{ "clip_details": { "clip": { "is_admin": 0, "is_owner": 0, "handle": "five-questions-2", "title": "The Five Questions", "author": "Ezra Weissman", "author_handle": "zoweissman165887", "author_initials": "EW", "covertext": "The MaNishtana traditionally asks us, “What is unique or different about tonight?” and, “Why do we eat Matzah, why do we...", "user_image": "", "user_image_original": "", "body": "<p>The MaNishtana traditionally asks us, “What is unique or different about tonight?” and, “Why do we eat Matzah, why do we dip and eat Bitter Herbs not just once, but twice and why do we recline?” These elements are symbolic themes that mirror the reflection our ancestor’s liberation from slavery, the hardships they experienced and the oppression that infringed on their freedoms. Tonight at this Queer Liberation Seder we incorporate a fifth question and answer. “What is unique or different about tonight’s seder, why tonight do we have Pride?” Pride is an importance concept in the queer community. We are taught to feel the exact opposite - to feel ashamed for who we love, for who we are, for how we are born. Tonight, we use this word often to demonstrate we reject homophobia and transphobia, within the Jewish community and outside of it. Tonight, we are proud of our sexual orientations and gender identities.</p>\n\n<p>מַה נִשְׁתַּנָּה הַלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה מכל ־הַלֵּילוֹת</p>\n\n<p>שבכל־הַלֵּילוֹת אָנוּ אוֹכְלִין חָמֵץ וּמַצָּה</p>\n\n<p>הַלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה כֻּלּוֹ מַצָּה</p>\n\n<p>שבכל־הַלֵּילוֹת אָנוּ אוֹכְלִין שְׁאָר יְרָקוֹת</p>\n\n<p>הַלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה מָרוֹר</p>\n\n<p>שבכל־הַלֵּילוֹת אֵין אָנוּ מַטְבִּילִין אֲפִילוּ פַּעַם אֶחָת</p>\n\n<p>הַלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה שְׁתֵּי פְעָמִים</p>\n\n<p>שבכל־הַלֵּילוֹת אָנוּ אוֹכְלִין בֵּין יוֹשְׁבִין וּבֵין מְסֻבִּין</p>\n\n<p>הַלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה כֻּלָּנוּ מְסֻבִּין</p>\n\n<p> <em>Mah nish-ta-na ha-lai-lah ha-zeh mi-kol ha-lei-lot!<br />\nSheh-beh-chol ha-lei-lot a-nu och-lin ha-metz u-matzah. Ha-lai-lah ha-zeh, ku-lo matzah?<br />\nSheh-beh-chol ha-lei-lot a-nu och-lin sh’ar y’ra-kot. Ha-lai-lah ha-zeh, maror?<br />\nSheh-beh-chol ha-lei-lot ein a-nu mat-bi-lin a-fi-lu pa-am e-hat. Ha-lai-lah ha-zeh, sh-tei fi-ah-mim?<br />\nSheh-beh-chol ha-lei-lot a-nu och-lin bayn yosh-vin ou-vein mis-u-bin. Ha-lai-lah ha-zeh, ku-la-nu mis- u-bin?</em> </p>\n\n<p><strong>Why is this night different from all other nights?</strong></p>\n\n<p>On all other nights we eat either leavened bread or <em>matzah. </em> Why, on this night, do we eat only <em>matzah? </em> <br />\nOn all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs. Why, on this night, do we eat only bitter herbs?<br />\nOn all other nights we do not dip herbs. Why, on this night, do we dip them twice?<br />\nOn all other nights we eat sitting or reclining on pillows. Why, on this night, do we eat only reclining upon pillows?</p>\n\n<p><strong>The fifth question:</strong></p>\n\n<p> <em>Sheh-beh-chol ha-lei-lot sed-er a-nu o-seem sed-er ma-sar-ti. Ha-lai-lah ha-zeh, ku-la-nu ga-im?</em> <br />\nOn all other Seder nights we do a traditional Seder. Why, on this night, do we have Pride?</p>\n\n<p><strong>The Five Answers</strong></p>\n\n<p><strong>Speaker 1</strong>: We were slaves in Egypt. Our ancestor in flight from Egypt did not have time to let the dough rise. With not a moment to spare they snatched up the dough they had prepared and fled. But the hot sun beat as they carried the dough along with them and baked it into the flat unleavened bread we call <em>matzah.</em> </p>\n\n<p><strong>Speaker 2</strong>: The first time we dip our greens to taste the brine of enslavement. We also dip to remind ourselves of all life and growth, of earth and sea, which gives us sustenance and comes to life again in the springtime.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Speaker 3</strong>: The second time we dip the <em>maror </em> into the <em>charoset. </em> The <em>charoset </em> reminds us of the mortar that our ancestors mixed as slaves in Egypt. But our charoset is made of fruit and nuts, to show us that our ancestors were able to withstand the bitterness of slavery because it was sweetened by the hope of freedom.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Speaker 4</strong>: Slaves were not allowed to rest, not even while they ate. Since our ancestors were freed from slavery, we recline to remind ourselves that we, like our ancestors, can overcome bondage in our own time. We also recline to remind ourselves that rest and rejuvenation are vital to continuing our struggles. We should take pleasure in reclining, even as we share our difficult history.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Speaker 5</strong>: We are proud to be trans, gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, non-binary, gender fluid, and everything else under the rainbow. We are proud of historical queer Jewish resistance. Two generations ago we were forced to wear pink of black triangles as signs of shame in the camps. A generation ago, while enjoying our weekend escapes at bars, we would have been arrested, beaten, robbed, and raped. We honor our ancestors who fought back, and we channel their energy to continue fighting today. As a community we have come far, and while we are far from liberation, we should reflect proudly on our accomplishments. Tonight, let our hearts swell with pride at this Queer Passover Seder.</p>", "cliptype": "text", "clipsource": null, "featured": 0, "featuredIn": null, "is_public": 1, "is_published": 1, "media": { "image": null, "audio": null, "video": null }, "thumbnail": null, "clip_section": [ { "haggadah_section": "-- Four Questions", "slug": "four-questions" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 177, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "The Five Questions | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "keywords": "", "og:type": "article", "og:url": "https://www.haggadot.com/clip/five-questions-2", "og:title": "The Five Questions | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "og:description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "og:image": "" } } }, "contributed_by": { "author": "Ezra Weissman", "handle": "zoweissman165887", "author_initials": "EW", "total_books": 2, "total_clips": 11, "total_followers": 0, "is_following": 0 }, "user_book": null, "clips_by_author": [ { "clip": { "is_admin": 0, "is_owner": 0, "handle": "adrienne-rich-quote", "title": "Adrienne Rich Quote", "author": "Ezra Weissman", "author_handle": "zoweissman165887", "author_initials": "EW", "covertext": "When someone with the authority of a teacher, say, describes the world and you are not in it, there is a moment of psych...", "user_image": "", "user_image_original": "", "body": "<p>When someone with the authority of a teacher, say, describes the world and you are not in it, there is a moment of psychic disequilibrium, as if you looked into a mirror and saw nothing. Yet you know you exist and others like you, that this is a game done with mirrors. It takes some strength of soul — and not just individual strength, but collective understanding — to resist this void . . . and to stand up, demanding to be seen and heard. - Adrienne Rich</p>\n", "cliptype": "text", "clipsource": "", "featured": 0, "featuredIn": null, "is_public": 1, "is_published": 1, "media": { "image": null, "audio": null, "video": null }, "thumbnail": null, "clip_section": [ { "haggadah_section": "Introduction", "slug": "introduction" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 213, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "Adrienne Rich Quote | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "keywords": "", "og:type": "article", "og:url": "https://www.haggadot.com/clip/adrienne-rich-quote", "og:title": "Adrienne Rich Quote | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "og:description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "og:image": "" } } }, { "clip": { "is_admin": 0, "is_owner": 0, "handle": "section-stone-butch-blues", "title": "Section from Stone Butch Blues ", "author": "Ezra Weissman", "author_handle": "zoweissman165887", "author_initials": "EW", "covertext": "", "user_image": "", "user_image_original": "", "body": "", "cliptype": "text", "clipsource": "", "featured": 0, "featuredIn": null, "is_public": 1, "is_published": 1, "media": { "image": null, "audio": null, "video": null }, "thumbnail": null, "clip_section": [ { "haggadah_section": "Commentary / Readings", "slug": "commentary-readings" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 166, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "Section from Stone Butch Blues | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "keywords": "", "og:type": "article", "og:url": "https://www.haggadot.com/clip/section-stone-butch-blues", "og:title": "Section from Stone Butch Blues | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "og:description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "og:image": "" } } }, { "clip": { "is_admin": 0, "is_owner": 0, "handle": "story-exodus-abbreviated", "title": "Story of Exodus, Abbreviated. ", "author": "Ezra Weissman", "author_handle": "zoweissman165887", "author_initials": "EW", "covertext": "Once upon a time our people went into exile in the land of Egypt. During a famine our ancestor Jacob and his family fled...", "user_image": "", "user_image_original": "", "body": "<ol>\n\t<li>Once upon a time our people went into exile in the land of Egypt. During a famine our ancestor Jacob and his family fled to Egypt where food was plentiful. His son Joseph had risen to high position in Pharaoh’s court, and our people were well-respected and well-regarded, secure in the power structure of the time.</li>\n\t<li>Generations passed and our people remained in Egypt. In time, a new Pharaoh ascended to the throne. He found our difference threatening, and ordered our people enslaved. In fear of rebellion, Pharaoh decreed that all Hebrew boy-children be killed. Two Egyptian midwives named Shifrah and Puah defied his orders, claiming that “the Hebrew women are so hardy, they give birth before we arrive!” Through their courage, a boy survived; midrash tells us he was radiant with light.Fearing for his safety, his family placed him in a basket and he floated down the Nile. He was found, and adopted, by Pharaoh’s daughter, who named him Moshe because min ha-mayim m’shitihu, from the water she drew him forth. She hired his mother Yocheved as his wet-nurse. Thus he survived to adulthood, and was raised as Prince of Egypt.</li>\n\t<li>Although a child of privilege, as he grew he became aware of the slaves who worked in the brickyards of his father. When he saw an overseer mistreat a slave, he struck the overseer and killed him. Fearing retribution, he set out across the Sinai alone. God spoke to him from a burning bush, which though it flamed was not consumed. The Voice called him to lead the Hebrew people to freedom. Moses argued with God, pleading inadequacy, but God disagreed. Sometimes our responsibilities choose us.</li>\n\t<li>Moses returned to Egypt and went to Pharaoh to argue the injustice of slavery. He gave Pharaoh a mandate which resounds through history: Let my people go. Pharaoh refused, and Moses warned him that Mighty God would strike the Egyptian people. These threats were not idle: ten terrible plagues were unleashed upon the Egyptians. Only when his nation lay in ruins did Pharaoh agree to our liberation.</li>\n\t<li>Fearful that Pharaoh would change his mind, our people fled, not waiting for their bread dough to rise. (For this reason we eat unleavened bread as we take part in their journey.) Our people did not leave Egypt alone; a “mixed multitude” went with them. From this we learn that liberation is not for us alone, but for all the nations of the earth. Even Pharaoh’s daughter came with us, and traded her old title (bat-Pharaoh, daughter of Pharaoh) for the name Batya, “daughter of God.”</li>\n\t<li>Pharaoh’s army followed us to the Sea of Reeds. We plunged into the waters. Only when we had gone as far as we could did the waters part for us. We mourn, even now, that Pharaoh’s army drowned: our liberation is bittersweet because people died in our pursuit.</li>\n\t<li>To this day we relive our liberation, that we may not become complacent, that we may always rejoice in our freedom.</li>\n</ol>\n", "cliptype": "text", "clipsource": "", "featured": 0, "featuredIn": null, "is_public": 1, "is_published": 1, "media": { "image": null, "audio": null, "video": null }, "thumbnail": null, "clip_section": [ { "haggadah_section": "-- Exodus Story", "slug": "exodus-story" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 206, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "Story of Exodus, Abbreviated. | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "keywords": "", "og:type": "article", "og:url": "https://www.haggadot.com/clip/story-exodus-abbreviated", "og:title": "Story of Exodus, Abbreviated. | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "og:description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "og:image": "" } } }, { "clip": { "is_admin": 0, "is_owner": 0, "handle": "invitation-plant-based-meal-0", "title": "An Invitation to a Plant Based Meal", "author": "Ezra Weissman", "author_handle": "zoweissman165887", "author_initials": "EW", "covertext": "“An Invitation to a Plant-Based Meal”  Adam Gorod, Jewish Veg. D.C. Our food choices during the Exodus were so much simp...", "user_image": "", "user_image_original": "", "body": "<p><strong>“An Invitation to a Plant-Based Meal” </strong><br />\n<em>Adam Gorod, Jewish Veg. D.C.</em></p>\n\n<p>Our food choices during the Exodus were so much simpler. We could subsist on manna alone. Free of animal products, manna was a bread from heaven with a taste like coriander seed. Today the options—even during Passover—are more varied. Any number of Kosher-for-Passover items sit in the curated displays of many supermarkets at the arrival of spring. These options, however, make one fact unavoidable: we are now, at all seasons, responsible for our dietary choices. Even as we reflect on our redemption from slavery, we must consider whether we have taken all of the steps we can possibly take in this day and age to liberate ourselves from the lure of destructive eating habits.</p>\n\n<p>Every day, we decide what foods to consume. We decide whether to eat plant-based foods that have significant benefits for the wellbeing of our health, the planet, other people, and animals. We choose whether to promote environmental sustainability by saving rain forests, protecting wildlife habitats and marine ecosystems, alleviating water shortages and pollution, and reducing antibiotic, growth hormone, and chemical use. We choose whether to minimize world hunger and the dangers confronted by slaughterhouse workers. We choose whether to prevent the abuse, exploitation, and killing of land and sea animals. Passover is a time to appreciate the choices that freedom allows us to make. Each of us should, therefore, welcome this annual opportunity to ensure that our current food choices are in accord with the values we want to embrace.</p>\n", "cliptype": "text", "clipsource": "", "featured": 0, "featuredIn": null, "is_public": 1, "is_published": 1, "media": { "image": null, "audio": null, "video": null }, "thumbnail": null, "clip_section": [ { "haggadah_section": "Shulchan Oreich", "slug": "shulchan-oreich" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 175, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "An Invitation to a Plant Based Meal | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "keywords": "", "og:type": "article", "og:url": "https://www.haggadot.com/clip/invitation-plant-based-meal-0", "og:title": "An Invitation to a Plant Based Meal | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "og:description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "og:image": "" } } }, { "clip": { "is_admin": 0, "is_owner": 0, "handle": "reflections-story-exodus", "title": "Reflections on the Story of Exodus", "author": "Ezra Weissman", "author_handle": "zoweissman165887", "author_initials": "EW", "covertext": "Having now told the story of Jews’ Exodus from Mitzrayim we have come to know Miriam, Moses, Pharaoh, Tzipporah