Happy Pesach!

[intothewoods]

To those who celebrate. I'm all cooked out, but we had a nice seder last night.

 

[JMohegan]

Was there an orange on your Seder plate?

 

[intothewoods]

No, I only vaguely recalled what that was about and had to google it. I found this.

I like this part the best:

Perhaps that is because "in Orthodoxy the mechitzah [the curtain or divider separating the sexes] is recognized," while "in Reform Judaism, there is still a mechitzah," which no one talks about.

"It's an invisible mechitzah," she said. "It's a feminist's work to unmask and expose this."

Partially to blame is what she called a hierarchical image of God as a king: transcendent, all-powerful, all-knowing. A feminist God, on the other hand, would be "passionate, with feeling and emotion.

Heschel, who has edited and contributed to numerous publications on Jewish feminism as well as works on her father, said, "You can include matriarchs in prayer, you can change Jewish law, but you can't change the image of God."

It's true. The foundations of Judaism are patriarchal and sexist, and I don't think that can be changed. I'm no Jewish scholar, but I've always felt that a lot of remaking Judaism in a feminist perspective is really a reach. At its core, the religion is patriarchal and women are not important. Now, orthodox Jews will tell you that women are treated differently because they are more important and closer to God, but it sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me. Anyway, on the other hand, I grew up with a female cantor, and currently attend community-led services, so I'm obviously comfortable with an evolving Judaism. It's a complicated topic - and you only asked me a yes or no question. Oops.

This year, we had a lot of kids at our seder, and a lot of non-Jews, so I was mostly busy (aside from feeding people some damn good food - #1 priority!) trying to create a service that was simple, short and not racist. My old haggadah talks a lot about the terrible "Egyptians," when really the beef is with the pharoh. And then apparently there's a lot of doubt as to whether Jews were even there in the first place. The whole thing is better viewed as a metaphor -- otherwise there's not much to be learned from the story.

 

[JMohegan]

A friend of mine, who has two daughters, does the orange thing. It was explained to me with the bimah quote. His family is observant and kosher, in the Reform Judaism of modern liberal America kind of way.

As for the "metaphor" of the plagues, I see that as just an older version of "Katrina is god's punishment for legalized abortion in the United States" - depicting calamities as a divine form of indiscriminate retribution. The type of tale that's routinely employed by organized religious groups, regardless of the fact that it's tough to reconcile with a general ethical perspective.

Leaving aside the content of what's being said, at the core, the Seders I've attended all reminded me of my own family's Thanksgivings. With regard to holidays, there's no higher compliment I can give. Warm, wonderful, family-focused. Days to celebrate and embrace that which one truly treasures.

 

[intothewoods]

A friend of mine, who has two daughters, does the orange thing. It was explained to me with the bimah quote. His family is observant and kosher, in the Reform Judaism of modern liberal America kind of way.

As for the "metaphor" of the plagues, I see that as just an older version of "Katrina is god's punishment for legalized abortion in the United States" - depicting calamities as a divine form of indiscriminate retribution. The type of tale that's routinely employed by organized religious groups, regardless of the fact that it's tough to reconcile with a general ethical perspective.

Absolutely. In one of the books we use, the plagues are viewed as an opportunity to remember the suffering of ordinary Egyptians. A somewhat nicer, more politically correct view, but the underlying message is still that God is punishing average citizens for the "sins" of their leaders! I will say that I was always told (by my parents, by my rabbi, by my teachers) that I have the freedom to question everything, and last night we also said that this story is just one perspective.

Leaving aside the content of what's being said, at the core, the Seders I've attended all reminded me of my own family's Thanksgivings. With regard to holidays, there's no higher compliment I can give. Warm, wonderful, family-focused. Days to celebrate and embrace that which one truly treasures.

It's my favorite holiday -- hands down.