Ways to Celebrate Passover Throughout the Week

There are plenty of ways to celebrate Passover beyond the seder.  We’ve gathered about 36 of them for your family to try.

You can also use this daily schedule of ideas from 18Doors.

Reading

Who/What Was Series:

Ordinary People Change the World series

Listening

Watching

Counting (the Omer)

Jewish holidays celebrate important historical moments, and many are also linked to the seasons of nature. In addition to celebrating our going out of Egypt, Passover marks the beginning of the  barley harvest. On the second day of Passover, an omer, a sheaf of barley, was brought to the Temple as an offering. Shavuot, which comes 49 days later, commemorates the giving of the Torah, and marks the beginning of the wheat harvest. At the second seder, it is traditional to begin counting off these 49 days, referred to as the Days of the Omer.

This symbolic “countdown” from Pesach to Shavuot shows the connection between the two holidays. Our freedom from slavery was not complete until we received the Torah, which gives our lives purpose and meaning. We count the Omer with a blessing:

Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha’aolam asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al s’firat ha’omer. Hayom yom echad la’omer.

We praise You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the Universe, Who makes us holy by Your mitzvot and commands us to count the Omer. Today is the First Day of the Omer.

  • Do a hunt around your neighborhood and take pictures (1 tree, 2 squirrels, 3 flowers)
  • Represent the day’s number with loose parts and take a pic (photo and idea credit: Amy Meltzer at PJ Library)
  • Counting the Omer with Children (PJ Library)

Storytelling

  • Collecting Stories: interview family members using video, Zoom or the StoryCorps app to collect an oral history of your family
    • Some questions you can ask: what’s your favorite part of Passover? How is Passover different now than how you celebrated as a child? What’s the food you have to have each year? Which Passover food do you always “pass over” when it’s passed around?
  • Write Your Own Story of Passover
    • Use the Capital Jewish Museum’s Passover Graphic Novel pages
    • Act it out with props you find or make from around the house
    • Collect dolls (LEGO minifigures are great for repurposing) to film a re-telling of all or part of the Passover story

Playing

Cooking

Spring Cleaning

Clearing out the “chametz” in your life (not the food kind)

  • Clear out and recycle old papers
  • Repurpose old artwork (for collages, cards or make a memory book)
  • Sort outgrown toys and clothes for donating after the pandemic is over
  • Give an incentive to your kids for filling up boxes/bags to recycle or donate

Sharing Gratitude

  • Make a card or write a letter to a different friend or family member each day to mail or photograph and email.
  • Talk about who the “helpers” are and how you can show your support—sending cards, posting messages, donating tzedakah money toward an organization that does this work.
  • Learn the Jewish prayers for the sick and for hand washing (MyJewishLearning). You can also teach the prayer for doctors.
  • Start a gratitude journal. Get ideas to make your own here, or try the 5-Minute Journal for Kids.