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For Passover, an interactive map brings the haggadah down to earth
(JTA) — In 2024, as Alon Gildoni and his brother-in-law, Ron Milo, prepared for Passover in Israel, they asked themselves a puzzling question: Where did the events described in the haggadah actually take place?
But what started as a casual curiosity, including a rough sketch on the back of an envelope of the ancient Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, quickly took on a life of its own. With the pair drawing inspiration from the storytelling of Gildoni’s late father, Zvika Gildoni, they sought to bring the ancient narrative to life by mapping the Passover story onto real-world locations.
In the years since posing the question, Milo, a professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, and Gildoni, a product management expert originally from Israel based in the Netherlands, have combined research, archeological experts and modern mapping technology to create “Haggadah on the Map,”
The free interactive website and printable PDF, Gildoni told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, gives families an opportunity to deepen their understanding of the Passover story by showing children where, by their estimation, the Red Sea parted and Mount Sinai stands.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
What was the inspiration for creating the map?
Gildoni: I have a brother in law who is a Weizmann Institute professor, and he deals a lot with numbers and biology, and he’s very kind of data driven. And a couple years back, he came to me and said, “you know, I’m super curious about places that are mentioned in the haggadah. Where exactly are they? What was the route? What was going on?”
One thing led to the other, and we started just with a Google Map, just trying to position things on the map, and before we knew it, we realized that there’s some merit to it, and it can actually be interesting, coupled with the fact that we felt that many people, youngsters, but not only, may feel a bit detached during the seder.
They’re not necessarily understanding the text in full and definitely not the context. And we thought that this can be a very cool way to connect them back to our shared roots.
And how did you go about creating the map?
There were two massive challenges. One is to try to kind of dig up locations in the haggadah. Some are quite trivial, you know: We went out of Egypt. But some are more challenging, right? Such as, let’s say, the covenant of Abraham, that happened somewhere, so trying to dig that up, that was one challenge.
The second challenge was actually trying to put it on the map. The most common example would be Mount Sinai. There are many traditions as to where Mount Sinai may be. So in this case, we’ve actually consulted with archeologists, we’ve done our own academic research, and we took the most prominent places… and we’ve actually positioned both of them on the map.
Same applies to the crossing of the Red Sea, where exactly that would have happened. So that led us down a marvelous rabbit hole of research, and we’ve tried to map it as eloquently as possible within the map, understanding that, in some cases, we might be looking at factual history, and in others it might be a myth. So we’ve tried to kind of converge all of these approaches into a coherent view.
What is the final product?
Essentially, [there’s] two options, and that has a lot to do with your level of observance, if you wish. So the traditional way is just a very nicely detailed printable PDF, which contains an aerial photo by NASA of the area from Egypt, including the Land of Israel and its surroundings.
On it, you actually see points of interest which are mentioned throughout the haggadah chronologically. So as you go through the text, you’ll be able to actually follow and see what happened, where, alongside the routes, where our forefathers went, Abraham from going down to Egypt, coming back to the Land of Israel, etc. And then there are all sorts of perks.
On the other side of the same printable page, there is a glossary with some more information and maybe things which might surprise certain people. So we just thought it’s a nice way to facilitate and make this kind of otherwise a bit of cryptic information accessible
There’s the word web version, which you could use prior, and some people would feel comfortable doing that during as well. And basically that will be a more interactive version of the same idea, allowing people who are used to swiping, to consuming information digitally, to do so effortlessly.
What was the goal of the project?
I think it’s worth giving credit to my late father, who passed in 2023. He was absolutely amazing at telling the story. As we grew and then later the grandchildren came, he adapted it himself and the narrative to make sure that he well accommodates for the people, and that was a wonderful lesson for us.
This map is also heavily inspired by his heritage, if you wish, of making information accessible, where sometimes it’s less about making sure that you read every single bit of the text, but rather understanding the essence of it.
I think that also for modern-day people, either who live in Israel or outside of Israel, the connection between those ancient texts and real life, real-time Israel and the land of it, whatever your political position may be, the fact that this happens there, and we’re able to actually connect the dots, is something special.
Could you expand on the political aspect you mentioned?
Pesach has been and obviously, hopefully will remain, time for unity. So we’re now experiencing some dramatic polarization in Israel and beyond, and I think that this is a great time for all of us to sit together and go back to the basics and the roots.
Essentially, this product is apolitical in a very deep sense of the word, in which it’s not taking any sides or not making any statements whatsoever, neither explicitly nor implicitly. And it’s, I hope, a great opportunity for all of us to sit together and have a meaningful conversation about where we came from.
Did you have any concerns publishing the project that it would fuel discourse about Jewish indigeneity?
How does [Taylor] Swift say that? Haters will hate? You know, I have no such concerns whatsoever. To be honest, I think that there’s even consensus around that aspect. And I know that the story of the Exodus has sparked the imagination of so many peoples to go for emancipation, and it has transcended way beyond our own people, and I think it’s something that we should be deeply proud of.
