{ "clip_details": { "clip": { "is_admin": 0, "is_owner": 0, "handle": "when-we-imagine-ourselves-allies", "title": "When We Imagine Ourselves Allies ", "author": "Becky Silverstein", "author_handle": "silversteinbecky76039", "author_initials": "BS", "covertext": "When We Imagine Ourselves Allies by Sarah Barasch-Hagans and Graie Barasch-Hagans  BLM Supplement, JREF 2015 A Note fro...", "user_image": "", "user_image_original": "", "body": "<p>When We Imagine Ourselves Allies</p>\n\n<p>by Sarah Barasch-Hagans and Graie Barasch-Hagans </p>\n\n<p>BLM Supplement, JREF 2015</p>\n\n\n\n<p> <em>A Note from Sarah</em> : This piece began as a way of addressing my identity as an Ashkenazi Jew from St. Louis who is involved in activism in Ferguson. Because this experience is so tied up with my relationships with my family and friends of color, I struggle with the abstractness of being a “white ally.” The language of fighting for family makes much more sense to me, as a responsibility incumbent upon me as a member of an interracial family unit and of a larger multiracial human family. When I went to the Exodus story for lessons about allies, I was struck by how many stories of allies and oppressors there were, and of how most of the characters inhabited both roles at different points. This squares with my understanding of intersectional identity and of how we make choices to act based on our perceived power. The Exodus story, and particularly the story of wandering afterwards, 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, I hope this Haggadah supplement is useful to those pausing this Passover to listen for justice, just as the Midrash tells us that entire Jewish family did at Sinai: paused together in the desert to hear the message of justice. If everywhere is a desert then the sand we stand on is always shifting, and so is our relationship to each other. Let us take a moment to imagine ourselves thus...</p>\n\n<p><strong>Sometimes we are Bat Pharaoh</strong>…...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 he is family and we love him as our son, but we ask impossible things of him. 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 we tell ourselves we are good people living in a cruel system, 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>… ...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 knows he is hurting our family—and this time we do not run away. 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. Because family means if you hit him then you hit me.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Sometimes we are Miriam</strong>… ...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. She confounds us because she is us, 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. We are descendants of slaves who do not yell back that Moses had a Black wife and Black children and that #BlackLivesMatter to our people whether or not we acknowledge it. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Sometimes we are Tzipporah</strong>… …fully capable of defending ourselves but in need of a few After the Maggid When We Imagine Ourselves Allies by Sarah Barasch-Hagans and Graie Barasch-Hagans 6 more allies. 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. We wonder why our many parts cannot become whole and why our children cannot be a blessing. 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>… …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. Wandering together towards wholeness. 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-El Na Refa Na La-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, tell the pundits that we have always been an Erev Rav, a mixed multitude 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><strong>Sometimes, we are all in the street, and the street becomes Sinai</strong>… ...but only if everyone shows up, Moses and Miriam and Bat Pharaoh and Tzipporah and all the rest, wrestling with the commandments and trying to hear God. Maybe we are Tzipporah and Bat Pharaoh meeting at a Mother’s March. And maybe we talk about being there because we are both mothers and Mike Brown could have been our son. Or maybe we talk about having ensured the survival of the Jewish people, yet isn’t it ironic that now our community will not march for anyone that looks like us? Or maybe we have nothing to talk about, but a look passes between us and God is there. And maybe our imagining their conversation is a holy act that we desperately need. Because sometimes, if we imagine the rally as Sinai then we listen for God, and when we do we get one step further through the desert and one step closer to redemption.</p>\n", "cliptype": "text", "clipsource": "BLM Supplement, JREJ 2015", "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": 359, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "When We Imagine Ourselves Allies | Passover haggadah by Becky Silverstein", "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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Find artwork, family", "og:image": "" } } }, "contributed_by": { "author": "Becky Silverstein", "handle": "silversteinbecky76039", "author_initials": "BS", "total_books": 4, "total_clips": 8, "total_followers": 0, "is_following": 0 }, "user_book": null, "clips_by_author": [ { "clip": { "is_admin": 0, "is_owner": 0, "handle": "elijahs-cup-and-supporting-collective-liberation", "title": "Elijah's Cup and Supporting Collective Liberation ", "author": "Becky Silverstein", "author_handle": "silversteinbecky76039", "author_initials": "BS", "covertext": "Why Black Lives Matter to a People for Whom G-d Promised a Holy Place By Graie Barasch-Hagans BLM Supplement, JREJ 2015...", "user_image": "", "user_image_original": "", "body": "<p>Why Black Lives Matter to a People for Whom G-d Promised a Holy Place</p>\n\n<p>By Graie Barasch-Hagans</p>\n\n<p>BLM Supplement, JREJ 2015</p>\n\n<p>As Jews we come together in our most vulnerable moments. We come as community to support our mourners in our synagogues and in our homes. As Black folks we have come to the street, to the courthouse, to the town square to demand justice.</p>\n\n<p>Our demands for justice are a communal act to love and support one another. A communal act to remember those who have been taken from us.</p>\n\n<p>We have no kaddish, no framework of remembrance. We have hashtags, freedom songs, and protest chants.</p>\n\n<p>When we say Black Lives Matter we are calling for the recognition of G-d in us all. We are calling for our skin to be recognized as the skin of family, our tears to be recognized as the tears of mothers, of fathers, of lovers, the tears of G-d.</p>\n\n<p>We are a people who know that there is a better world and that it our responsibility, our duty to love and support one another. The stranger, the beggar, and the familial.</p>\n\n<p>For those of us who live our lives through Blackness we cannot separate our duty as Jews from our fears of being strange in a land that though of our birth still does not recognize us fully as present. As Jews who cannot separate from our Blackness we inhabit spaces of silent loss. We struggle to rise as mourners in spaces that call for us to remember our time as slaves in Egypt. To remember that we are not safe as Jews. That are inhabited by the call “Never Again.”</p>\n\n<p>For we are the descendants of slaves with no great escape story. No great memorial to our suffering. No great G-d to intervene on our behalf, to choose us, to form us as a people. And yet for many of us who inhabit both Blackness and Jewishness we feel the deep divide, as the parting of the seas. For if our images of our great escape maintain the dichotomy of light versus dark would the sea fall in on us? Would we be cast aside, swept away in the great tide? Would we be held tight and carried with as much as care as the bread we did not have time to rise? As so many with faces with skin so similar to mine remain in bondage, in isolation, removed from a people still struggling will we return to the voice of “we” in our demand to Let my people go?</p>\n\n\n\n\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": "Commentary / Readings", "slug": "commentary-readings" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 248, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "Elijah's Cup and Supporting Collective Liberation | Passover haggadah by Becky Silverstein", "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/elijahs-cup-and-supporting-collective-liberation", "og:title": "Elijah's Cup and Supporting Collective Liberation | Passover haggadah by Becky Silverstein", "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": "fifth-question-1", "title": "A Fifth Question", "author": "Becky Silverstein", "author_handle": "silversteinbecky76039", "author_initials": "BS", "covertext": "“Why on this night when we remember the oppression and resistance of Jews should we also think about the lives of people...", "user_image": "", "user_image_original": "", "body": "<p>“Why on this night when we remember the oppression and resistance of Jews should we also think about the lives of people of color?” Because many Jews are people of color. Because racism is a Jewish issue. Because our liberation is connected.  (Ferguson, BLM Supplement, JREJ 2015)</p>\n", "cliptype": "text", "clipsource": "BLM Supplement, JREJ 2015", "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": 246, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "A Fifth Question | Passover haggadah by Becky Silverstein", "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/fifth-question-1", "og:title": "A Fifth Question | Passover haggadah by Becky Silverstein", "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": "exodus-and-after-0", "title": "Exodus and After", "author": "Becky Silverstein", "author_handle": "silversteinbecky76039", "author_initials": "BS", "covertext": "Exodus and After (Cynthia Greenberg) 1 leaving is the easy part not where to run, how to get there children pulling at y...", "user_image": "", "user_image_original": "", "body": "<p>Exodus and After (Cynthia Greenberg)</p>\n\n<p><br />\n1<br />\nleaving is the easy part<br />\nnot where to run, how to get there<br />\nchildren pulling at your hems<br />\nso many bags to carry<br />\nwhich way in the dark will you wander<br />\nwhat star use as your guide<br />\nstepping out into the uncertain sands<br />\nwhat then<br />\nit is more than the worry of food, shelter, water, food<br />\nwhat will become of us<br />\nthis is what holds you back<br />\n2<br />\nleaving is the simplest part<br />\nto turn, in panic, anger, disdain, passion<br />\nrent of all trappings, belonging, owing-ness<br />\nto flee<br />\nus running, leaping, all gaiety at bonds released<br />\nthe haze, intoxication, din<br />\nwill we recognize suffering<br />\nnotice disequillibrium bedding down among us<br />\nas we beat freedom drums<br />\nwill we turn to the sounds of still-lacking<br />\n3<br />\nleaving is the onliest part<br />\ndeterminedly setting out through unmapped waters<br />\ngrasping ourselves, the air, what comes next full in our hands<br />\nwe are wild joyfully moving as the dream<br />\nour mothers, fathers, cousins dreamed for us<br />\neven in our haste<br />\nhistory whispers:<br />\nbring all you have borne with you<br />\nleaving it, you will find no peace<br />\nwhat you make of liberation<br />\nthat is the trick<br />\ncan you, unshackled, set someone else free?</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": 224, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "Exodus and After | Passover haggadah by Becky Silverstein", "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/exodus-and-after-0", "og:title": "Exodus and After | Passover haggadah by Becky Silverstein", "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": "cos-miriam", "title": "Cos Miriam ", "author": "Becky Silverstein", "author_handle": "silversteinbecky76039", "author_initials": "BS", "covertext": "Miriam’s cup Miriam’s cup is filled from the same jar of water used to wash the hands, and placed on the table. Miriam...", "user_image": "", "user_image_original": "", "body": "<p><strong>Miriam’s cup</strong></p>\n\n<p> <em>Miriam’s cup is filled from the same jar of water used to wash the hands, and placed on the table.</em> </p>\n\n<p>Miriam’s Cup rests on the table, welcoming Miriam the prophet, sister of Moses and Aaron. It is a symbol of the well of water that followed the people Israel through the wilderness. The well provided physical nourishment through water, but also<br />\nspiritual nourishment, as a constant reminder of the Divine presence within the community. It remains on our table throughout our seder, guiding us in our journey as we reenact the exodus from slavery to freedom tonight.  (From Haggadah Shir Geulah, 2015)</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": "Urchatz", "slug": "urchatz" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 285, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "Cos Miriam | Passover haggadah by Becky Silverstein", "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/cos-miriam", "og:title": "Cos Miriam | Passover haggadah by Becky Silverstein", "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": "yachatz-kavannah", "title": "Yachatz Kavannah", "author": "Becky Silverstein", "author_handle": "silversteinbecky76039", "author_initials": "BS", "covertext": "Why do we break a matzah in half? Why not put a whole matzah away for later? In the next paragraph, we will point to a p...", "user_image": "", "user_image_original": "", "body": "<p>Why do we break a matzah in half? Why not put a whole matzah away for later? In the next paragraph, we will point to a plate with two complete matzot and one broken one and we will say, “This is the bread of oppression.” The bread of oppression is literally broken. When we are liberated, the bread will be whole.  (From Haggadah Shir Geulah, 2015)</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": "Yachatz", "slug": "yachatz" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 225, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "Yachatz Kavannah | Passover haggadah by Becky Silverstein", "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/yachatz-kavannah", "og:title": "Yachatz Kavannah | Passover haggadah by Becky Silverstein", "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": "kiddush-kavannah", "title": "Kiddush Kavannah", "author": "Becky Silverstein", "author_handle": "silversteinbecky76039", "author_initials": "BS", "covertext": "The text of the Kiddush reminds us that the choice to uphold the sacred is in ourhands. We do not directly bless wine, o...", "user_image": "", "user_image_original": "", "body": "<p>The text of the Kiddush reminds us that the choice to uphold the sacred is in ourhands. We do not directly bless wine, or praise its sweetness. Rather, we thankGod for the fruit of the vine. That fruit can also be used to make vinegar, which<br />\nis sharp and bitter. Our actions determine whether this sacred moment in timeinspires bitterness or sweetness, complacency or action. (Other Side of the Sea, Truah 2015)</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": 257, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "Kiddush Kavannah | Passover haggadah by Becky Silverstein", "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/kiddush-kavannah", "og:title": "Kiddush Kavannah | Passover haggadah by Becky Silverstein", "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": "long-road", "title": "The Long Road", "author": "Becky Silverstein", "author_handle": "silversteinbecky76039", "author_initials": "BS", "covertext": "The Low Road - Marge Piercy What can they do to you? Whatever they want. They can set you up, they can bust you, they ca...", "user_image": "", "user_image_original": "", "body": "<p>The Low Road</p>\n\n<p>- Marge Piercy</p>\n\n\n\n<p>What can they do<br />\nto you? Whatever they want.<br />\nThey can set you up, they can<br />\nbust you, they can break<br />\nyour fingers, they can<br />\nburn your brain with electricity,<br />\nblur you with drugs till you<br />\ncan't walk, can't remember, they can<br />\ntake your child, wall up<br />\nyour lover. They can do anything<br />\nyou can't stop them<br />\nfrom doing. How can you stop<br />\nthem? Alone, you can fight,<br />\nyou can refuse, you can<br />\ntake what revenge you can<br />\nbut they roll over you.</p>\n\n<p>But two people fighting<br />\nback to back can cut through<br />\na mob, a snake-dancing file<br />\ncan break a cordon, an army<br />\ncan meet an army.</p>\n\n<p>Two people can keep each other<br />\nsane, can give support, conviction,<br />\nlove, massage, hope, sex.<br />\nThree people are a delegation,<br />\na committee, a wedge. With four<br />\nyou can play bridge and start<br />\nan organization. With six<br />\nyou can rent a whole house,<br />\neat pie for dinner with no<br />\nseconds, and hold a fund raising party.<br />\nA dozen make a demonstration.<br />\nA hundred fill a hall.<br />\nA thousand have solidarity and your own newsletter;<br />\nten thousand, power and your own paper;<br />\na hundred thousand, your own media;<br />\nten million, your own country.</p>\n\n<p>It goes on one at a time,<br />\nit starts when you care<br />\nto act, it starts when you do<br />\nit again and they said no,<br />\nit starts when you say  <em>We</em> <br />\nand know who you mean, and each<br />\nday you mean one more.</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": "Commentary / Readings", "slug": "commentary-readings" } ], "likes": 0, "downloads": 263, "tags": [], "themes": [], "language": "0", "is_bookmarked": "0", "is_liked": 0, "meta_tags": { "title": "The Long Road | Passover haggadah by Becky Silverstein", "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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