{ "clip_details": { "clip": { "is_admin": 0, "is_owner": 0, "handle": "orange-5", "title": "The Orange", "author": "Evan & Ashley", "author_handle": "ashley-sullivan", "author_initials": "EA", "covertext": "The Orange on the Seder Plate By Susanna Heschel, April 5, 2001 In the early 1980s, the Hillel Foundation invited me to...", "user_image": "https://assets.haggadot.com/users/116605/conversions/profile1592148474364179-thumb.jpg", "user_image_original": "https://assets.haggadot.com/users/116605/profile1592148474364179", "body": "<p>The Orange on the Seder Plate</p>\n\n<p>By Susanna Heschel, April 5, 2001</p>\n\n<p>In the early 1980s, the Hillel Foundation invited me to speak on a panel at Oberlin College. While on campus, I came across a Haggadah that had been written by some Oberlin students to express feminist concerns. One ritual they devised was placing a crust of bread on the Seder plate, as a sign of solidarity with Jewish lesbians (there’s as much room for a lesbian in Judaism as there is for a crust of bread on the Seder plate) Charoset, a mixture of fruit, nuts, wine and spices, represents the mortar our ancestors used to build the structures of Mitzrayim At the next Passover, I placed an orange on our family’s seder plate. During the first part of the Seder, I asked everyone to take a segment of the orange, make the blessing over fruit, and eat it as a gesture of solidarity with Jewish lesbians and gay men, and others who are marginalized within the Jewish community (I mentioned widows in particular). Karpas, a green vegetable, symbolizes hope and renewal. Chazeret, the bitter herb for the “sandwich” we eat later, following the custom established by Hillel the Elder, as a reminder that our ancestors “ate matzah and bitter herbs together” (20) Bread on the Seder plate brings an end to Pesach – it renders everything hametz. And it suggests that being lesbian is being transgressive, violating Judaism. I felt that an orange was suggestive of something else: the fruitfulness for all Jews when lesbians and gay men are contributing and active members of Jewish life. In addition, each orange segment had a few seeds that had to be spit out – a gesture of spitting out, repudiating the homophobia of Judaism. (All the items on the Seder plate also correspond to different kabbalistic sephirot) 19 (21) 20 Why An Orange on the Seder Plate? When lecturing, I often mentioned my custom as one of the many new feminist rituals that have been developed in the last twenty years. Somehow, though, the typical patriarchal maneuver occurred: My idea of an orange and my intention of affirming lesbians and gay men were transformed. Now the story circulates that a man said to me that a woman belongs on the bimah as an orange on the seder plate. A woman’s words are attributed to a man, and the affirmation of lesbians and gay men is simply erased. Isn’t that precisely what’s happened over the centuries to women’s ideas? Keep one orange on the Seder plate, and pass out orange slices. As we hold the fruit in our hands, shout out marginalized and invisibilized folks that we want to recognize and fully welcome in to the circle of the loving community we are creating.</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": 218, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "The Orange | Passover haggadah by Evan & Ashley", "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/orange-5", "og:title": "The Orange | Passover haggadah by Evan & Ashley", "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": "Evan & Ashley", "handle": "ashley-sullivan", "author_initials": "EA", "total_books": 1, "total_clips": 4, "total_followers": 0, "is_following": 0 }, "user_book": null, "clips_by_author": [ { "clip": { "is_admin": 0, "is_owner": 0, "handle": "keeping-quiet", "title": "Keeping Quiet", "author": "Evan & Ashley", "author_handle": "ashley-sullivan", "author_initials": "EA", "covertext": "Keeping Quiet by Pablo Neruda Now we will count to twelve and we will all keep still. For once on the face of the earth,...", "user_image": "https://assets.haggadot.com/users/116605/conversions/profile1592148474364179-thumb.jpg", "user_image_original": "https://assets.haggadot.com/users/116605/profile1592148474364179", "body": "<p>Keeping Quiet by Pablo Neruda</p>\n\n<p>Now we will count to twelve<br />\nand we will all keep still.<br />\nFor once on the face of the earth,<br />\nlet's not speak in any language;<br />\nlet's stop for one second,<br />\nand not move our arms so much.<br />\nIt would be an exotic moment without rush,<br />\nwithout engines;<br />\nwe would all be together in a sudden strangeness.<br />\nFisherman in the cold sea would not harm whales<br />\nand the man gathering salt would look at his hurt hands.<br />\nThose who prepare green wars,<br />\nwars with gas, wars with fire,<br />\nvictories with no survivors,<br />\nwould put on clean clothes<br />\nand walk about with their brothers in the shade, doing nothing.<br />\nWhat I want should not be confused with total inactivity.<br />\nLife is what it is about; I want no truck with death.<br />\nIf we were not so single-minded about keeping our lives moving,<br />\nand for once could do nothing,<br />\nperhaps a huge silence might interrupt this sadness of never understanding ourselves<br />\nand of threatening ourselves with death.<br />\nPerhaps the earth can teach us<br />\nas when everything seems dead and later proves to be alive.<br />\nNow I'll count up to twelve and you keep quiet and I will go.<br />\n<br />\n—from Extravagaria (translated by Alastair Reid, pp. 27-29, 1974)</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": "Conclusion", "slug": "conclusion" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 249, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "Keeping Quiet | Passover haggadah by Evan & Ashley", "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/keeping-quiet", "og:title": "Keeping Quiet | Passover haggadah by Evan & Ashley", "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": "shabbat", "title": "Shabbat", "author": "Evan & Ashley", "author_handle": "ashley-sullivan", "author_initials": "EA", "covertext": "Our Shabbat table becomes the symbolic representation of the Mishkan in our home. We light Shabbat candles; symbolic of...", "user_image": "https://assets.haggadot.com/users/116605/conversions/profile1592148474364179-thumb.jpg", "user_image_original": "https://assets.haggadot.com/users/116605/profile1592148474364179", "body": "<p>Our Shabbat table becomes the symbolic representation of the Mishkan in our home. We light Shabbat candles; symbolic of the sacred lamp, the menorah. We say kiddush over wine, symbolic of the sanctification of the meal, taken from the sacrifices made. We have two challahs symbolic of the shew-bread. We sprinkle salt on the challah before we eat it, symbolic of the destruction of the Temple modeled after the Mishkan. The cutting of the challah with the knife is symbolic of our sacrificing the animals brought to the altar. Some substitute the use of the knife by pulling apart the Challah as a way of demonstrating that violence is not condoned and that Shabbat is a time of peace. Before we say the Motzi, the blessing over bread before we eat, we wash our hands, symbolic of the priest’s using the laver. While we are washing our hands, we are purifying our souls. We are silent before the Motzi blessing, to make sure that that purity is sustained into the first bit of our Shabbat meal and beyond.</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": "Kadesh", "slug": "kadesh" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 214, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "Shabbat | Passover haggadah by Evan & Ashley", "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/shabbat", "og:title": "Shabbat | Passover haggadah by Evan & Ashley", "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": "heschel", "title": "Heschel", "author": "Evan & Ashley", "author_handle": "ashley-sullivan", "author_initials": "EA", "covertext": "Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy. And yet being alive is no answer to the problems of living. To be or not...", "user_image": "https://assets.haggadot.com/users/116605/conversions/profile1592148474364179-thumb.jpg", "user_image_original": "https://assets.haggadot.com/users/116605/profile1592148474364179", "body": "<p>Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy. And yet being alive is no answer to the problems of living. To be or not to be is not the question. The vital question is: how to be and how not to be...to pray is to recollect passionately the perpetual urgency of this vital question.</p>\n\n<p>-Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel</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": "Hallel", "slug": "hallel" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 211, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "Heschel | Passover haggadah by Evan & Ashley", "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/heschel", "og:title": "Heschel | Passover haggadah by Evan & Ashley", "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_remake_history": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "The Orange | Passover haggadah by Evan & Ashley", "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/orange-5", "og:title": "The Orange | Passover haggadah by Evan & Ashley", "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": "" } }