Would you like to set the tone on your seder table?
To honor the traditions passed to you but to give it Your flavor and style?
So, the time has come. Your have your own family now, and although yesterday you were the one to look for the afikoman, this year it’s your turn to step up and host your first seder. You will have to put together a bigger than usual table, invite many guests, some may be strangers, impress the sharp eye of your mother, grandmother and mother in law. While you were at it you will also have to entertain a few kids. Sounds like a blast, doesn’t it?
You sit back and try to remember your seders. What were they like? Did you have any fun in them? What made these nights special? or oh-so-boring? Who made that minced pie whose flavor you will never forget? Are you really prepared for this grand undertaking??
This is just how I felt. A little flattered (that everyone agreed to come) and a little more panicked. Where do I start from? Will I continue the legacy of…??
And then it hit me. This is my time. This is your time. Your time to Create Your Memories. You are now in charge. You can pick and choose what you want to follow, and what not. What you want to bring new. What will be You.
A Happy Passover Haggadah will become a central part of your Passover memories. Passover will now look like something colorful, beautiful, exciting and contemporary–a true celebration. And, really, why shouldn’t it???
The idea of creating the art for my own Haggadah was seeded since I was 9 years old. My grandmother took me to a toy shop to choose a present for myself, and I found this amazing View Master reel of Moses and the 10 Plagues. That was such a strong, visual inspiration, so different from what I have seen before, that at that exact moment, I knew that one I will be undertaking such a project. And so I did 😉
I started working on the Haggadah when I was pregnant with my son-my first born. It was a “now or never” moment. I realized that this was the time for me to start creating my own family’s memories.
The art in the Haggadah was created by combining hundreds of hand scribbled sketches in various notebooks, using a pilot pen. Then they were scanned in and the creative process started – a modular building and coloring of symbols, characters and decorative shapes and backgrounds, all melted together in a digital collage. The complete execution of this Haggadah took just over three years. Through all this time, the constant engagement with the texts, the songs and symbols made me fall completely in love with this holiday and with the Jewish spirit.
Monicka Clio Sakki Rafaeli is a professional artist and designer. She has designed and illustrated children’s books for leading publishers in both the U.S. and in Israel. Contact