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"body": "<p> <em>You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt (Exodus 23:9).</em> </p>\n\n\n",
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"body": "<p>At the height of the Jewish feminist movement of the 1980s, inspired by the abundant new customs expressing women’s viewpoints and experiences, I started placing an orange on the Seder plate.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>At an early point in the Seder, when stomachs were starting to growl, I asked each person to take a segment of the orange, make the blessing over fruit and eat the segment in recognition of gay and lesbian Jews and of widows, orphans, Jews who are adopted and all others who sometimes feel marginalized in the Jewish community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we eat that orange segment, we spit out the seeds to repudiate homophobia and we recognize that in a whole orange, each segment sticks together. Oranges are sweet and juicy and remind us of the fruitfulness of gay and lesbian Jews and of the homosociality that has been such an important part of Jewish experience, whether of men in yeshivas or of women in the Ezrat Nashim.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Strangely, I discovered some years ago that an urban legend was circulating: Strangers told me they placed an orange on their Seder plate because of an incident in Miami Beach in which a man angrily denounced me when I gave a lecture, saying that a woman belongs on the bimah of a synagogue no more than an orange belongs on the Seder plate.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That incident never happened! Instead, my custom had fallen victim to a folktale process in which my original intention was subverted. My idea of the orange was attributed to a man, and my goal of affirming lesbians and gay men was erased.</p>\n\n<p>Moreover, the power of the custom was subverted: By now, women are on the bimah, so there is no great political courage in eating an orange, because women ought to be on the bimah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For years, I have known about women whose scientific discoveries were attributed to men, or who had to publish their work under a male pseudonym. That it happened to me makes me realize all the more how important it is to recognize how deep and strong patriarchy remains, and how important it is for us to celebrate the contributions of gay and lesbian Jews, and all those who need to be liberated from marginality to centrality. And Passover is the right moment to ensure freedom for all Jews.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Susannah Heschel is a professor of Jewish studies at Dartmouth College</em></p>\n",
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"body": "<p>Tonight we drink four glasses of wine, two cups before the meal and two glasses after the meal. Why four?</p>\n\n<p>The traditional explanation for the four cups of wine relates to the four expressions of redemption describing the Jews’ exodus from Egypt in the Bible. 1. “I will take you out…” 2. “I will save you…” 3. “I will redeem you…” 4. “I will take you as a nation…” (Exodus 6:6-7). The rabbis who wrote the Mishnah (rabbinic literature documenting oral traditions) said seder participants should drink a glass of wine, a toast if you will, for each of these expressions. </p>\n\n<p>These four promises, in turn, have been interpreted as four stages on the path of liberation: becoming aware of oppression, opposing oppression, imagining alternatives, and accepting responsibility to act.</p>\n\n<p>A toast: Wine is a symbol of joy and happiness and we are grateful to be able to gather with friends and family to observe this festival just as people have done for centuries.</p>\n\n<p> <em>Drink the first glass</em> </p>\n",
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"body": "<p>The <em>karpas</em>, the green vegetable, is the first part of the <em>seder</em> that makes this night different from all other nights. So far, the first glass of wine and the hand washing, though significant, do not serve to mark any sort of difference; they are regular parts of meals. The karpas, however, is not. As a night marked by difference, that difference starts now.</p>\n\n<p>Passover, like many Jewish holidays, combines the celebration of an event from Jewish memory with recognition of the cycles of nature. As we remember the liberation from Egypt, we also recognize the stirrings of spring and rebirth happening in the world around us. The green vegetable is a symbol of springtime and nature’s renewal.</p>\n\n<p>We temper this symbol of hope and rebirth by dipping it in salt water, symbolic of the tears of the enslaved Israelites and all those who continue to not be free.</p>\n\n<p> <em>Take karpas, dip in salt water, and eat.</em> </p>\n\n\n",
