways Haggadah supports full participation in Passover Seder rituals and celebration by neuro diverse children and other family members who may find reading difficult, and engagement challenging. Step-by-step directions guide participants through every element of a complete but short 30-minute seder, are clearly illustrated with vibrant photographs, and each prayer's meaning is illuminated with Mayer-Johnson Picture Communication Symbols. In this way seder participants can experience Passover through clear, direct language AND through rich and varied images. 

This easy-to-hold, concise haggadah will ensure accessible, meaningful Passover celebration for the entire family. 

The haggadah text also acknowledges and supports the struggle that some family members have with organized, formal activities. The Four Children portion of the seder recasts this section in language that better describes what neuro diverse children experience: The Excited Child, The Upset Child, The Confused Child, and The Overwhelmed Child.

Features:

• Blessings are provided in Hebrew and English translation, as well as transliterated Hebrew inside Picture Communications Symbols.
• Photos throughout allow neuro diverse children to see themselves in Passover rituals.
• Picture Symbols provided for the songs Chad Gadya (One Little Goat) and Echad Mi Yodei'a  (Who Knows One)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780874419290
Publisher:	Behrman House, Incorporated
Publication date:	01/01/2015
Pages:	64
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.18(d)

Table of Contents

What is Passover 4

The Seder Plate 5

Setting the Table 7

Lighting the Candles 8

Order of the Seder 11

Kadesh: Drinking Wine 12

Urchatz: Washing Hands 15

Karpas: Eating A Vegetable 16

Yachatz: Breaking the Matzah 18

Maggid: Telling the Story 20

Rochtzah: Washing Hands 41

Motzi Matzah: Eating the Matzah 42

Maror: Eating a Bitter Herb 44

Korech: Eating a Hillel Sandwich 46

Shulchan Orech: Eating Dinner 48

Tzafun: Finding the Afikoman 49

Barech: Thanking God for Our Meal 51

Hallel: Singing Psalms 56

Nirtzah: Ending the Seder 58

Editorial Reviews

01/12/2015
This impressively imagined but easy-to-follow Haggadah is produced by Gateways, a Boston agency that provides Jewish programming to children with special needs (Redner is a teacher on staff). The brief text (the seder is designed to run 30 minutes) is accompanied by photographs of diverse families, while the songs, prayers, and Passover story are illustrated with picture communication symbols used in special education classrooms; “Avadim Hayinu” (We were slaves but now we are free!) and “Dayenu” (It would have been enough) become newly vivid. The ancient story of the four sons (here, as in most progressive Haggadahs, the “four children”) acknowledges that “some people enjoy special occasions, but some do not” and turns the four archetypes into children with challenges who, with the loving help of parents, find productive ways to be present at the seder: the child who is overwhelmed by “new routines, foods and objects” begins learning about Passover in advance so the holiday feels more familiar. Honoring the structure and rituals of the seder while granting participants flexibility, this Haggadah achieves its goal of being sensitive and celebratory. All ages. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly