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In the Passover story, Miriam the prophetess is a true community organizer, leading her people across the Red Sea in song and dance and helping them to feel the power of liberation! Miriam knows that their power lies in the full diversity of the community. Everyone, man or woman, can be a great leader. Another story is told about Miriam and her brother Aaron challenge Moses’ prophetic authority asking: “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through...

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Almighty God,I have known fear and I have known comfortAnd here, in this momentMy eyes are wide open My heart is wide openWith each step, my heart poundsAnd I can feel my lips stretching into a smileThe sounds of the sea are all aroundAnd the sounds of childrenLaughingPlayingRunningYou are hereAnd everywhereBetween me and this miracleIn my heartIn the winged ones above usAnd in the spray of the sea that cools my faceThis journey has been so longI have been so tiredAnd...

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by Stosh Cotler I had danced for D before- a leather butch who came into my club with her old school, high femme wife and their entourage. That particular night, the Saturday before Passover, I sat with their crew after my table dance for D, and was shocked when D’s lover started talking about Seder arrangements. Immediately, I outed myself as a Jew, which caused a huge burst of excitement at the table- imagine the odds, not only of randomly running...

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By Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Rabbi Lauren Holzblatt On Passover, Jews are commanded to tell the story of the Exodus and to see ourselves as having lived through that story, so that we may better learn how to live our lives today. The stories we tell our children shape what they believe to be possible—which is why at Passover, we must tell the stories of the women who played a crucial role in the Exodus narrative. The Book of Exodus,...

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Reader 1: Long before the struggle upward begins, there is tremor in the seed. Self-protection cracks, roots reach down and grab hold. The seed swells, and tender shoots push up toward light. This is karpas: spring awakening growth. A force so tough it can break stone. Reader 2: Why do we dip karpas into salt water? Reader 1: At the beginning of this season of rebirth and growth, we recall the tears of our ancestors in bondage. Reader 2: And why...

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Rachtza is the ritual where we wash our hands, before we eat the matza. The way we wash our hands is the same way that we wash our hands on Shabbat and other holidays with a blessing. First, we lift up the cup and then we wash our hands on both sides in and out and top and bottom. As we wash our hands we make a blessing. (One should not talk unnecessarily until after eating the matza.) We make a...

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Maimonides urged us to care for our bodies so that we would be free to concentrate our energies on God. In the modern world, one of the greatest threats to our physical health is mental stress. Stress causes insomnia, digestive problems, heart disease, autoimmune disorders, depression, memory impairment and countless other complications. As women, we are particularly vulnerable to the stress caused by multiple and exhausting commitments to our families, friends, jobs and communities. This year, let us learn how to...

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Around our tables sit four daughters.Wise DaughterThe Wise daughter understands that not everything is as it appears.She is the one who speaks up, confident that her opinion counts. She is the one who can take the tradition and ritual that is placed before her, turn it over and over, and find personal meaning in it. She is the one who can find the secrets in the empty spaces between the letters of the Torah.She is the one who claims a place...

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Traditionally each of the cups of wine are linked to one of the statements of redemption spoken by God in the Torah “I will bring you out”. “I will deliver you”. “I will redeem you”. "I will gather you to me.” (Exodus 6:6-7). This cup of wine therefore corresponds to the first statement “I will bring you out of slavery” For women the first step to freedom was equality in the law.  The struggle for this freedom began in the desert,...