A Milgrom (Pomegranate) On the Seder Plate - Celebrate Our Heretics

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אֶל־גִּנַּ֤ת אֱגוֹז֙ יָרַ֔דְתִּי,

לִרְא֖וֹת בְּאִבֵּ֣י הַנָּ֑חַל.

לִרְאוֹת֙ הֲפָֽרְחָ֣ה הַגֶּ֔פֶן,

הֵנֵ֖צוּ הָרִמֹּנִֽים׃

צו דעם נוסגאָרטן בין איך אראָפ-געגאַנגען,

צו באַקוקן די פײַכע גראָז פון די טאָל.

צו זען אױב דער װײַנשטאָק האָט שוין געבליט,

אױב די מילגרױמען האָבן שוין געצײַטיגט.

I went down to the garden of nuts,

To see the moist plants of the valley;

To see whether the vine had blossomed,

If the pomegranates had sprouted.

Over the past few years I have been adding a (halved) pomegranate to my Seder Plate. In addition to the traditional six Simanim (signs) on the Plate, plus the feminst tradition of the orange, and this year (5782/2022) sunflowers for Ukraine.

As the above Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs) verse - traditionally recited after the Seder - indicates, the pomegranate celebrates spring. The Singer of the Songs includes them along with nuts and grapes, both of which already have a traditional place in Pesach food, and Seder customs. Personally though, the pomegranate, or milgrom in its Yiddish name, celebrates something more:

It celebrates our formerly Orthodox, our “Frei” (free) community.

It celebrates those Jews, and maybe “former” Jews to some, who have been told that we are “bad.” That we are sinners, heretics, or/and have no place celebrating Yom Tov (Jewish holiday) in our own way.

In our own way we say - we are a worthy part within the rainbow of Jewish experiences and practices.

Our Judaism isn’t just okay.

It is worthy of celebration.

The Talmud equates the pomegranate to Jews who are called “Sinners of the Jewish People.” This term, in its Ashkenazi pronunciation of “Poshe’ei Yisro’eil” is often thrown at us, Frei Jews, as if it’s a negative term.

The last lines of the tractate of Chagigah (27a) states:

פּוֹשְׁעֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁמְּלֵאִין מִצְוֹת כְּרִמּוֹן, דִּכְתִיב (שיר השירים ד,ג'): ״כְּפֶלַח הָרִמּוֹן רַקָּתֵךְ״, אַל תִּקְרֵי ״רַקָּתֵךְ״, אֶלָּא: רֵקָנִין שֶׁבָּךְ — עַל אַחַת כַּמָּה וְכַמָּה.

The sinners of Israel (here referring to the Jewish people) who are full of Mitzvot (good deeds) like a pomegranate; as it is written in Song of Songs (4:3), “Your temples are like a split pomegranate.” Do not read “Your temples,” rather the “empty among you.”

I do not think we are sinners.

I do not think we are the “Empty Ones” within the Jewish people.

Frankly, some, if not most, of the people who created the most inspiring, progressive, and inclusive movements within Judaism were people who grew up in more fundematlist/Orthodox communities, and left. People who the Orthodox community would say they were “OTD - Off The Derech” or “Frei” (free - which somehow is supposed to be negative, even though it sounds, and is, positive), but in reality were very much “OTD - On Their Derech.” Whether the founders of the Reform movement, or Heschel in the Conservative movement. Whether Kaplan in Reconstructionist Judaism, the leaders of Jewish Renewal, to some of the leaders and pioneers of Queer Judaism.

Yet, like terms such as Queer, Frei, and Dyke - we take words and ideas that are meant to be slurs imposed on us by haters, and turn them into a way of celebrating who we are, because of who we are.

The Talmud uses pomegranates as the symbol of positivity within each and every-one of us, the “sinners.” Just like that we see it as the celebration of the good in each and everyone of us.

Not despite choosing our own “heretical” paths, but because of it.

The Pomegranate tonight tells us that we are not just at this Seder in-spite of leaving, in-spite of being Frei. Rather, we are at this Seder because of it.

Because - - -

Choosing our own paths is beautiful.

Choosing our own paths, at its core, is exactly what Pesach and the Seder Nacht is about.

Being Frei is another beautiful identity!

A Frelichen - not a kosher - Pesach <3

haggadah Section: Songs

Source: Abby Stein 2022