“All who are hungry, come and eat. All who are in need, come and celebrate Passover with us.” – The Passover Haggadah, Ha Lachma Anya

The Passover seder has been welcoming people who didn’t quite belong for thousands of years. The very first words of the seder — spoken over the matzah before a single prayer is recited — are an open invitation to everyone. Not just Jews. Everyone.

If you are in an interfaith relationship, or if your family includes people of different faiths, backgrounds, and traditions, this article is for you. Because one of the most common questions I hear from interfaith couples and families is some version of this: “Can we really do this? Does Passover belong to us?”

The answer is yes. Unequivocally, warmly, joyfully: yes.

And not just because we’re being inclusive for the sake of it — but because the Passover story is fundamentally a story about all human beings, not just Jewish ones. It is a story about freedom, about dignity, about the refusal to accept that any person is less than human. Those are not Jewish values. They are universal ones, and the seder table is one of the most beautiful places in the world to explore them together.

Why Interfaith Families Are Perfect for the Passover Seder

Here is something that might surprise you: the interfaith family is not a modern invention, and it is not a deviation from Jewish tradition. The Torah itself is full of interfaith relationships. Moses married Tzipporah, a Midianite. Ruth — a Moabite woman who became one of the most celebrated figures in the Hebrew Bible — chose the Jewish people and became the great-grandmother of King David. The Jewish story has always included people who came from somewhere else and made their home in it.

The seder table reflects this. It is designed as a multi-generational, multi-perspectival experience. It asks different questions of different people. It makes room for the one who doesn’t know, the one who asks simply, the one who challenges, and the one who digs deep. In an interfaith family, you naturally bring all of those voices — and that is a gift, not a problem.

What Your Non-Jewish Partner or Family Members Bring to the Table

People who come to the seder from outside the Jewish tradition often bring something the born-and-raised Jews at the table have lost: fresh eyes. They ask questions that Jewish participants stopped asking years ago. They notice things that familiarity has rendered invisible. They make the story new.

Some of the most profound seder conversations I’ve witnessed have been sparked by a non-Jewish guest asking, with genuine curiosity: “Wait — why do we dip our fingers in wine for the plagues? What are we saying when we do that?” A question that simple can open a two-hour conversation about collective responsibility, about the suffering of enemies, about what it means to celebrate freedom that came at a cost.

Your interfaith family is not a challenge to navigate. It is a resource.

How to Prepare: Before the Seder

Choose a Haggadah That Speaks to Everyone

The Haggadah is the seder’s script, and there are hundreds of versions — from traditional Orthodox texts to progressive, social-justice-centered guides to illustrated children’s editions. For interfaith families, a few stand out:

• The New American Haggadah (Jonathan Safran Foer, ed.) — literary, accessible, beautifully designed; excellent for households with mixed Jewish literacy
• A Night of Questions (Rabbi Joy Levitt & Rabbi Michael Strassfeld) — warm, egalitarian, clear explanations woven throughout
• The Animated Haggadah — available online with visuals; excellent for households with children of varying backgrounds
• A Maxwell House Haggadah alongside a printed English companion — traditional structure with accessibility built in

Consider printing a one-page “Seder Roadmap” for guests who are new — a simple visual that shows the 15 steps and what to expect at each one. It transforms confusion into anticipation.

Brief Your Non-Jewish Family Members Warmly

A brief, loving heads-up to non-Jewish partners, in-laws, or guests goes a long way. Not an instruction manual — just a few sentences: “We’ll be at the table for about two hours before the meal. There’s a lot of Hebrew, but we’ll translate everything. We’ll eat symbolic foods that represent parts of the story. The main thing is to ask questions — the whole evening is designed around questions.”

That last line matters. Many non-Jewish guests feel anxious about doing the wrong thing or not knowing enough. Naming that questions are the point immediately removes the pressure.

Set Up a Bilingual or Annotated Seder Plate

Consider labeling the seder plate items in both Hebrew and English, with a brief note about each one’s meaning. Place cards can be beautiful and functional — and they invite people to ask about what they’re looking at before the seder even begins.

During the Seder: Making It Inclusive Without Losing Its Soul

Translate as You Go — Without Over-Explaining

The best interfaith seder hosts have a light touch with translation and explanation. They don’t turn the seder into a lecture. They offer just enough context to make each moment land, then move on. A phrase like “This is Karpas — we dip vegetables in salt water to taste the tears of our ancestors before we begin the story” is perfect. Two sentences. The meaning, and the feeling.

