Pesach in pop culture
Here’s a guide to the pop culture every age (including adults) should be engaging with around Pesach time.
Given Pesach’s significance in Jewish tradition, the festival has received the Hollywood treatment, appearing as either the main subject or the backdrop to some of pop culture’s most well-known movies and television shows.
These Pesach-centric pop culture moments offer opportunities for deeper learning about our history, while providing an accessible format for families to engage with Pesach’s traditions.
Here’s a guide to the pop culture every age (including adults) should be engaging with around Pesach time.
Shalom Sesame: Jerusalem Jones and the Lost Afikoman (1990)
Shalom Sesame, an educational journey through ancient and modern Israel on Rechov Sumsum, offers an Israeli version of Sesame Street. In this episode, kids join Jerusalem Jones (a take-off of Indiana Jones), played by Sarah Jessica Parker, and the Rechov Sumsum gang by jumping literally into the pages of the Haggadah to look for clues to find the missing afikoman.
The Animated Haggadah (1986)
An Israeli-made claymation classic from the 80s, The Animated Haggadah is a 25-minute story of a family’s seder through the eyes of their 12-year-old son. The Animated Haggadah offers a mash-up of anecdotes from the Haggadah, Midrash and Exodus, embellished with anachronistic details and references to 1980s politics and culture, and then shown through the imagination of a mischievous pre-teen.
A Rugrats Passover (1995)
Nickelodeon’s A Rugrats Passover made Rugrats one of the first animated series to focus on a Jewish holiday. A Rugrats Passover is unusual among contemporary animations in its attention to Jewish ritual and tradition by portraying an accurate seder. The episode additionally dives into Jewish exploration by discussing the adult characters’ religious affiliations.
Out of Egypt: The Pesach Story
If you’re looking for a more in-depth, educational retelling of the Pesach story, Shazak Production’s Out of Egypt is a vibrant animation that would set your child up for optimal seder involvement.
While the animation quality is not at the Pixar level in today’s eyes, Out of Egypt travels deeply into the ins and outs of the Exodus in feature film length, exploring the inner dialogue of the characters, detailing each part of the story and keeping things biblically accurate.
Saturday Night Live: Elijah the Prophet Skit (1992)
A more mature piece of Pesach pop culture, Saturday Night Live has a skit about how Elijah the Prophet appears at a Jewish family’s seder meal, and proceeds to insult the guests.
Starring a young Adam Sandler and Jerry Seinfeld as Elijah, naturally, the five-minute skit provides insights into the jokes and struggles we still find in modern-day seders, from bad wine to over-salted soup.
The Prince of Egypt (1998)
It goes without saying that DreamWorks Pictures’ The Prince of Egypt is the ultimate family Pesach viewing. DreamWorks’ first feature film to be traditionally animated, the movie’s incredible soundtrack by Stephen Schwartz and Hans Zimmer is further elevated by its star-studded cast; Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Sandra Bullock and Patrick Stewart to name a few.
Deeply impactful scenes, beautiful musical sequences and (mostly) accurate storytelling sets up The Prince of Egypt as the perfect Pesach preparation viewing for all ages.
The Ten Commandments (1956)
While the modern movie viewer may recoil at the thought of Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 four-hour biblical epic, The Ten Commandments firmly and unquestioningly draws out the story of Moses (Charlton Heston) in such a way that embraces the story while not being overly preachy in its telling. The film is very much a reflection of its time and what it chooses to uphold, which makes it a classic piece of Pesach viewing.
kveller.com/article/passover-movies
reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/passover/five-passover-movies-youll-love
haggadot.com/clip/passover-in-pop-culture
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