The Festival of Passover just ended, not with a bang but a whimper. There was no big ritual, no loud family gathering, no singing, no telling the powerful story of our journey out of Egypt, Mitzrayim, the narrow place. Maybe that's because the journey doesn't really end.

Passover, in many respects, is among the most accessible and relatable moments on the Jewish calendar. It invites us to immerse ourselves in the Jewish narrative in a way no other holiday does.

For Passover this year, Rizzoli has just released The Bronfman Haggadah, written by the businessman, philanthropist and Jewish community leader Edgar Bronfman Sr., illustrated by artist Jan Aronson, who is also Bronfman's wife.

Why do we repeat the same story over and over again? Why do we never actually "get there"? Because every place, every moment has the potential for constriction and release, for fear and hope, for degradation and praise, for brokenness and wholeness.

By Devra Ferst The Jewish Daily Forward For a president of the United States, the personal is inevitably political. But there is one annual event ...

Jewish ritual is meant to be experiential -- something that simultaneously catapults us backwards in time and propels us forward in anticipation of the future. When we sit at the seder we are attempting to connect with the Power that makes for freedom, identify that force within ourselves and the Universe to bring about redemption.

We open the door for Elijah, the harbinger of the messianic era of peace, and we pray that he will enter our homes and our hearts and our world. We want to open ourselves to the world, to be part of it, and not to live in ghettoes any more, whether self-imposed or imposed by others.

The 21st century has seen a seismic shift from the rather bland (and free) Maxwell House Haggadah to more creative versions. And that transition has afforded many Jewish families some poetic liberties with the seder script.

On Passover, when we act "as if" we ourselves went out from Egypt, we are also leading ourselves to act like people who care deeply about the oppressed, who fight for justice and who extend a hand to those less fortunate.

Has the story of Passover made a people better or more secure? Has it stirred its believers to blame others? Has it encouraged a sense of victimhood? That it has is cause for concern and for discussion at the annual Passover meal.

Passover provides an opportunity for Jews and non-Jews to come together in the spirit of hope and freedom. Together, it is possible to experience the "OM" in shalOM" and to experience the blessing of peace.

Religious conflict dominates the news today but there's an important and very different story of determined work by religious leaders from all over the world for peace and justice.

For 44 years I have read, pretended to read, heard, slept through or spaced out through the reading of the Haggadah. For some reason, this time around, I seemed to focus on how screwy and shocking it was that the final action to attain freedom involved a low blow.

Last week, the Jewish community was publicly challenged to consider what views have a role to play in the discussion around our table and what views are beyond the pale.

Passover is still the most widely observed holiday on the Jewish calendar with 92 percent of Jews participating. It's like salmon swimming upstream to return to their spawning grounds.

I've had the honor of reciting the Four Questions at nearly every seder in my lifetime. Over the years, I've tried mixing it up. But in the end, they were still the same Four Questions -- and they've started feeling a little stale to me.

Why is this book different from all other books? The Haggadah -- a Jewish ritual book used on the holiday of Passover to tell the story of the bib...

The Israelites may have left Egypt, but in many ways, we still experience Egypt. Humans still treat people who are different as "other." Until that stops, we are all still enslaved to prejudice and its consequences.

The idea of Passover is that the issues of slavery and freedom are for all of us. If that is so, we need to confront slavery not only in the most obviously brutalized parts of the world, but in ourselves as well.

Like all Jewish festivals, Passover has its roots in Jewish history, in our connection to creation and in the rich spiritual and moral values of Judaism. Additionally, it helps us distinguish between two very different types of freedom.

Being free means accepting absolute responsibility for one's own behavior, which also made one distinctly aware of how one's own actions effect the community.