and the...", "user_image": "", "user_image_original": "", "body": "<p><em>Having now told the story of Jews’ Exodus from Mitzrayim we have come to know Miriam, Moses, Pharaoh, Tzipporah and the role each of them played. </em></p>\n\n<p><em>The Exodus story is filled with allies and oppressors, with many of the characters inhabited both roles at different points. The Exodus story, and particularly the story of wandering afterwards</em> <em>, is populated by family members wrestling with what it means to be allied with each other. Since our current struggles can feel like we too are in a desert, let us pause in the desert this Passover to listen for justice. </em></p>\n\n<p><em>If everywhere is a desert then the sand we stand is always shifting, and so is our relationship to each other. Let us take a moment to imagine ourselves thus...</em></p>\n\n<p><strong>Sometimes we are Bat Pharaoh…</strong></p>\n\n<p>...Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing “compassion” without hesitation, pulling the baby out of the river and giving him a home. But when we pull him from the river, he is taken from his people and forced to pretend to be someone else in order to survive. And we know that <strong>he is family and we love him as our son, but we ask impossible things of him</strong>. We ask him to pass for Egyptian, we cut him off from his heritage in the hopes of keeping him safe. We do not recognize the futility, that safety is always an illusion. We do not use our proximity to power to try to change the situation for other babies like him. We can sleep at night because <strong>we tell ourselves we are good people living in a cruel system</strong>, but we do not admit that we could change things if only we would convince our synagogue to support the protests, or to at least stop hiring police officers to protect High Holiday services without questioning whether they make all of our community feel safe.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Sometimes we are Moses…</strong></p>\n\n<p>...conditionally white with Cossack eyes and a quick sunburn, passing but keeping a suitcase by the door just in case. Feeling mostly safe in the palace walls, guilty but not knowing why, until one day everything changes. Until one day we see the Egyptian striking the Israelite and know he is hurting our family—<strong>and </strong><strong>this time</strong><strong> we do not run away</strong>. We know that Moses killed the taskmaster, but we do not do not strike anyone, knowing that violence will not lead to greater justice for our families because violence by those of us who ‘pass’ would be met with greater violence and retaliation against those who cannot hide behind conditional whiteness. So sometimes we are standing next to our our Black husband at the protest, and we are both chanting peacefully but the policeman strikes him and all we can do is choose not to run away, to stand firmly with our hands raised so that we both get hit. <strong>Because family means if you hit him then you hit me.</strong></p>\n\n<p><strong>Sometimes we are Miriam…</strong></p>\n\n<p>...hoping our brother Moses survives the river, knowing danger and feeling unsafe in our Jewish skin, knowing what it means to be hated because of who we are. And then we are Miriam who, given time, a few chapters later mocks Moses’ Black wife Tzipporah. <strong>She confounds us because she is us</strong>, Ashkenazim with conditional whiteness and generations distanced from legal discrimination, not seeing the contradictions in our own character. We are white-skinned Jews celebrating Fifty Years of Freedom Summer and putting on commemorative panels but escorting out anyone who yells BlackLivesMatter. Or, acknowledging Tzipporah but refusing to defend her interracial, interfaith family when Jewish talking heads warn that families like hers are the end of Judaism. <strong>We are descendants of slaves who do not yell back</strong> that Moses had a Black wife and Black children.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Sometimes we are Tzipporah…</strong></p>\n\n<p>…fully capable of defending ourselves but <strong>in need of a few more allies</strong>. Ready to be an ally when it means leaving our family, circumcising our children, and wandering in the desert for decades. And some of us are still Tzipporah. Marveling at how quickly you forget this when our children are killed by the police. Wondering if you will claim us as family when the news paints our children as deserving of their deaths. We wonder why we stand in community to say Kaddish for those we’ve lost and stand on street corners shouting for justice for those who have been stolen from us. <strong>We wonder why our many parts cannot become whole and why our children cannot be a blessing. </strong>Picking up a sign because we have no choice, hoping to see you at the protests even though you do.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Sometimes something miraculous happens…</strong></p>\n\n<p>…an event out of time, an act of God who comes with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and leads us out of Egypt. And in the desert we become a people, shedding the divisions and mentality of slavery so that we become whole–none of us palace people, all of us desert people. <strong>Wandering together towards wholeness.</strong> So that Miriam, a prophet who is human, can choose to change. When she is struck with illness as punishment for her slander of Tzipporah, she can heal and choose new words. And her healing prayer spoken by her brother Moses- <em>El Na Refa Na La</em> -becomes liturgy that can inspire us to overcome the disease of our own racism. We can choose to challenge the narrative, write an editorial or interrupt a General Assembly, <em>tell the pundits that we have always been an Erev Rav, a mixed multitude</em> and if you do not embrace all of our family, then you cannot love any of us. We can choose to pick up our sign and join them in the street, to face the tear gas and the rubber bullets because they are killing our family.</p>\n\n<p>Sometimes, we are all in the street, and the street becomes Sinai,  and we listen for G-d in between our cries. When we march we get one step further through the desert and one step closer to redemption.</p>\n", "cliptype": "text", "clipsource": "", "featured": 0, "featuredIn": null, "is_public": 1, "is_published": 1, "media": { "image": null, "audio": null, "video": null }, "thumbnail": null, "clip_section": [ { "haggadah_section": "-- Cup #2 & Dayenu", "slug": "cup-2-amp-dayenu" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 161, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "Reflections on the Story of Exodus | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "keywords": "", "og:type": "article", "og:url": "https://www.haggadot.com/clip/reflections-story-exodus", "og:title": "Reflections on the Story of Exodus | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "og:description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "og:image": "" } } }, { "clip": { "is_admin": 0, "is_owner": 0, "handle": "whats-table-92", "title": "What's on the table", "author": "Ezra Weissman", "author_handle": "zoweissman165887", "author_initials": "EW", "covertext": "The Seder Plate We place a Seder Plate at our table as a reminder to discuss certain aspects of the Passover story. Each...", "user_image": "", "user_image_original": "", "body": "<p><strong>The Seder Plate</strong></p>\n\n<p>We place a Seder Plate at our table as a reminder to discuss certain aspects of the Passover story. Each item has its own significance.</p>\n\n<p> <em>Maror</em> – bitter herb or horseradish, which represents the bitterness of slavery.</p>\n\n<p> <em>Charoset</em> – A delicious mix of sweet wine, apples, cinnamon and nuts that resembles the mortar used as bricks of the many buildings the Jewish slaves built in Egypt</p>\n\n<p> <em>Karpas</em> – A green vegetable, usually parsley, is a reminder of the green sprouting up all around us during spring and is used to dip into the saltwater</p>\n\n<p> <em>Zeroah </em> – A beet represents the sacrifices we have made to survive. Before the tenth plague, our people slaughtered lambs and marked our doors with blood: because of this marking, the Angel of Death passed over our homes and our first-born were spared.</p>\n\n<p> <em>Avocado</em> – which symbolizes creative power, our rebirth.</p>\n\n<p> <em>Orange</em> - In the early 1980s, Susannah Heschel, a cool jewish lesbian, attended a feminist seder where bread was placed on the seder plate, a reaction to a rabbi who had claimed lesbians had no more place in Judaism than bread crusts have at a seder. “Bread on the seder plate…renders everything chametz, and its symbolism suggests that being lesbian is transgressive, violating Judaism,” Heschel writes. “I felt that an orange was suggestive of something else: the fruitfulness for all Jews when lesbians, gay men, and trans people are contributing and active members of Jewish life.” To speak of slavery and long for liberation, she says, “demands that we acknowledge our own complicity in enslaving others.” One additional item on our seder plate, therefore, is an orange, representing the radical feminist notion that there is—there must be—a place at the table for all of us, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation. May our lives be inclusive, welcoming, and fruitful.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Matzah</strong></p>\n\n<p>Matzah is the unleavened bread we eat to remember that when the jews fled Egypt, they didn’t even have time to let the dough rise on their bread.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Elijah’s Cup</strong></p>\n\n<p>The fifth ceremonial cup of wine poured during the Seder. It is left untouched in honor of Elijah, who, according to tradition, will arrive one day as an unknown guest to herald the advent of the Messiah. During the Seder dinner, biblical verses are read while the door is briefly opened to welcome Elijah. In this way the Seder dinner not only commemorates the historical redemption from Egyptian bondage of the Jewish people but also calls to mind their future redemption when Elijah and the Messiah shall appear.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Miriam’s Cup</strong></p>\n\n<p>The cup is filled with water and placed next to Elijah’s cup. Miriam was the sister of Moses and a prophetess in her own right. After the exodus when the Israelites are wandering through the desert, just as Hashem gave them Manna to eat, legend says that a well of water followed Miriam and it was called ‘Miriam’s Well’. The tradition of Miriam’s cup is meant to honor Miriam’s role in the story of the Jewish people and the spirit of all women, who nurture their families just as Miriam helped sustain the Israelites.