Why are these Passover seders different from all others?
Some Orthodox Jews are opting to personalize their Passover liturgy and accessorize it with everything from Klingon, the “Star Wars” language and superheroes to “Seinfeld” and Taylor Swift.
Shelley Atlas Serber, a graphic designer in West Hempstead, N.Y., illustrated the “Unofficial Taylor Swift Haggadah,” which was penned by Na’ama Ben-David, an educator in New York.
“We actually received photos of young kids, who were sitting through the Pesach seder, and their parents and grandparents were completely shocked,” Serber told JNS. “Because they were engrossed in the Taylor Swift Haggadah and following along completely.”
The Swiftie Haggadah, which was published independently in 2024 and runs about $20 on Amazon, includes the standard Hebrew text and is “a full working, proper Haggadah,” according to Serber.
“The messages that we got were beautiful, thanking us for producing this and keeping the kids and all Swifties really engaged and at the table,” she told JNS. “I thought it was absolutely amazing.”
Serber said that the book, which has been purchased in the United States, Israel, the United Kingdom and Australia, “sold a few thousand copies in two weeks.”
Rabbi Steven Burg, international CEO of Aish, told JNS that “incorporating pop culture is awesome.”
At the Orthodox outreach institution that he leads, “the stuff that we do is always trying to see how pop culture can speak to Judaism,” Burg said.
“It depends on the family. If a person has a family that’s not so into pop culture, I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way to bring it in just for this reason,” he told JNS. “A lot of families—their kids spend a lot of time online. If it’s something that families are attuned to, then I think it may be a good way to engage the kids on that level.”
JNS spoke to some of the members of a 4,400-strong, global Facebook group called Orthodox Ladies United in Fandom.
Members of the group often share their interests in science fiction, music, Broadway, literature and other pop-culture areas and organize speakers, book clubs and in-person gatherings.
Group members told JNS that their passions can find their way onto the seder table via themed Haggahs, parody songs and creative reinterpretations of familiar rituals.
Kelly Klapper, who serves as the Youth and Education Director at Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas in Syracuse, NY, told JNS that she and her husband, an energy engineer, host a “nerd seder with friends almost every year.”
“In addition to the Four Questions in Swedish Chef or Klingon, we also open with the song ‘Tradition’ from ‘Fiddler,’ and we make up our own versions of ‘Chad Gadya’ and ‘Who Knows One?’” she told JNS, of the muppet, “Star Wars” language, Broadway tune and Passover songs, respectively.
Marci Yesowitch Hopkins, a technical writer who lives in the Boston area, told JNS her seder table includes readings from the self-published, 2025 “The Story of the House of MaqSwel Haggadah,” which bills itself as having “excerpts from the Torah, Talmud, Mishnah and Kabbalah in the original Klingon.” (The volume runs about $16 on Amazon.)
“It keeps it interesting and different,” she said, adding that they use a variety of fandom Haggadot at her table, including a Dry Bones Haggadah for her husband. “Everyone likes different Haggadot. Having variety makes people happy.”
“Being able to approach the Haggadah from wherever we are in our lives really makes it fun,” she told JNS. “When we were reading Harry Potter, I was able to relate to simple things, like the four sons to the Hogwarts houses and the different teaching styles.”
“You can really feel like it’s a lived experience when it’s related to something you already enjoy,” Yesowitch Hopkins said.
Esther Kustanowitz, a Jewish pop-culture writer and co-host of the podcast Bagel Report, appears to have shaped the trend of contemporary Haggadah additions.
Kustanowitz has created multiple themed Haggahs, including ones inspired by “Wicked” and “Schitt’s Creek.” She uploads them to an online platform called ReCustom, where users can mix and match and personalize their seder texts.
“You can come to Jewish meaning through many pipelines, and pop-culture fandom is a significant one,” Kustanowitz told JNS.
“It’s like meeting a new friend through an old friend and feeling a synergy you hadn’t expected,” she said.
The appeal for Kustanowitz lies in uncovering unexpected connections.
“Finding meaning in something previously unconsidered, and growing to love it because of something else that you also love, is an incredibly positive way to connect to Jewish life and meaning,” she told JNS. “It’s a memorable and meaningful entry point that centers personal connection.”
Other users on ReCustom have uploaded Haggadot based on the Beatles, “Golden Girls,” “Star Trek,” “Star Wars,” “Seinfeld” and multiple Disney characters and films.
Commercial versions have also appeared. Amazon users can purchase “Curb Your Haggadah” (2022, self-published, about $10), based on the Larry David show “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and the “(Unofficial) Hogwarts Haggadah” by Rabbi Moshe Rosenberg (2017, BSD, about $28), based on the “Harry Potter” series.
Rosenberg, the rabbi of Congregation Etz Chaim in Kew Garden Hills, NY, and a Judaic studies teacher at SAR Academy in Riverdale, NY, is also the author of “The Superhero Haggadah” (2021, BSD, about $28) based on Marvel characters.
Michal Schick, who founded the Facebook group Orthodox Ladies United in Fandom in 2015, told JNS that “using a fandom Haggadah is really no different from any other Haggadah with an organizing principle.”
“Whether that principle is fandom, commentary from a specific rav, stories from Jewish history or any other theme, the point is to give yourself new ways to think about the Pesach story and the seder,” Schick said.
She noted that searching for unexpected parallels between fictional narratives and the Haggadah can create meaningful insight. “The best part of a fandom Haggadah is finding those connections to the story and the seder, specifically because they are non-traditional and unexpected,” she said.
Schick thinks that Rosenberg’s Marvel-themed Haggadah is particularly inventive when it compares the character of Nebula to the fourth child in the seder, the one who is unable to ask.
“If you know that character and what she’s been through, it’s a really interesting way to look at both her and the fourth child,” she told JNS. “That enhances the experience of the seder.”
The key factor, she said, is how the material is approached.
“As far as secularizing the seder, while I wouldn’t say that can’t happen, I think it relies on approach and intent,” she told JNS. If one takes the commandment to remember the Exodus seriously, one of the themes of Passover, “then a fandom Haggadah will only enhance that,” she said.
“If you go in with a more lackadaisical attitude, it might not be the best choice,” Schick said. “But finding those unexpected connections, even in secular texts, can help us bond to this story and mitzvah.”
Rabbi Rafi Mollot, host of the YouTube channel Torah for Every Soul, told JNS that the question whether fan Haggadahs are appropriate depends on how they are used.
“If it’s with an attitude of ‘Our old traditions aren’t good enough, so we need to spruce it up with some pop culture,’ that’s anathema to Pesach,” the Orthodox rabbi said. “It isn’t leaving slavery and exile, that’s embracing it.”
“If it’s a springboard to connect to authentic Judaism and highlight the beauty, meaning and relevance of our tradition, it could be justified in a case of need,” the rabbi told JNS.
“The Torah and our own tradition contain enough beauty for us to look within to find meaningful and enjoyable ways to celebrate our holidays and ignite the spark of inspiration,” he added. “Even in those who have been estranged from their Jewish heritage, if done right.”
