סַמְּכוּנִי בָּאֲשִׁישׁוֹת רַפְּדוּנִי בַּתַּפּוּחִים… Feed me with apples and with raisin-cakes.1 …טוֹבִים דֹּדֶיךָ מִיָּיִן׃ “Your kisses are sweeter than wine;2 …וְרֵיחַ אַפֵּךְ כַּתַּפּוּחִים׃ “The scent of your breath is like apricots;3 לְחָיָו כַּעֲרוּגַת הַבֹּשֶׂם… “Your cheeks are a bed of spices;4 הַתְּאֵנָה חָנְטָה פַגֶּיהָ… “The fig tree has ripened;5 אֶל גִּנַּת אֱגוֹז יָרַדְתִּי… “Then I went down to the walnut grove.”6 There are several kinds of freedom that we celebrate on Pesaḥ: The freedom of people who rise up against Pharaoh, the tyrant. The freedom of Earth, the flowers that rise up against winter. The freedom of birth, of the lambs who trip and stagger in their skipping-over. passing-over dance called “pesach.” The freedom of sex, that rises up against the prunish and the prudish. The text of the Song subtly, almost secretly, bears the recipe for ḥaroset, and we might well see the absence of any specific written explanation of ḥaroset as itself a subtle, secret pointer toward the “other” liberation of Pesaḥ –- the erotic, Earth-loving freedom celebrated in the Song of Songs, which we are taught to read on Passover. Teaching by Rabbi Arthur Waskow


haggadah Section: Kadesh