Tell me more about your father — who was he?
He was born in Tel Aviv. Both his parents fled the Holocaust, as many did, from Poland and Germany. And I always saw him as some sort of a connective tissue between the more traditional Israelis and the less ones.
He always found a way to connect people, regardless of their denomination and observances, and I think that this kind of approach is something that is extremely lacking in modern day Israel with the current polarity.
What are you hoping that kids and families are able to add to their seder with this new tool?
The seder is all about questions and answers. It’s all about education. We start the seder with the Four Questions, which are, I think, quite cryptic for most people. And then later on, we go into the four sons — the evil one, the smart one, and then the very last one is the one who doesn’t know how to ask. It says in the scriptures, the one who doesn’t know how to ask, you prompt, and you reach out to him.
I hope that this will help more and more children to ask questions and to raise curiosity, which I think nowadays is probably the most important trait we can think of. Surely, beyond the seder and beyond Judaism, it’s just super important to take nothing for granted and to be able to ask some smart questions. So if this project will prompt that, we would consider that a success.
The post For Passover, an interactive map brings the haggadah down to earth appeared first on The Forward.
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Jewish Democrats back Michigan AG Dana Nessel’s decision to skip state party convention
(JTA) — Local and national Jewish Democrats say they are sympathetic after Michigan’s Jewish attorney general, Dana Nessel, said she would skip the state Democratic Party’s nominating convention over concerns about antisemitism and harassment.
“I don’t blame AG Nessel for not wanting to go and basically put herself in situations that feel untenable in this moment of time and don’t add any value politically, personally,” Jessica “Decky” Alexander, the Michigan Jewish Democratic caucus chair, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Friday.
Alexander’s comment came a day after Nessel announced during a televised antisemitism roundtable that she would be skipping the convention next month, where party leaders will finalize the state’s Democratic candidate for Senate following a divisive primary that has focused in part on Israel and antisemitism.
“I don’t feel safe going. I feel like my presence isn’t going to be welcome. I don’t want to get chased around. I don’t want to get harassed. I don’t want to get yelled and screamed at. I don’t want to get booed off the stage, irrespective of what I’m saying,” Nessel said during the roundtable. “And I believe that if I go, that is what will happen because it’s been happening to me.”
She said she had filed a formal complaint within the party about a party official who had called her a neo-Nazi because of her beliefs. “Why is this person more accepted in our party than me?” she asked without naming the official. Her office responded to a request for comment by referring to the recorded livestream of the antisemitism roundtable.
Nessel’s declaration comes in the final days of the primary between Rep. Haley Stevens, a pro-Israel stalwart, and Abdul El-Sayed, a democratic socialist who is deeply critical of Israel. El-Sayed is surging in polls despite a reported $30 million spent against him by AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby, and its supporters, whom he has made a target of criticism from the campaign trail.
Nessel’s comments also follow turmoil at the Michigan Democratic Party’s endorsement convention in April, where Stevens was booed by attendees. A third primary candidate who later dropped out of the race, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, said a convention attendee had targeted her Jewish husband with an antisemitic slur.
The incident has fueled alarm among Jewish Democrats, according to Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America.
“She’s not alone,” Soifer told JTA about Nessel on Friday. “We’ve heard from other Jewish Democrats who attended the Democratic Party convention earlier this year in Michigan, and there was a sense of discomfort amid what felt like a pro-Palestinian protest [that] may have even blurred the line for some into antisemitic sentiment — and it’s really concerning.”
Nessel has raised the alarm about antisemitism within the party for years, alleging in 2024 that Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a prominent pro-Palestinian voice, had been antisemitic when criticizing charges Nessel filed against pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Michigan.
For her part, Alexander said she would be participating in the nominating convention and said she believed the chair of the state Democratic Party, Curtis Hertel, had been “very accessible and very open to making sure that we, including our Jewish elected officials, feel safe in that space.” But she said she understood why Nessel was staying away.
“It would never even occur to me, but I’m not an elected official,” Alexander said. “It’s a different stake for me than it is for Dana. I understand her completely.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Jewish Democrats back Michigan AG Dana Nessel’s decision to skip state party convention appeared first on The Forward.
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Maine rabbis call for peace, urge politicians to stop calling Gaza war a ‘genocide’
(JTA) — Every congregational rabbi in Maine has signed onto a statement calling for peace and urging the state’s political leaders to stop using the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s war in Gaza, following a Democratic primary in which several candidates used the label for the first time.
But the rabbis also indicated that they, too, were unsatisfied with conditions in the Middle East and called on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to work toward a peaceful future.
“We call upon Maine’s leaders, and particularly its political leaders, to reject the irresponsible usage of the term in describing the Israel-Hamas War,” said the statement released on Friday. “We also call upon Israeli and Palestinian leaders to end the cycle of violence and to create a better world for both Palestinian and Israeli children.”
