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From a Kanye West parody to AI versions, here are 10 new haggadahs to try this Passover
(JTA) — What makes this year’s batch of new haggadahs different from all other years’? For one thing, there are entries written by machines — with not just one but two different versions written by artificial intelligence.
The haggadah market is continually booming, as Jewish writers and creatives take inspiration from news, pop culture and other trends to create seder texts and supplements that break out of the Maxwell House box. This year’s crop tackles Kanye West, the AI app craze, turmoil in Israel and more.
Here are 10 haggadahs to freshen up your seder this year or in the future. (For more options, check out last year’s list, including an Israeli Black Panthers haggadah now in its second printing and another written in Shakespearean verse.)
For the Kanye hater
Serial haggadah humorist Dave Cowen is back with his latest pop culture-themed Passover text: “The Meshugah Kanye Haggadah: A Passover Parody Musical,” which takes songs by the rapper Kanye West, now known as Ye, and loosely changes the lyrics to tell the holiday story. For those who missed the news in the fall, West declared himself an antisemite through a series of interviews and social media rants — though he recently recanted. West has said he struggles with bipolar disorder, and Cowen is donating part of the profits of his haggadah to Mad in America, which publishes research and content aimed at rethinking mental health care in the United States.
For the psychedelics-curious
Interested in “tripping toward freedom”? Or “ingesting transformation” through karpas? How about reciting kadesh with “spiritual intention”? Then you might be drawn to “Taste & See: A Psychedelic Pesach Companion” from the Jewish artist-run Ayin Press. It pairs prayers with specific psychoactive substances and then offers Jewishly-inspired passages to guide one through a seder trip, in a foundational text for the growing Jewish psychedelics movement.
For the visual artist
An Israeli artist collective known as Asufa has put out a haggadah featuring colorful and sometimes edgy illustrations by a slew of up-and-coming artists, for the last decade. Only once before has the collective put out a version with English text — until now. A 10th anniversary edition culls artworks from previous editions in one place with a gold-foil cover and a bilingual text. The group put out a new Hebrew version with fresh art as well.
For those concerned about Israel
As the founder of the first Orthodox yeshiva that ordains women clergy, Avi Weiss is no stranger to commenting on fractures in the Jewish community. The liberal Orthodox rabbi and outspoken pro-Israel activist is doing so again in haggadah-supplement form this year, writing in prayers and points of discussion for a seder on the political crisis in Israel that has exploded since the country’s right-wing government took office earlier this year. “It is a template meant to inspire thoughts wherein seder participants can join in, sharing their own reflections and interpretations,” he writes.
For the visually impaired
The Jewish Braille Institute has teamed up with the Kehot Publication Society, the publishing arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, to revamp and re-promote its free haggadah for the visually impaired. “Whether these haggadahs help a grandfather hoping to lead a seder as they have for decades or a child who hopes to read the four questions for the first time, JBI’s mission is to make sure that every person who chooses to can participate in our beloved traditions and know that they belong at the table,” JBI’s president, Livia Thompson, told Chabad.org.
For fans of Chat GPT
The Chat GPT bot can do everything from compose music to hold conversations. It was only a matter of time before someone instructed it to produce a haggadah. Israelis Royi Shamir, an architect, and Yitzchak Woolf, a photographer, produced a version of the seder text through the app — a co-author they’ve called Rabb.AI. The original art in “Haggad.AI” — billed as the first of its kind — were produced by Midjourney, another artificial intelligence program that creates images from prompts. Julie Shain, an editor of the popular Daily Skimm newsletter, has done the same with “The AI Haggadah“; both start with text from Sefaria, the free online Jewish resource. (Both haggadahs are invigorating debates about the necessity of humans in Jewish practice.)
For the impatient
One of the best-selling haggadahs on Amazon this year has a pretty self-explanatory name: “The Swift Seder: The Concise Passover Haggadah for a Reverent Yet Efficient Seder in Under 30 Minutes.” No elaborate illustrations or long commentaries — just the instructions, story and explanations needed to run a tight seder (and a chapter full of songs to add in at one’s leisure).
For Ukrainian speakers
This year, for the first time ever, a haggadah is available in the Ukrainian language — a response to Ukraine’s war and the impulse of Jews there to shed their Russophone roots. This year the haggadah is available online only, but its creators — a Jewish feminist nonprofit and a musicologist who translated the whole text from its original languages — plan to make a print version available next year.
For trans Jews and their allies
The folks at Pink Peacock, the queer, Yiddish, anarchist cafe and Jewish movement in Glasgow, Scotland, have put out a “Trans Liberation Haggadah” perfectly timed for an era when trans rights are under attack in many states. The haggadah expands upon the haggadah supplement released a decade ago by Keshet, the LGBTQ Jewish advocacy group, in the brash spirit with which Pink Peacock has made itself felt far beyond its Scottish city.
Honorable mention: For curious kids (and their grownups)
Our sister site Kveller’s haggadah isn’t new — it was first published in March 2020 — but it still deserves a spot on any haggadah list, especially for families with young children. It makes the seder more digestible for kids, and it also features insights from renowned researchers who explain the connections between memory and food.
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The post From a Kanye West parody to AI versions, here are 10 new haggadahs to try this Passover appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Israeli Druze Leader Seeks US Security Guarantees for Syrian Minority
Leader of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, speaks with Reuters at his house in Julis, northern Israel, July 28, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ali Sawafta
Israeli Druze leader Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif urged the United States to guarantee the security of the Druze community in Syria to prevent a recurrence of intense violence earlier this year in Sweida, a Druze-majority province in Sunni-dominated Syria.
