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Welcome
Contributed by Erica Fretwell

  • TOP HAGGADAHS FOR 2023

We are gathered here tonight to affirm our continuity with the generations of Jews who have kept alive the vision of freedom inherent in the Passover story. We proudly affirm that we are the descendants of slaves, the first group of slaves in recorded history to ever wage a successful rebellion against their masters. Our liberation struggle has been a prototype of many struggles that other nations have waged against those who oppressed them. We are proud that our people held to a vision of itself as a slave people and insisted on telling its story of liberation as the central founding event around which our culture is built.

The Symbols of Passover

Elijah's Cup. In the 9th century B.C., a farm worker arose to challenge priestly domination. In his tireless and passionate advocacy of the common people, and his ceaseless exposure of the corruption and waste of the court, this man, who became known as the Prophet Elijah, sparked a movement, and created a legend which has inspired people for generations. Lest the concerns he championed in his lifetime be eroded by future generations, before he died, Elijah declared that he would return once each generation, in the guise of a poor, oppressed or wretched person, coming to people's doors to see how he would be treated. He would thus know whether the population had reached a level of humanity making them capable of participating in the dawn of the Messianic age, which he could then herald. As we recommit ourselves to the struggle for social justice, we place a glass of wine at our door, to declare openly, that despite any hardship of our own, our door is always open to any human being in need.

Miriam's Cup. Even as we begin our story, we know its “end.” Israel will leave Egypt and wander in the desert for forty years on the way to the Promised Land. According to legend, a well of water accompanied the Israelites on their journey in the desert. This miraculous well was provided because of the merit of Miriam, the sister of Moses, who watched over her brother as he floated down the Nile, and later joined with him to lead the people across the sea. Tonight, we recall that well as we place Miriam’s cup on our Seder table. Miriam is associated with the ongoing redemption and healing represented by water in the desert. Miriam’s cup reminds us that there is a sustaining presence that enables us to thrive, not just survive.

The Orange. The Orange on the Seder Plate has achieved mainstream status. Its origins are shrouded in the mythic mists of the 1980s: according to one tale, a woman who spoke on women in the rabbinate and the equalization of other forums was rebuked by a man who said, "Women belong on the bimah like an orange belongs on the Seder plate." Thus —- placing the Orange became an assertion of Jewish women's liberation and equality. The person who then actually brought the Orange into the Seder was Susannah Heschel. The Orange has come to stand for the freedom and equality of women in Jewish life, and implicitly of how the achievement of that freedom is already changing Jewish practice. The Orange also (as the only whole fruit on the Plate) symbolizes its own advent and all creative change, because it carries within itself the seeds of its own future as Torah carries within itself the seeds of change.
haggadah Section: Introduction

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