The more than 70 people who attended the Shalom Club’s Seder were puzzled at something new on the Seder plate this year. Of course, all the traditional items were there: the lamb bone, a roasted egg, bitter herbs, parsley, and more. But green onions?
The addition was the work of Rabbi Jeremy Lipton, who facilitated a fully participatory and engaging event that brought together traditional and creative interactive experiences. As he explained, a key element of the Passover is recalling that we were slaves in Egypt who were mistreated and beaten by our Egyptian masters. When the telling of the Passover story reached that point, attendees were directed to “beat” their neighbors with a green onion, a reminder of what it meant to be a slave in Egypt.