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"body": "<p>When the Israelites left Egypt they did so in a hurry and had no time to wait for the bread they were baking to rise. The bread they baked was flat – matzah. Matzah is more than a commemorative food. It is called the ‘bread of affliction’ or a ‘poor man’s bread’. It remains flat symbolizing humility. Regular bread that rises symbolizes arrogance. On Passover we remove all leavened bread (and grain products) from our homes, eating only the matzah. We symbolize the removal of all arrogance and egotism turning instead to humility.</p>\n\n<p>There are three pieces of matzah stacked on the table. We now break the middle matzah into two pieces. The Passover story begins in a broken world, amidst slavery, oppression, and separation. The broken middle matzah therefore represents all those separated from their families or communities, from the Jews expelled from Jerusalem by the Romans to the Native Americans sent to reservations and enslaved, to the millions living in refugee camps around the world and the Palestinians removed from their homes.</p>\n\n<p>The host will wrap up the larger pieces and, at some point between now and the end of dinner, hide it. This piece is called the <em>afikoman</em>, literally “dessert” in Greek. After dinner, our younger guests will hunt for the <em>afikoman </em> in order to wrap up the meal. Tradition states that we cannot conclude the seder without the broken piece being found, as the broken piece is necessary for us to become whole again.</p>\n",
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"body": "<p>As we now transition from the formal telling of the Passover story to the celebratory meal, we once again wash our hands to prepare ourselves. In Judaism, a good meal together with friends and family is itself a sacred act, so we prepare for it just as we prepared for our holiday ritual, recalling the way ancient priests once prepared for service in the Temple.</p>\n\n<p>Some people distinguish between washing to prepare for prayer and washing to prepare for food by changing the way they pour water on their hands. For washing before food, pour water three times on your right hand and then three times on your left hand.</p>\n\n\n",
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"body": "<p>Why do we eat <em>maror</em> or a bitter herb?</p>\n\n<p>A common interpretation is that the bitter herb reminds us of the time of our slavery. We force ourselves to taste pain so that we may more readily value pleasure. A second interpretation of the bitter herb, which was eaten at spring festivals in ancient times, is that the sharp taste is meant to awaken the senses and make people feel at one with nature's springtime revival. In this interpretation, <em>maror</em> is the stimulus of life, reminding us that struggle is better than the complacent acceptance of injustice.</p>\n\n<p>While there are many Jewish dietary laws, the way in which someone goes about consuming (kosher) food is generally not proscribed. The bitter herb is an exception. The rabbis claim: \"[One who] swallows the matzah [without chewing] has fulfilled the obligation [of eating matzah]. [However, one who] swallows the maror [without chewing] does not fulfill the obligation [of eating maror]\" (Talmud Bavli Pesachim 115b). The rabbis explain that even though one would ideally taste the matzah, even swallowing without tasting is a form of eating and thus fulfills the obligation to eat matzah on Passover. <em>Maror</em> is different. Actually tasting the <em>maror</em> , and not just eating it, is the essence of the commandment.</p>\n\n<p> <em>Take some maror and eat it with a piece of matzah</em> </p>\n",
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"body": "<p>As legend has it, the idea of eating two pieces of bread with something in between was invented by England’s fourth Earl of Sandwich (1718-1792). An avid gambler, the Earl couldn’t bear to leave the card table for as long as it took to eat a normal meal, and so invented this handy snack so that he could eat and gamble at the same time.</p>\n\n<p>Yet as nice as this story is, tradition tells us that Jews have been eating sandwiches long before the 18th century. Hillel the Elder, the 1st century rabbi, argued that elements of the Passover seder including maror and charoset should be placed between two slides of matzah and eaten as a sandwich. The charoset reminds us of the mortar and, together with the maror, of the pain of slavery. However, as we eat it we taste its sweetness. This sweetness gives us hope that the future will bring redemption and justice to all people.</p>\n\n<p> <em>Make and enjoy a Hillel sandwich</em> </p>\n",
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"body": "<p>There are many explanations given for why we hide the <em>afikoman</em> . </p>\n\n<p>The simple reason that we put the <em>afikoman</em> aside or hide it, is because we will eat this matzah only near the very end of the Seder, and we don’t want it to get mixed up with the other matzahs at the table</p>\n\n<p>Some have the custom to hide the piece of matzah that was set aside for the <em>afikoman</em> , and have the children find it and then return it only in lieu of a promised gift. This custom is based on a statement in the Talmud: “We snatch matzahs on the night of Passover in order that the children should not fall asleep.” In other words, the game of hiding the <em>afikoman</em> and the accompanying bargaining for a gift is an activity to engage the kids and make sure that they don’t fall asleep during what is invariably a long evening.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, hiding the <em>afikoman</em> has symbolic meaning as well. Just as we search for the <em>afikoman</em> , we seek out the injustice in our societies, the hidden as well as the revealed, and organize to transform these dark places into ones filled with light. We seek within ourselves for the places where we are complicit in injustice and pledge to do better.</p>\n",