The statement, titled “A Call for Peace and Responsible Rhetoric,” argues that using the term as a “political slogan does not advance peace in the Middle East.” The term “erases essential moral and legal distinctions, diminishes the meaning of genocide, and inflames hatred for the local Jewish community,” the rabbis say.
“Compassion for Palestinians does not require the adoption of hateful and misleading language,” they continue. “Advocating for peace does not require participation in a ‘Holocaust inversion’ against the Jewish community. And political leadership does not require demonizing one community in the service of another.”
The statement comes days after Troy Jackson, a former logger and state Senate president, secured the Maine Democratic U.S. Senate nomination Saturday at the party’s nominating convention to replace Graham Platner, a staunch Israel critic who dropped out of the race earlier this month. Platner faced a sexual assault allegation, which he denies. Jackson now faces Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins in November’s general election.
Platner’s romp to the primary victory featured routine use of “genocide” to describe Israel’s actions. And ahead of the convention to replace him, Jackson and several other Democratic hopefuls who later exited the race began using the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s war in Gaza for the first time, a shift that drew scrutiny from some Jewish leaders and voters in the state.
The use of the term has become a “currency for acquiring power and position in Maine’s Democratic party,” Rabbi Rachel Isaacs, the leader of Beth Israel Congregation in Waterville, who also signed the statement, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
“Too many Maine Democrats are cynically willing to trade in that currency at the expense of our safety and dignity,” she said in an emailed statement. “We decided we needed to say something collectively, both about the specious and dangerous nature of the claim, and about how much damage has been done to our families and congregants.”
The statement Friday was spearheaded by the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine and signed by every congregational rabbi in the state, including Rabbi Bill Siemers of the Conservative Congregation Beth Israel in Bangor and Rabbi Erica Asch of the Reform Temple Beth El in Augusta. (Rabbis affiliated with the Chabad movement in Maine did not appear on the signatory list.)
Zach Schwartz, the director of the Jewish Community Relations Council at the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine, said the federation hoped the “unity displayed here in Maine can inspire Jewish communities across the US to also unite against the extremist rhetoric harming our community and our children.”
Rabbi Josh Stanton, the associate vice president of interfaith and intergroup initiatives for Jewish Federations of North America, also hailed the joint statement.
“Maine’s Jewish clergy are setting an important example with their call to put aside inflammatory rhetoric and look to the common good,” Stanton said in an emailed statement. “At a time of rising polarization and declining civil discourse, the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine’s efforts to unify the community around this important message are a mark of true leadership.”
Isaacs told JTA that she hoped Jackson would “support, understand, and advocate for all of Maine’s citizens, including the totality of Maine’s diverse Jewish community.”
“Work with us to figure out how to express outrage and legitimate critique of Israel’s government without succumbing to language that you might not know is an ancient antisemitic trope, or dismissing the security needs of Israel’s citizens,” Isaacs said of her message to Jackson. “Please have the courage to forge your own path, and not follow in the footsteps of Graham Platner, a man who should have never been normalized, endorsed, or empowered.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Maine rabbis call for peace, urge politicians to stop calling Gaza war a ‘genocide’ appeared first on The Forward.
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Boy George cedes role of King Herod in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ production after releasing pro-Israel song
(JTA) — Boy George has withdrawn from his run as King Herod in London’s West End revival of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” days before he was due to take the stage and 24 hours after releasing “We Will Dance Again,” dedicated to the victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on the Nova music festival in Israel.
The 80’s pop star was scheduled to appear at London’s Palladium starting Monday as part of the production’s rotating cast playing King Herod, the Judean king who is best known by Jews for his expansion of the Second Temple and to Christians for his efforts to stave off the arrival of a challenger — the story of which is reflected in the rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.
Boy George will be replaced by actor Richard Armitage in the London production.
In announcing the cast change, Paul Kelmsley, the singer’s manager, did not directly mention the blowback the former Culture Club frontman was receiving for releasing a pro-Israel song but alluded to it.
“George has never been afraid to stand by his personal convictions, and I have always respected him for that,” he said. ”In this instance, I felt it was right to step aside, allowing the production to remain the focus, while ensuring everyone involved can move forward with mutual respect and goodwill.”
Boy George is defending his decision to release the song, saying he believes artists should be free to express their views even when they are unpopular. In “We Will Dance Again,” the singer rejects claims of genocide against Israel and proclaims, “If you’re ever confused, I stand with the Jews.”
Earlier Friday, Boy George lashed back at the vitriol he was getting online. “What is most shocking is the amount of gay folk attacking me, ” he posted on X. “If you support terrorism you can in the words of Divine ‘Take your toolkit and go f—_ a garage,’” he said, referring to a quote attributed to the taboo-breaking transgender artist.
“When I say ‘they want to kill every last one of us’ I am also talking about us queers, not just the Jewish community,” Boy George said. “When will you wake up?”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
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