</p>", "cliptype": "text", "clipsource": null, "featured": 0, "featuredIn": null, "is_public": 1, "is_published": 1, "media": { "image": null, "audio": null, "video": null }, "thumbnail": null, "clip_section": [ { "haggadah_section": "Introduction", "slug": "introduction" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 168, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "What's on the table | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "keywords": "", "og:type": "article", "og:url": "https://www.haggadot.com/clip/whats-table-92", "og:title": "What's on the table | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "og:description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "og:image": "" } } }, { "clip": { "is_admin": 0, "is_owner": 0, "handle": "elijah-and-miriam-13", "title": "elijah and miriam ", "author": "Ezra Weissman", "author_handle": "zoweissman165887", "author_initials": "EW", "covertext": "Three thousand years ago, a farmer arose in the Middle East who challenged the ruling elite. In his passionate advocacy...", "user_image": "", "user_image_original": "", "body": "<p>Three thousand years ago, a farmer arose in the Middle East who challenged the ruling elite. In his passionate advocacy for common people, Elijah created a legend which would inspire generations to come. Elijah declared that he would return once each generation in the guise of someone poor or oppressed, coming to people's doors to see how he would be treated. Thus would he know whether or not humanity had become ready to participate in the dawn of the Messianic age. He is said to visit every seder, and sip there from his cup of wine.</p>\n\n<p>Let us rise and welcome Elijah to join our seder. </p>\n\n<p>Tonight we welcome two prophets: not only Elijah, but also Miriam, sister of Moses. Elijah is a symbol of messianic redemption at the end of time; Miriam, of redemption in our present lives. Miriam’s cup is filled with water, evoking her Well which followed the Israelites in the wilderness. After the crossing of the Red Sea, Miriam sang to the Israelites a song. The words in the Torah are only the beginning: Sing to God, for God has triumphed gloriously; Horse and driver, God has hurled into the sea. So the Rabbis asked: Why is the Song of Miriam only partially stated in the Torah? And in midrash is found the answer: the song is incomplete so that future generations will finish it. That is our task.</p>\n\n<p>Raise our glasses of water and let's all say together: You abound in blessings, g-d, creator of the universe, Who sustains us with living water. May we, like the children of Israel leaving Egypt, be guarded and nurtured and kept alive in the wilderness to understand that the journey itself holds the promise of redemption.</p>\n", "cliptype": "text", "clipsource": "", "featured": 0, "featuredIn": null, "is_public": 1, "is_published": 1, "media": { "image": null, "audio": null, "video": null }, "thumbnail": null, "clip_section": [ { "haggadah_section": "Bareich", "slug": "bareich" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 165, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "elijah and miriam | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "keywords": "", "og:type": "article", "og:url": "https://www.haggadot.com/clip/elijah-and-miriam-13", "og:title": "elijah and miriam | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "og:description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "og:image": "" } } }, { "clip": { "is_admin": 0, "is_owner": 0, "handle": "lo-dayenu-7", "title": "Lo Dayenu", "author": "Ezra Weissman", "author_handle": "zoweissman165887", "author_initials": "EW", "covertext": "Singing Dayenu is a 1000-year old Passover tradition. The 15-stanza poem thanks God for 15 blessings bestowed upon the J...", "user_image": "", "user_image_original": "", "body": "<p>Singing Dayenu is a 1000-year old Passover tradition. The 15-stanza poem thanks God for 15 blessings bestowed upon the Jews in the Exodus. Had God only parted the seas for us, “It would have been enough” we say for each miracle or divine act, thus humbly appreciating the immensity of the gifts. KB Frazier’s reworking of the poem addresses us, rather than God. It calls us to greater action for justice, saying “lo dayenu” (it would not have been enough) in recognition of the work still unfinished.</p>\n\n<p>1. If we had sparked a human rights revolution that would unite people all over the world and not followed our present day Nachshons as they help us part the sea of white supremacy and institutional racism — Lo Dayenu</p>\n\n<p>2. If we had followed Nachshons like the youth leaders in Ferguson and not heeded the words they spoke from Black Liberation Leader Assata Shakur: It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains — Lo Dayenu</p>\n\n<p>3. If we had learned and chanted the words from Assata Shakur and not protested violence by militarized police — Lo Dayenu</p>\n\n<p>4. If we had protested police use of tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray and rifles pointed at protesters and forgotten that we are all b’tselem elohim, created in God’s image — Lo Dayenu</p>\n\n<p>5. If we had remembered that we are all created in God’s image and not affirmed Black Lives Matter — Lo Dayenu</p>\n\n<p>6. If we had chanted and cried out that Black Lives Matter and not remembered Rekia Boyd, Alyanna Jones, Shantel Davis, Yvette Smith and Tyisha Miller, Black women and girls also killed by police — Lo Dayenu</p>\n\n<p>7. If we had marched for those killed, chanting Hands up Don’t shoot and not recalled the