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"body": "<p>It is time to fill up our wine glasses again. The fourth and final cup of wine also includes a cup of wine for the project Elijah. For millennia, Jews opened the door for him, inviting him join their seders, hoping that he would bring with him a messiah to save the world.</p>\n\n<p>Yet the tasks of saving the world - once ascribed to prophets, messiahs, and gods - must be taken up by us mere mortals, by common people with shared goals. So while we still have a symbolic cup of wine for Elijah, we remember that it is our job to help create a better world.</p>\n\n<p> <em>Drink the fourth glass of wine</em> </p>\n",
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"title": "The four question (plus a few more)",
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"covertext": "Traditionally, the youngest person present asks: Why is this night different from all other nights? 1. On all other nig...",
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"body": "<p> <em>Traditionally, the youngest person present asks:</em> </p>\n\n<p><strong>Why is this night different from all other nights?</strong></p>\n\n<p>1. On all other nights we eat either bread or matzah. Why, on this night, do we eat only matzah?</p>\n\n<p>2. On all other nights we eat herbs of any kind. Why, on this night, do we eat only bitter herbs?</p>\n\n<p>3. On all other nights, we do not dip our herbs even once. Why, on this night, do we dip them twice?</p>\n\n<p>4. On all other nights, we eat either sitting or leaning. Why, on this night, do we eat while leaning?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A different guest readers each ANSWER:</strong></p>\n\n<p>1. MATZAH</p>\n\n<p>Matzah is the symbol of our affliction and our freedom. Legend has it that when Moses and his followers fled Egypt, they moved so quickly that the bread they baked did not have time to rise. However, scholars have noted that long before the Jews celebrated Passover, farmers of the Middle East celebrated Khag Ha-matsot, the festival of unleavened bread, at this time of year. This was a festival where unleavened bread was made from the new grain harvest that took place at this time of the year. The old fermented dough was thrown out so that last year's grain would not be mixed with this year's. Therefore, the new season began with the eating of unleavened bread--matzah. Later on, the Jewish people incorporated this agricultural festival into the celebration of freedom and renewal we now call Passover.</p>\n\n<p>2. BITTER HERBS</p>\n\n<p>Tradition says that this root is to remind us of the time of our slavery. We force ourselves to taste pain so that we may more readily value pleasure. Scholars inform us that bitter herbs were eaten at the Spring festival in ancient times. The sharpness of the taste awakened the senses and made the people feel at one with nature's revival. Thus, the horseradish is the stimulus of life, reminding us that struggle is better than the complacent acceptance of injustice.</p>\n\n<p>3. DIPPING</p>\n\n<p>The first time, the salty taste reminds us of the tears we cried when we were slaves. The second time, the salt water and the green help us to remember the ocean and green plants and the Earth, from which we get air and water and food that enable us to live.</p>\n\n<p>4. RECLINING</p>\n\n<p>This question goes back to ancient times in Rome, when it was the custom for rich people to eat while lying on a couch leaning on one elbow as slaves and servants fed them. The Jewish people thought of this relaxed type of eating as a sign of freedom and prosperity, so they would lean to one side eating at the Seder on Passover, the festival of freedom. Today, we who are free eat while sitting up, even at Passover, but the question remains in the service as a reminder of how it was when our people longed for freedom.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>MORE QUESTIONS:</p>\n\n<p><strong>Reader: </strong>We have answered the four traditional questions, but there are still more questions to be answered. There are other special foods on our Seder plate: a sweet condiment (charoset), a roasted shank bone (z'ro-ah), and a roasted egg (baytsa). Why are they here?</p>\n\n<p><strong> <em>A different guest reads each answer:</em> </strong></p>\n\n<p><strong>Charoset:</strong> Apples, nuts, cinnamon, and wine are combined to make this sweet condiment. It is the color of clay or mortar. It reminds us of the bricks and mortar that the Israelites are said to have made when they built the Pharaohs' palaces and cities. At the same time, the taste of charoset is sweet, and it reminds us of the sweetness of freedom.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Shank bone</strong>: The bone represents the lamb that was the special Paschal sacrifice on the eve of the exodus from Egypt, and annually, on the afternoon before Passover, in the Holy Temple.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Egg:</strong> The egg represents life. Each of us begins as an egg and grows to adulthood. The egg reminds us of our evolutionary past and the gifts of human inheritance. But the egg is fragile. It represents potential that can be destroyed. Left alone, it would perish. Growing life needs warmth and love and security, guidance, hope, and vision. To achieve their full potential, human beings need the support and encouragement of family and community. The egg symbolizes the fragility and interdependence of life.</p>\n",
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Haggadah Section: Conclusion
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