The Women's Seder Sourcebook

Description

With diverse and robust voices, women are reclaiming their place at the seder table. This complete sourcebook and guide shows you how to do it, too. For the first time, contemporary Jewish women's writings on the Passover seder are gathered in one comprehensive and compelling sourcebook—an unprecedented and powerful resource for those planning a women’s seder and those seeking to infuse their Passover celebration with the creative and courageous voices of Jewish women. Arranged according to the order of the seder, this practical guide gathers the voices of more than one hundred women in readings, personal and creative reflections, commentaries, blessings and ritual suggestions that can be incorporated into your Passover celebration as supplements to or substitutes for traditional passages of the haggadah. It also includes a detailed guide to planning a women’s seder, based on information from successful seder organizers around the world. Whether you are organizing a women’s seder in your community or planning a family seder in your home, this inspiring and accessible resource will help you take an active role in re-creating the educational and spiritual experience of Passover—and in shaping Judaism’s future. Contributors include: Dr. Rachel Adler • Dr. Rebecca T. Alpert • Rabbi Renni S. Altman • Zoe Baird Dr. Evelyn Torton Beck • Susan Berrin • Senator Barbara Boxer • Dr. Esther Broner Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin • Tamara Cohen • Anita Diamant • Dr. Carol Diament Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell, PhD • Eve Ensler • Dr. Marcia Falk • Merle Feld Rabbi Susan P. Fendrick • Rabbi Tirzah Firestone • Dr. Ellen Frankel • Nan Fink Gefen Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg • Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb • Dr. Susannah Heschel Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar • Rabbi Naamah Kelman • Naomi Klein • Irena Klepfisz Maxine Kumin • Rabbi Noa Rachel Kushner • Rabbi Joy Levitt • Hadassah Lieberman Ruth W. Messinger • Dr. Faye Moskowitz • Joan Nathan • Dr. Alicia Suskin Ostriker Dr. Judith Plaskow • Marge Piercy • Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen • Anne Roiphe Danya Ruttenberg • Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso • The Honorable Jan Schakowsky Rabbi Susan Schnur • Rabbi Susan Silverman • Dr. Ellen M. Umansky Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg • Dr. Chava Weissler • Cantor Lorel Zar-Kessler

Sujets

• Holidays
• Jewish
• Philosophie et théologie
• Passover Seder
• Passover
• Jewish holiday
• Religion
• Pessa'h

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 23 novembre 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781580235464
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Women s Seder Sourcebook:
Rituals and Readings for Use at the Passover Seder
2007 Second Quality Paperback Printing
2006 First Quality Paperback Printing
2003 First Hardcover Printing
2003 by Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, Tara Mohr, and Catherine Spector
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information regarding permission to reprint material from this book, please mail or fax your request in writing to Jewish Lights Publishing, Permissions Department, at the address / fax number listed below, or e-mail your request to [e-mail] .
Page 325 constitutes a continuation of this copyright page.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The women s seder sourcebook: rituals and readings for use at the Passover seder / edited by Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, Tara Mohr, and Catherine Spector.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-1-58023-136-7 (HC)
ISBN-10: 1-58023-136-5 (HC)
1. Haggadah-Adaptations. 2. Passover-Prayer-books and devotions. 3. Seder. 4. Jewish women-Prayer-books and devotions-English. 5. Passover-Literary collections. 6. Feminism-Religious Aspects-Judaism.
I. Anisfeld, Sharon Cohen, 1960- II. Mohr, Tara, 1978- III. Spector, Catherine, 1978-
BM674.795 .W66 2003
296.4'5371'082-dc21
2002151375
ISBN-13: 978-1-58023-232-6 (quality pbk.)
ISBN-10: 1-58023-232-9 (quality pbk.)
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Manufactured in the United States of America
Published by Jewish Lights Publishing
A Division of LongHill Partners, Inc.
Sunset Farm Offices, Route 4
P.O. Box 237
Woodstock, Vermont 05091
Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone]
www.jewishlights.com
Other Passover Resources from Jewish Lights
Creating Lively Passover Seders :
A Sourcebook of Engaging Tales, Texts Activities
By David Arnow, PhD
Leading the Passover Journey :
The Seder s Meaning Revealed, the Haggadah s Story Retold
By Rabbi Nathan Laufer
Passover , 2nd Ed. : The Family Guide to Spiritual Celebration
By Dr. Ron Wolfson with Joel Lurie Grishaver
The Women s Passover Companion :
Women s Reflections on the Festival of Freedom
Edited by Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld,
Tara Mohr and Catherine Spector
D edicated to the extraordinary women of the Jewish community at Yale University whose wisdom and courage provided the inspiration for this book
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
How to Use This Book
Opening the Seder
Candlelighting
Kadesh
The Four Cups
Ur chatz
Karpas
Yachatz
Miriam s Cup
Maggid
Ha Lachma Anya
The Four Questions
Avadim Hayinu
The Four Children
Go Forth and Learn
The Ten Plagues
Dayeinu
The Three Symbols
B chol Dor Vador
Rochtzah
Motzi Matzah
Maror
Korech
The Orange on the Seder Plate
Shulhan Orekh
Tzafun
Barekh
Elijah s Cup
Hallel
Nirtzah
Afterword: A Guide to Planning a Women s Seder
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography and Resources
About the Contributors
Author Index
Index

