Why is this project different from all other projects?
Why is this project different from all other projects?
With all other projects, I do not feel the additional need to rewrite an entire Jewish holiday!
I first wrote about The Pintele Haggadah in my update from April 20, 2025, explaining that “it’s demanded by a conclusion I come to in the course of the series; I’m trying to follow my own advice.” For most of the last year, with the Haggadah lingering in a state of near-completeness while I’ve worked obsessively on the audio series, I’ve been thinking: Why couldn’t I just keep my advice to myself?
After my New Year’s Eve announcement that the series was “finished,” I realized I’d better wrap up the Haggadah too, if the idea is to have copies for sale by the time Pintele 3, “A Very Brody Passover,” is released. And the proximity of Passover on the calendar adds another complication. It’s not absolutely necessary that The Pintele Haggadah is published before Passover 2026, but the way things are going, the alternative is for it to be published shortly after Passover, which just seems weird. The first night of Passover this year is April 1 (a little foolish, if you ask me); and print-on-demand turnaround can sometimes take a couple of weeks. Soooooo, Pintele 3 should be released, and the book should be available to order, by early March, if I want the appearance of The Pintele Haggadah at seder tables this year to be even a theoretical possibility.
And so, after publishing my New Year’s Eve update, kissing Amanda at midnight, and wondering if we can dare to be hopeful about 2026, I took a break from fine-tuning Pintele 6 and 7 and spent the rest of the holiday break working on the side project: Two sections written and several revised, plus ten more illustrations and decorations, front and back cover design, final page layouts, front matter, and a print proof ordered and on its way.
I don’t expect anyone — even my family! — to adopt The Pintele Haggadah instantly or exclusively. I like the idea of a seder with multiple sources, and this can be one of them. My version of Passover is humanistic and free of mythology, and it won’t satisfy a traditionalist’s expectations. But even a traditional seder might benefit from an additional, revisionist take on the Ten Plagues, for example, to consider another perspective, and to stimulate conversation. If you want to include the parting of the Red Sea, surely you know where to find it. (Right between Asia and Africa.) For non-traditionalists, The Pintele Haggadah could be a new tradition, even if you’re not Jewish or have had no previous interest in this holiday. I’ve tried to make it fun and funny and for everyone, partly because laughter and irreverence and inclusion were so prominent in the seders I remember from childhood.
There’s a sort of dialogue between the book and the audio series, especially Parts 3, 6, and 7. And in the midst of a project which is all audio, The Pintele Haggadah has finally given me some visuals to obsessively tinker with! I’ve illustrated it with wax pencils, in a simple and colorful style, and wait’ll you see the typography, folks — I tell you, it’s downright whimsical!
Okay, enough already. I probably won’t say much more about this side project, other than an announcement when it’s available. As for the big show, well, if Pintele 3 has to be out in early March, I guess that would schedule Pintele 1 for — mid-February?
Like, a month from now.
Wow…
