2015 Edited to add: you can always find the most up-to-date version of the VR Haggadah by going to velveteenrabbi.com and clicking through to the haggadah page.

Hey: did you realize that Passover begins in just over ten weeks? :-)

I've been working this winter on a revision of the Velveteen Rabbi's Haggadah for Pesach -- specifically, a revision which is suitable for use at my congregation.

This is substantially abridged from the most recent edition of the VR Haggadah (7.1, released in March 2011). Over the years, my haggadah has grown by accretion (as indeed the classical haggadah did!) and I've added all sorts of fabulous things without removing the older material. When I use the haggadah at home, I pick and choose, depending on who's there and what I think might be most meaningful for them. But I want this edition to be user-friendly for a broad congregational audience, while still retaining the poetry and the beauty which make it my haggadah. So I trimmed it down -- 48 pages instead of 82.

Of course, I also wound up adding some material; I couldn't resist! There are a few new poems in this edition which weren't in the previous edition. I've added the order of the seder -- the fifteen steps from start to finish -- in Hebrew and in transliteration before each of the parts of the service, to make it easier to see where you are in the journey. There's a more complete Birkat ha-Mazon, Grace After Meals. There's some new formatting and there are a few layout changes, most notably on the prayer for Miriam's cup.

And there are many more images enlivening the pages -- in addition to the beautiful art donated to the VR haggadah by Beth Budwig, Aaron Livay, Emily Cooper, Howard Cruse, Allan Hollander, and Allison Kent, there are now other images I've found in various places (all used with credit, of course, and with great gratitude.)

Anyway: this new version of the haggadah, version 7.2, is enclosed below. Although it was designed for use at my shul, you are welcome to use it at your shul too -- or in your home -- or wherever you celebrate Pesach. (And of course you're welcome to stick with the previous version of the haggadah, too; whatever works for you.)

2015 Edited to add: you can always find the most up-to-date version of the VR Haggadah by going to velveteenrabbi.com and clicking through to the haggadah page.