[HANASHIR:8808] Re: Orange on the seder plate

[Ellen Allard <ellen...>]

Dear Joanna,

Thank you so much for sharing this information with us. I am on a committee
of women (part of the National Council of Jewish Women/Worcester, MA
chapter) who assembled a haggadah for our annual women's seder. We just held
our fifth annual seder. The haggadah contains the incorrect story about the
orange. We will definitely edit the haggadah so that it reflects the actual
story. Thanks so much!

Ellen

P.S. BTW, for anyone who has any interest in the "scallion/Dayenu thing"
that I've explained in previous emails, it was pretty hysterical to see 80+
elegantly dressed women at our NCJW seder singing Dayenu and hitting each
other with scallions! Some of them even conducted the music with their
scallions as we sang. At our home seder, we did the same thing except that
we used parsley. It was well-choreographed. During the first chorus,
everyone hit the person on their left with the parsley. During the second
chorus, everyone hit the person on their right with the parsley. During the
third chorus, we alternated...one beat to the left, one beat to the right,
etc. For those sceptics out there, give it a try. It is a lot of fun, I
swear.
--
Specializing in Music for Young Children
Ellen (at) PeterandEllen(dot)com
***********************
For information on our award-winning recordings, children's concerts, and
teacher workshops, visit http://www.PeterandEllen.com or call tollfree
1-888-746-4481
***********************
The purpose of life is to find our gifts. The meaning of life is to give
them away. (Anon.)

----------
>From: Joanna Selznick Dulkin <joanna (at) stanfordalumni(dot)org>
>To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
>Subject: [HANASHIR:8806] Orange on the seder plate
>Date: Thu, Apr 12, 2001, 2:45 PM
>

> Hi all,
> This isn't specifically Jewish Music related, but it is of definite
> interest, particularly at this time of year.  There are many threads of
> "drash" circulating about why we place an orange on the seder plate, and
> most of the stories relate to Susannah Heschel.  A Rabbi I know wrote Ms.
> Heschel for the 'definitive' story, and so here it is!
> Enjoy, and Happy Pesach!
> -Joanna Selznick Dulkin
>
> *********
> I wrote to Susannah Heschel  to ask her for the "definitive" origin of the
> orange on the seder plate, since I had understood that it was at a talk
> that she gave that the reputed comment was made, and she sent me this.  She
> happily gave me permission to forward it to the four corners of the earth.
> Here it is; feel free to forward it to anyone you wish.
> -Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann, Associate Dean for Religious Life, Stanford
> University
>
> _________
> In the early 1980s, the Hillel Foundation invited me to speak on a panel at
> Oberlin College.  While on campus, I came across a Haggada that had been
> written by some Oberlin students to express feminist concerns.  One ritual
> they devised was placing a crust of bread on the Seder plate, as a sign of
> solidarity with Jewish lesbians (there's as much room for a lesbian in
> Judaism as there is for a crust of bread on the Seder plate).
>
> At the next Passover, I placed an orange on our family's Seder plate.
> During the first part of the Seder, I asked everyone to take a segment of
> the orange, make the blessing over fruit, and eat it as a gesture of
> solidarity with Jewish lesbians and gay men, and others who are
> marginalized within the Jewish community (I mentioned widows in particular).
>  Bread on the Seder plate brings an end to Pesach - it renders everything
> chometz.  And it suggests that being lesbian is being transgressive,
> violating Judaism.  I felt that an orange was suggestive of something else:
> the fruitfulness for all Jews when lesbians and gay men are contributing
> and active members of Jewish life.  In addition, each orange segment had a
> few seeds that had to be spit out - a gesture of spitting out, repudiating
> the homophobia of Judaism.
>
> When lecturing, I often mentioned my custom as one of many new feminist
> rituals that have been developed in the last twenty years. Somehow, though,
> the typical patriarchal maneuver occurred:  My idea of an orange and my
> intention of affirming lesbians and gay men were transformed.  Now the
> story circulates that a MAN said to me that a woman belongs on the bimah as
> an orange on the Seder plate.  A woman's words are attributed to a man, and
> the affirmation of lesbians and gay men is simply erased.
>
> Isn't that precisely what's happened over the centuries to women's ideas?
>
> Susannah Heschel
> [4/5/01]
>
>

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