words of Eicha: Lift of thy hands toward Hashem for the life of the thy young children, that faint for hunger at the head of every street. — Lo Dayenu</p>\n\n<p>8. If we had recalled the words of Eicha and not called to attention the school to prison pipeline and the mass incarceration of Black and brown people — Lo Dayenu</p>\n\n<p>9. If we had called attention to the “new Jim Crow” system — and did not truly sh’ma (listen) — Lo Dayenu</p>\n\n<p>10. If we had truly listened to the stories, pain and triumphs of our brothers and sisters of color without feeling the need to correct, erase or discredit them and did not recognize the Pharaohs of this generation — Lo Dayenu</p>\n\n<p>11. If we had worked to dismantle the reigns of today’s Pharoahs and had not joined the new civil rights movement — Lo Dayenu</p>\n\n<p>12. If we had marched, chanted, listened, learned and engaged in this new civil rights movement and not realized that this story is our story, including our people and requiring our full participation — Lo Dayenu</p>\n\n<p>13. If we had concluded that our work is not done, that the story is still being written,that now is still the moment to be involved and that we haven’t yet brought our gifts and talents to the Black Lives Matter movement — Lo Dayenu</p>\n\n\n", "cliptype": "text", "clipsource": "", "featured": 0, "featuredIn": null, "is_public": 1, "is_published": 1, "media": { "image": null, "audio": null, "video": null }, "thumbnail": null, "clip_section": [ { "haggadah_section": "Nirtzah", "slug": "nirtzah" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 173, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "Lo Dayenu | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "keywords": "", "og:type": "article", "og:url": "https://www.haggadot.com/clip/lo-dayenu-7", "og:title": "Lo Dayenu | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "og:description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "og:image": "" } } }, { "clip": { "is_admin": 0, "is_owner": 0, "handle": "karpas-859", "title": "Karpas", "author": "Ezra Weissman", "author_handle": "zoweissman165887", "author_initials": "EW", "covertext": "The karpas gives us the tension between the aliveness of Spring and the bitter tears we wept in the land of Egypt. We ar...", "user_image": "", "user_image_original": "", "body": "<p><br />\nThe karpas gives us the tension between the aliveness of Spring and the bitter tears we wept in the land of Egypt. We are refreshed by the greenness of the karpas, yet our tastebuds wince at the salt water to dip them in, as we recall our own experience of being strangers. Our tongues push our thoughts towards those who are made strangers in our present time, in this country.</p>\n\n<p>We dip the karpas. The salt water is bitter tears running down the cheeks and seeping into the corners of the mouth; tears of all strangers everywhere. Taste them.</p>", "cliptype": "text", "clipsource": null, "featured": 0, "featuredIn": null, "is_public": 1, "is_published": 1, "media": { "image": null, "audio": null, "video": null }, "thumbnail": null, "clip_section": [ { "haggadah_section": "Karpas", "slug": "karpas" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 161, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "Karpas | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "keywords": "", "og:type": "article", "og:url": "https://www.haggadot.com/clip/karpas-859", "og:title": "Karpas | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "og:description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family", "og:image": "" } } }, { "clip": { "is_admin": 0, "is_owner": 0, "handle": "the-four-children-56", "title": "The Four Children", "author": "Ezra Weissman", "author_handle": "zoweissman165887", "author_initials": "EW", "covertext": "(This four people was written by the Jewish Multiracial Network) Leader: On Passover, the Haggadah speaks about four son...", "user_image": "", "user_image_original": "", "body": "<p>(This four people was written by the Jewish Multiracial Network)</p>\n\n<p><b>Leader: </b>On Passover, the Haggadah speaks about four sons; one who is<b> </b>wise, one who is<b> </b>evil, one who is<b> </b>innocent and one who<b> </b>doesn’t know to ask.</p>\n\n<p><b>Reader</b>: Tonight, let’s speak about four people striving to engage in racial justice. They are a complicated mix of identity and experience; they are not simply good or bad, outspoken or silent. They are Jews of Color and white Jews. They are Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ashkenazi; they are young, middle-aged, and elders. They are a variety of people who are at different stages of their racial justice journey. Some of them have been on this journey for their entire lives, and for some, today is the first day. Some of them are a part of us, and others are quite unfamiliar.</p>\n\n<p><b>Reader: </b>What do they say?<b> </b>They ask questions about engaging with racial justice as people with a vested interest in Jewishness and Jewish community. <i>How do we answer?</i><b><i> </i></b>We call them in with compassion, learning from those who came before us.</p>\n\n<p><b>Reader: </b><i>What does a questioner say?</i> </p>\n\n<p>“I support equality, but the tactics and strategies used by current racial justice movements make me uncomfortable.”