How Passover Led Me to Write My Own Haggadah

As our family adjusted to one new practice, another question usually followed. Eventually, that next question became Passover. While attending the synagogue, we participated in celebrations and then went home to study: Where does Passover appear in Scripture? What did it mean within Israel’s story? How is it observed in Jewish communities today, and how should our Christian family approach it respectfully?

Learning Passover and the Haggadah

Passover is rooted in the Exodus story, especially Exodus 12, and remains central to Jewish memory, identity, and worship. Jewish communities have carried and developed seder practices across generations. Our family was entering a living tradition, not discovering an abandoned biblical custom.

At one celebration, we received a booklet called a Haggadah. The word means “telling” or “narration,” reflecting the responsibility to tell the Exodus story. A Haggadah guides the order of the seder, but there is no single universal edition. Jewish Haggadahs vary across communities, families, movements, languages, and historical periods.

We experienced Passover at the synagogue, with friends, and eventually in our home. Each setting was meaningful, but I was often confused at first. There were Hebrew terms, four cups, questions, songs, blessings, and layers of interpretation I was still learning. As a native Spanish speaker, learning unfamiliar Hebrew and English vocabulary at the same time added another challenge.

I also learned not to project the fully developed modern seder unchanged back into the first century. The Synoptic Gospels portray Jesus’ final meal as a Passover meal, while the Gospel of John presents a different chronology. The seder and written Haggadah continued developing across later centuries, so not every modern reading, song, symbol, or ritual can be assumed to have been practiced by Jesus in its present form.

Eventually, we hosted family and friends using one of the simpler Haggadahs we had collected. As I watched guests work hard to follow the unfamiliar flow, I recognized the confusion I had once felt myself.

Writing a Christian Family Haggadah

That experience led me to create a guide for our own home. My first booklet, It Is the Lord’s Passover, stayed close to the Exodus text while using a simple meal structure. It was written for Christian families who wanted to study the biblical story clearly.

Over time, I realized I did not want to erase the seder traditions that had helped carry Jewish memory. I wanted to understand them, explain them accurately, and distinguish their Jewish meanings from the Christian and Messianic connections our family drew to Jesus.

So I studied and compared a range of Jewish and Messianic Haggadahs, paying attention to their structure, terminology, explanations, and differences. Our later resource became a Christian/Messianic adaptation inspired by seder forms—not a replacement for a Jewish Haggadah and not a claim that Jewish tradition needed Christian correction.

The New Testament connections in my guide express our Christian belief. Jewish participants and communities do not understand Passover as requiring fulfillment in Jesus, and their observance has meaning and integrity within Judaism. Naming that difference honestly allowed me to share my faith without redefining someone else’s.

The guide went through many revisions as we practiced, learned, and listened. My goal became clarity: explain unfamiliar terms, distinguish biblical elements from later customs, and help Christian families understand both what they were doing and where each interpretation came from.

From Confusion to a Clearer Invitation

Little by little, Passover became more understandable to our family. What began as confusion became an invitation to study more carefully, communicate more clearly, and approach a sacred tradition with humility.

We did not simply “translate” Jewish tradition or make it ours. We created resources for Christian and Messianic use while trying to identify our adaptations honestly and honor the Jewish people and tradition from which we were learning.

If you would like to explore the resources that grew from this journey, the simpler option is It Is the Lord’s Passover: Simple Biblical Passover Guide for Christian Families. The fuller option is the Messianic Passover Haggadah with Leader’s Guide.

Clarity does not require flattening differences. It grows when we tell the story carefully, name our perspective honestly, and honor the living communities whose traditions we encounter.

How has confusion ever led you to study more carefully and communicate with greater humility?

iamgesher

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