Would you banish electronics from the table — or do you think they might be helpful and beneficial?
Have you ever looked at your phone in the middle of an important family meal or other type of gathering?
If so, were you using it to further a conversation, deepen your understanding of a holiday you were celebrating or add to the experience in another way? Or were you just distracted?
Are phones and other electronics ever welcomed at family or holiday gatherings you are a part of? Do you think they should be?
In “Need a Haggadah? There’s a QR Code for That.” Alyson Krueger writes that some guests at Passover Seders can now use their phones to look up the text read during the ritual:
Every year, the Lawrenceville School, a boarding and day school in New Jersey, has a large Passover Seder for students, family members, alumni and faculty. After doing the Seder remotely in 2020 and in a tent in 2021, they will be back inside this year.
When guests arrive, they will see a familiar scene of a room set with tables full of Seder plates, glasses of wine and boxes of matzo. But this Friday, when Passover begins, there will be one more item on the table that may feel new, at least in this setting: QR codes.
The QR — or “quick response” — code is how guests will have access to the Haggadah, the text read during the Passover Seder and which tells the story of how the Jewish people escaped slavery. Once they pull it up on their phones, they will use their devices for the rest of the evening, to take turns reading stories and to follow along to songs and prayers.
Lauren Levy, a rabbi and teacher at the school who leads the Seder, came up with the solution last year when some of the guests were joining the Seder virtually and didn’t have Haggadot (the plural of Haggadah) at home. “I got the idea when I was at a restaurant,” she said. “I said to myself, ‘This is actually going to be way more inclusive and accessible.’”
While using a QR code was an answer to a practical problem, she also likes what it symbolizes. “Passover tells the story of us leaving slavery behind and heading the heck out of Egypt to move to freedom. We were leaving the old school place behind and moving forward,” she said. “I think the QR code Haggadah integrates this idea. It’s cool to me that we are taking the next technological step for Passover.”
It can already feel like QR codes are everywhere. You scan them at restaurants to get menus; at events to register; at stores to pay; at museums to get more information about the work on display. And now they are even part of the Seder, an ancient Jewish tradition.
Jewish leaders are using QR codes as an easy way to get people the material they need to participate in the Seder or to enrich their experience with supplemental materials.
And while some Seder-goers like them, others feel that phones should play no role in this tradition, where the focus has always been on in-person sharing and discussion. (Many at Seders will not even use their phones, so a QR code Haggadah is not an option.) Should phones ever be involved at important family gatherings like holiday meals? Have you ever had your phone out during such an occasion? Did it add to or detract from your experience? In the article, Rabbi Vanessa Ochs worries that using phones at the Seder might make people “less fully present as human beings.” Do you think phones at the table in general make you “less fully present”? Why or why not? Do you celebrate any spring holidays like Passover, Ramadan or Easter? If so, what customs or traditions do you participate in? What rules would you establish for the use of electronics during your celebrations if you were in charge? Even if you do not celebrate Passover, what do you think of the use of QR codes described in this piece? Is there a way in which technology could help update a celebration you go to annually? How?
If so, were you using it to further a conversation, deepen your understanding of a holiday you were celebrating or add to the experience in another way? Or were you just distracted?
Are phones and other electronics ever welcomed at family or holiday gatherings you are a part of? Do you think they should be?
In “Need a Haggadah? There’s a QR Code for That.” Alyson Krueger writes that some guests at Passover Seders can now use their phones to look up the text read during the ritual:
Every year, the Lawrenceville School, a boarding and day school in New Jersey, has a large Passover Seder for students, family members, alumni and faculty. After doing the Seder remotely in 2020 and in a tent in 2021, they will be back inside this year.
When guests arrive, they will see a familiar scene of a room set with tables full of Seder plates, glasses of wine and boxes of matzo. But this Friday, when Passover begins, there will be one more item on the table that may feel new, at least in this setting: QR codes.
The QR — or “quick response” — code is how guests will have access to the Haggadah, the text read during the Passover Seder and which tells the story of how the Jewish people escaped slavery. Once they pull it up on their phones, they will use their devices for the rest of the evening, to take turns reading stories and to follow along to songs and prayers.
Lauren Levy, a rabbi and teacher at the school who leads the Seder, came up with the solution last year when some of the guests were joining the Seder virtually and didn’t have Haggadot (the plural of Haggadah) at home. “I got the idea when I was at a restaurant,” she said. “I said to myself, ‘This is actually going to be way more inclusive and accessible.’”
While using a QR code was an answer to a practical problem, she also likes what it symbolizes. “Passover tells the story of us leaving slavery behind and heading the heck out of Egypt to move to freedom. We were leaving the old school place behind and moving forward,” she said. “I think the QR code Haggadah integrates this idea. It’s cool to me that we are taking the next technological step for Passover.”
It can already feel like QR codes are everywhere. You scan them at restaurants to get menus; at events to register; at stores to pay; at museums to get more information about the work on display. And now they are even part of the Seder, an ancient Jewish tradition.
Jewish leaders are using QR codes as an easy way to get people the material they need to participate in the Seder or to enrich their experience with supplemental materials.
And while some Seder-goers like them, others feel that phones should play no role in this tradition, where the focus has always been on in-person sharing and discussion. (Many at Seders will not even use their phones, so a QR code Haggadah is not an option.) Should phones ever be involved at important family gatherings like holiday meals? Have you ever had your phone out during such an occasion? Did it add to or detract from your experience? In the article, Rabbi Vanessa Ochs worries that using phones at the Seder might make people “less fully present as human beings.” Do you think phones at the table in general make you “less fully present”? Why or why not? Do you celebrate any spring holidays like Passover, Ramadan or Easter? If so, what customs or traditions do you participate in? What rules would you establish for the use of electronics during your celebrations if you were in charge? Even if you do not celebrate Passover, what do you think of the use of QR codes described in this piece? Is there a way in which technology could help update a celebration you go to annually? How?