</p>\n\n<p>Time and time again during the journey through the desert, the Israelites had to trust Moses and God’s vision of a just future that the Israelites could not see themselves. As they wandered through the desert, eager to reach the Promised Land, they remained anxious about each step on their shared journey. They argued that there must be an easier way, a better leader, a better God. They grumbled to Moses and Aaron in Exodus 16:3, “If only we had died by the hand of God in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the cooking pot, when we ate our fill of bread! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to starve this whole community to death.” Despite their grumblings, they continued onward in their journey.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Reader: </strong>As we learn in our Passover retelling, the journey toward liberation can be difficult to map out. There are times when we struggle to identify our own promised land. We see this challenge in various movements, whether for civil rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, workers’ rights, and others. In our retelling of these struggles for justice, we often erase conflicts of leadership, strategy debates, or even the strong contemporary opposition to their successes. Only when we study these movements do we appreciate that all pushes for progress endure similar struggles, indecision, and pushback.</p>\n\n<p><b>Reader</b>: What does a newcomer say?</p>\n\n<p>“How do I reach out and engage with marginalized communities in an authentic and sustained way?”</p>\n\n<p>We tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt year after year; it is a story not only about slavery and freedom, but also a story of transition. At its core, the Passover story is about the process of moving from oppression to liberation. It informs us that liberation is not easy, but a process of engagement and relationship building.</p>\n\n<p>As the Israelites wandered in the desert, they developed systems of interdependence. Every person contributed what they could given their skills, passions, and capacity to create the mishkan, the Israelites’ spiritual sanctuary in the desert. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Reader: </strong>Those of us engaging or looking to engage in racial justice work can learn from that example. We need to show up, and keep showing up. We can spend time going to community meetings, trainings, marches, protests, and other actions while practicing active listening and self-education. Only by each person exploring their own privileges and oppressions, whatever they may be, can we show up fully and thoughtfully in racial justice work.</p>\n\n<p><b>Reader: </b>What does a Jew of Color say?</p>\n\n<p>“What if I have other interests? Am I obligated to make racial justice my only priority?”</p>\n\n<p>The work of racial justice is not only for People of Color; it is something everyone must be engaged in. Most Jews of Color are happy to be engaged in racial justice, whether professionally, personally, or a mix of both. However, too often the burden of the work falls on our shoulders. The work of racial justice cannot only fall to Jews of Color.</p>\n\n<p>Instead, all Jews who are engaged in tikkun olam, repairing the world, should be engaged in the work of racial justice. Following the leadership of Jews of Color, white Jews must recognize their own personal interest in fighting to dismantle racist systems. When white Jews commit to racial justice work, it better allows Jews of Color to take time for self-care by stepping away from the work or focusing on a different issue. As Rabbi Tarfon writes in Pirke Avot 2:21, “It is not your responsibility to finish the work of perfecting the world, but you are not free to desist from it either.”</p>\n\n<p><b>Reader: </b>What does an avoider say?</p>\n\n<p>“I am so scared of being called a racist, I don’t want to engage in any conversations about race.”</p>\n\n<p>Engaging in conversations about difficult subjects takes time and practice. When Joseph first began having prophetic dreams as a young man, he rudely told his brothers that despite his youth, they would eventually bow down to him. In Genesis 37:8, Joseph’s brothers respond by asking, ‘“Do you mean to rule over us?” And they hated him even more for his talk about his dreams.’ However, as he matured, his dreams became his method of survival. As Joseph learned how to share his dreams with people in power, he was able to reunite with his family and create a period of incredible prosperity in Egypt.</p>\n\n<p><b>Reader</b>: We will make mistakes when engaging in racial justice. It is part of the process. Engaging in racial justice conversations can be painful and uncomfortable; it is also absolutely essential. We must raise up the dignity in others that we see in ourselves and our loved ones. Empathy for people of different backgrounds, cultures, religions, and races moves us to have these difficult conversations. Compassion for ourselves allows us to keep engaging through guilt or discomfort.</p>", "cliptype": "text", "clipsource": null, "featured": 0, "featuredIn": null, "is_public": 1, "is_published": 1, "media": { "image": null, "audio": null, "video": null }, "thumbnail": null, "clip_section": [ { "haggadah_section": "-- Four Children", "slug": "four-children" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 159, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "The Four Children | Passover haggadah by Ezra Weissman", "description": "Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. 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