Washington needed to fulfill its “duty” to safeguard the rights of Syria’s minorities in order to encourage stability, Tarif told Reuters on Tuesday during an official visit to the UN in Geneva, adding that US support would also remove the need for Israeli intervention in Syria’s south.
“We hope that the United States, President Trump, and America as a great power, we want it to guarantee the rights of all minorities in Syria … preventing any further massacres,” he said.
US President Donald Trump vowed in November to do everything he can to make Syria successful after landmark talks with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
BLOODY CLASHES IN JULY
The Druze are a minority group whose faith is an offshoot of Islam and have followers in Israel, Syria, and Lebanon.
In July, clashes between Druze and Bedouin residents broke out in Sweida after tit-for-tat kidnappings, leading to a week of bloodletting that shattered generations of fragile coexistence.
The violence worsened when government forces dispatched to restore order clashed with Druze militiamen, with widespread reports of looting, summary killings, and other abuses.
Israel entered the fray with encouragement from its Druze minority, attacking government forces with the stated aims of protecting Syrian Druze and keeping its borders free from militants.
Tens of thousands of people from both communities were uprooted, with the unrest all but ending the Bedouins’ presence across much of Sweida.
In the aftermath, Druze leaders called for a humanitarian corridor from the Golan to Sweida and demanded self-determination, which the government rejects.
‘NEED TO REBUILD TRUST’
Asked about proposals by influential Druze Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajari to separate Sweida from Syria, Tarif took a different stance, stressing the need for internal autonomy or self-governance within Syria as a way of protecting minorities and their rights and pointing to federal systems in Switzerland and Germany as examples.
It was inconceivable to ask the Druze to surrender their weapons, he said. Talks to bring Sweida’s former police force onto Damascus‘ payroll — while allowing the Druze to retain wide local autonomy — had been making steady progress until July’s bloodshed derailed them.
Al-Sharaa, a former al Qaeda commander who led rebel factions that ousted former long-time leader Bashar al-Assad last December, has vowed to protect the Druze. However, Hajari insists he poses an existential threat to his community and in September rejected a 13-point, US-brokered roadmap to resolve the conflict.
Asked if talks should be revived, Tarif said trust had to be rebuilt by allowing residents to return to their homes, and permitting full humanitarian access to Sweida.
“There is no trust today … Trust must be rebuilt,” he said.
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Lebanon Foreign Minister Declines Tehran Visit, Proposes Talks in Neutral Country
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, and members of the Lebanese cabinet meet to discuss efforts to bring all weapons in the country under the control of the state, at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, Lebanon, Aug. 5, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Emilie Madi
Lebanon‘s foreign minister Youssef Raji said on Wednesday he had declined an invitation to visit Tehran for now, proposing instead talks with Iran in a mutually agreed neutral third country, Lebanese state news agency NNA reported.
Raji cited “current conditions” for the decision not to go to Iran, without elaborating, and stressed that the move did not mean rejection of dialogue with Iran. He did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for additional comment.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi had extended the invitation last week, seeking talks on bilateral ties.
Raji said Lebanon stood ready to open a new phase of constructive relations with Iran, on the condition that ties be based strictly on mutual respect, full recognition of each country‘s independence and sovereignty, and non-interference in internal affairs under any pretext.
In an apparent reference to calls to disarm Iran-backed Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist group, Raji added that no strong state could be built unless the government held the exclusive right to hold weapons.
Hezbollah, once a dominant political force with wide influence over the Lebanese state, was severely weakened by Israeli strikes last year that ended with a US-brokered ceasefire. It has been under mounting domestic and international pressure to surrender its weapons and place all arms under state control.
In August, Iran’s top security official Ali Larijani visited Beirut, warning Lebanon not to “confuse its enemies with its friends.” In June, Foreign Minister Araqchi said Tehran sought a “new page” in ties.
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Iceland to Boycott 2026 Eurovision in Protest of Go-Ahead for Israel
A photographer takes a picture of a TV screen in Wiener Stadthalle, the venue of next year’s Eurovision in Vienna, Austria, Nov. 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
Iceland will not take part in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, the country’s public broadcaster RUV said on Wednesday, after organizer the European Broadcasting Union last week cleared Israel‘s participation.
The decision to allow Israel to take part in the next Eurovision, which will be held in Vienna in May, earlier prompted Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Slovenia to withdraw in protest, citing Israel‘s conduct in the Gaza war. Israel waged a two-year military campaign against Hamas after the Palestinian terrorist group invaded the Jewish state, massacred 1,200 people, and kidnapped 251 hostages in October 2023.
“It is clear from the public debate in this country and the reaction to the EBU’s decision last week that there will be neither joy nor peace regarding RUV’s participation,” the broadcaster’s Director General Stefan Eiriksson said in a statement.
Iceland was among the countries that had requested a vote last week on Israel‘s participation. But the European Broadcasting Union, or EBU, decided not to call a vote on Israel‘s participation, saying it had instead passed new rules aimed at discouraging governments from influencing the contest.
Iceland has never won the song contest but came second in 1999 and 2009. The Eurovision Song Contest dates back to 1956 and reaches around 160 million viewers, according to the EBU.