New Site Needs Beta Testers

So – did you grow up with Maxwell House?

Or with the haggadah that your mom pieced together from many different sources and made just enough copies to be used year after year?

Maybe you remember the best-selling, gender-neutral “A Passover Haggadah” by Rabbi Herbert Bronstein, published by CCAR in 1974.  The haggadah is the text that sets out the order of the seder – but there is much more to it than just the order.

For many, whichever haggadah it was – it wasn’t quite right. Too long*, too short, too much of this, not enough of that – like Goldilocks, we longed for the haggadah that would be “Just Right.” The one with the songs we loved, the readings that spoke to us, and not so much of the other stuff.

Haggadot.com (haggada dot com? haggadot.com!) is a new site, similar in concept to BBYO’s “Build a Prayer” site that launched last month and likely targeted at a similar audience: those who want to make prayer/observance “Just Right.”  Users can access texts, contribute commentary, borrow from other users, and ultimately, create and publish personalized haggadot.

Passover is about freedom. But when it comes to the seder, many of us are lost. This website is a resource for Jews of all backgrounds to make the Haggadah that finally feels to meaningful for a contemporary seder, with unique perspectives gathered from individuals worldwide.

Whatever your background, Haggadot.com invites you to find your place in the Passover conversation through the seder’s central text, the haggadah. Now you can access classical texts and contemporary interpretations to create a more personalized Passover experience.”

Haggadot.com is ready for Beta Testers for Passover 2010!  Write info@haggadot.com to get access to the site and give it a spin. If you do, please let us know.  And check out the BJN Passover page for links to other resources.

* Too long?

• You might like The Haggadah in Haiku.
• Or maybe you’ll like “Tweet the Exodus” which begins on Tuesday, follow it on Twitter (we’ll check in periodically on the BJN home page).
• Last year’s “Moses is Departing Egypt: A Facebook Haggadah” (which was pricelessly clever) seems to have a broken link – will update when we locate it.