About Jewish Lights
Copyright
Preface
P laywright Lillian Hellman once wrote, Nothing, of course, begins at the time you think it did. 1 Reflecting on the origins and development of The Women s Passover Companion and The Women s Seder Sourcebook , we appreciate the wisdom of her words. For while we began formal work on the then-titled Yale Women s Haggadah Project in the spring of 2000, our efforts stood upon a foundation laid by many other women throughout the 1990s.
The seeds of this project lie in Jewish Women at Yale, a student group whose members have been creating superior women s programming on the Yale University campus for many years. With the leadership of Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, then associate rabbi of Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale, the group held the first Yale Women s Seder in 1993. This event quickly became a beloved annual tradition that provided a unique forum for students, professors, and community members to come together. For the first seder, students wrote the Yale Women s Haggadah , which included commentaries, alternative texts, and creative writing on the traditional haggadah and themes of the holiday. Over the course of eight years, undergraduates revised and enhanced this unique piece of liturgy.
The Yale Women s Haggadah was but one manifestation of what became a vibrant Jewish feminist community at the university. In 1996, a student proposed hosting the first national Jewish women s conference for young women. During the next several months, a diverse group of students and faculty shaped what evolved into a groundbreaking, three-day event that attracted hundreds of college students from around the country. Inspired by its success, a new generation of students began work two years later on a second conference, this time centered on the theme of Jewish women and freedom.
A provocative and powerful conversation-across religious denominations, generations, and national boundaries-emerged among presenters and participants. Jewish Women at Yale wanted, and indeed felt they had an obligation, to capture this dialogue and share it with a wider audience. At the same time, some students began talking about the possibility of expanding and potentially publishing the Yale Women s Haggadah.
In the fall of 1999, these two projects converged. A group of undergraduate women led by Rabbi Cohen Anisfeld began work on a feminist haggadah that would include student writings as well as commentaries from the authors, activists, artists, and scholars who had been part of the conferences. The small committee soon realized, however, that creating this haggadah would be more than a part-time, extracurricular activity. In order to complete the project, Tara Mohr and Catherine Spector decided to spend a postgraduate year in New Haven working on the haggadah with Sharon Cohen Anisfeld. The three of us began serious work on the project together in the fall of 2000. With the help of many supporting individuals and institutions, Tara and Catherine were able to work full time on what became a two-year endeavor.
From its earliest stages, the project aimed to use the framework of the haggadah to create a comprehensive, pluralistic resource that would further Jewish women s explorations of significant questions about freedom, oppression, spirituality, feminism, and tradition and change. As time went on, however, we confronted the challenges of creating pluralistic liturgy. In addition, we struggled with how to achieve our goal of creating a feminist haggadah that could easily be used at family seders. As we spoke with dozens of women s seder organizers around the country, we learned that many communities had chosen to create their own women s haggadahs not simply because of the dearth of available resources but also because they felt that the process of putting together the haggadahs had great inherent value. As seder organizers who had experienced the impact of this process ourselves, we shared this feeling. Furthermore, as the project developed, we decided that our circle of contributing authors should extend beyond those who been part of the conferences, the Yale Women s Seder, or Jewish Women at Yale. These concerns gradually led us to conceive a new vision for the book that would better meet our goals: Rather than producing another women s haggadah, we would create a women s sourcebook for Passover.
As we further refined this vision, we considered what kind of materials we ourselves desired, both as seder organizers and as individuals celebrating the holiday. We felt it was important that the anthology address all aspects of women s relationships to the Passover holiday, from cleaning for the holiday to sitting at the family seder table to organizing a women s seder. Thus, we decided to feature readings and rituals to be included in the seder as well as longer essays to be read in advance or during the week of Passover. It soon became clear that there was enough important material to merit expanding the book into two volumes. One volume would include essays and the other would consist of material for the actual seder; the two could be used separately or in conjunction with each other. In this way, we would be able to fulfill the many needs of the different women and men who we hoped would find these anthologies meaningful.
These are some of the central considerations and influences that have guided the development of The Women s Passover Companion and The Women s Seder Sourcebook. The result is a collection featuring diverse voices writing in a myriad of forms: poetry, prose, essays, memoirs, commentaries, and creative and traditional exegesis. These writings discuss biblical texts, seder rituals, and passages from the haggadah, as well as Jewish women s history, personal experiences, and relevant political concerns. The writers are scholars, activists, rabbis, authors, artists, political leaders, and students.
Over the past two years, we have had the extraordinary privilege of working inside a fascinating dialogue currently occurring among these Jewish women. And we have had the extraordinary blessing of sharing an intensely collaborative process and a true labor of love. Our hope is that these volumes will help the Jewish community hear, respect, and include women s voices. And we hope that they inspire you for many Passovers to come.
Acknowledgments
W e are deeply grateful to the many supporters who have made it possible for us to see this project through to completion. We wish to thank the women whose advice steered us in the right direction at so many crucial points in the project: Paula Hyman, Claire Sufrin, Hilary Kaplan, Laura Wexler, Sydney Perry, Carol Diament, Karyn Kedar, Linda Altshuler, Peri Smilow, Merle Feld, Shulamit Reinhar