Invite Everyone Into the Ritual

The dipping of the finger in wine for each plague, the breaking of the matzah, the search for the Afikomen — these are participatory moments that require no Jewish background. Actively invite non-Jewish guests to participate. Ask your non-Jewish partner to read a passage. Ask a non-Jewish grandparent to say the blessing over the candles with you. Inclusion is not passive; it requires specific, named invitations.

Use the Universal Hooks

Every human being has experienced some version of the Passover story’s core themes. Use these as bridges:

On slavery and freedom: “Has anyone at this table ever felt trapped — in a job, a relationship, a situation — and found a way out? That’s the Exodus story.”

On the stranger: “The Torah commands us to love the stranger because we were strangers in Egypt. Has anyone here ever been the outsider somewhere? What did it feel like to be welcomed?”

On bitter and sweet: “We eat the maror and the charoset together — bitterness and sweetness, mixed. What in your life has been bitter and sweet at the same time?”

The Four Children Include Your Family

When you get to the passage of the Four Children — the wise, the wicked, the simple, and the one who doesn’t know how to ask — point out gently that this is a description of how different people come to any tradition. Someone at your table is the one who came not knowing what to ask. The Haggadah doesn’t send them away. It says: open the door for them. Begin.

Special Considerations for Interfaith Families

When Children Are Being Raised in Both Traditions

Many interfaith families raising children in both Judaism and another faith worry that the Passover seder will feel exclusionary to the non-Jewish side of the family. In practice, the opposite is usually true. Children who participate in the seder learn something profound: that stories of liberation and dignity are worth telling and retelling, that ritual creates belonging, and that the dinner table can be a place of meaning, not just food.

You can acknowledge the other tradition warmly without diluting the seder. A simple line like “In our family, we hold more than one tradition as precious, and tonight we honor this one” is all you need.

When a Partner or In-Law Feels Uncomfortable

Occasionally, a non-Jewish family member feels genuinely uncomfortable at a seder — whether from unfamiliarity, from theological differences, or from feeling like an outsider. The best response is direct, gentle acknowledgment: “I know this isn’t your tradition, and I’m grateful you’re here. Your presence means a lot to us. You don’t have to participate in anything that doesn’t feel right — just being at the table with us is enough.”

Often, that simple acknowledgment is all a person needs to relax into the evening.

The Blessing That Belongs to Everyone

The Sh’ma — “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One” — is Judaism’s central declaration of faith. But the concept it expresses — that there is one underlying unity to all existence — resonates across many spiritual traditions. You don’t have to share the theology to share the aspiration. Invite your non-Jewish family members to hold that aspiration with you, in whatever language feels true to them.

After the Seder: The Conversation That Keeps Going

Some of the most meaningful interfaith conversations I’ve witnessed have happened after the seder — walking home, doing dishes, sitting with a final cup of wine. The story has done its work. People are full — of food, of memory, of questions.

Leave space for those conversations. Ask your partner, your in-laws, your guests: “What stayed with you? Was there a moment that surprised you? Is there something in your tradition that feels like this?”

That conversation — that genuine exchange across difference — is itself a form of the seder’s deepest teaching. We were strangers. We know what it feels like. We will not make others feel it.

“The stranger who dwells among you shall be as a native among you, and you shall love them as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” — Leviticus 19:34

Chag Pesach Sameach — a joyful, open-hearted Passover to your whole family, in all its beautiful complexity.

— Rabbi Amy Rader, The Neshamah Institute

About Rabbi Amy Rader & The Neshamah Institute

Rabbi Amy Rader is the founder and Senior Rabbi of The Neshamah Institute, a synagogue without walls serving the Jewish community of Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and greater Palm Beach County, Florida. Neshamah specializes in warm, barrier-free Jewish community for interfaith families, unaffiliated Jews, and anyone seeking meaningful Jewish connection in South Florida — no membership dues, no background required, no judgment.

Is your interfaith family looking for a Jewish community that truly welcomes everyone?

The Neshamah Institute was built for exactly this. We celebrate Passover, Shabbat, High Holy Days, and every lifecycle moment with open arms — for Jews, for partners, for families of all configurations. Visit niboca.org to learn about our community and upcoming Passover programming, or reach out directly. Rabbi Amy personally responds to every message.

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