Bobbi Premack Gorban. 2022. Matza.

Artist Statement: This Matza cover is created to acknowledge some women of the Bible or holidays. It is stitched on special fabric that is perfect for the design. It is embellished with beads. Included are pomegranates which are mentioned many times in Judaic writings and one of my favorite symbols to incorporate in my needlework pieces.

Bio: I am an Art teacher & educator. I have worked in Jewish day schools, Hebrew schools and the JCCs in the Washington area. I have taught both children and adults in various other settings. My medium is fiber arts and I have been a member of Art Sites – Judaic Art Guild and the Pomegranate Guild of Judaic Needlework & participated in many art shows and galleries. I have created Hiddur Mitzvah projects such as Tallitot, Matza and Challah covers & kippot. My recent creative endeavor is jewelry. I also design personalized name plaques incorporating Judaic symbols in each letter. I live in Potomac, MD with my husband Larry and we are blessed with 4 grandchildren.

Welcome the updated Art Haggadah produced by The Tasman Center for Jewish Creativity. We're thrilled you've found it and hope this will add beauty, depth, and curiosity to your Passover experience. The value of Hiddur Mitzvah, or beautifying the commandment or ritual object, has always been a central theme for The Tasman Center for Jewish Creativity. We look for ways to beautify our learning, our rituals, and our experiences of Jewish practice. In doing so, we add additional meaning and connection to our engagement with Judaism.  We hope that using this Art Haggadah at your seder will inspire you to think creatively about each of the elements in the seder. Use this one it's own or as a supplement to a traditional haggadah, or use the artwork to beautify your seder table.

Thank you to everyone who contributed artwork to this collaborative project and special thanks to Stephanie Landes for arrangement. 

Learn more about bringing more mindfulness, creativity and intentionality to your life at www.tasmancenter.org.

Wishing you a joyous and creative Passover!

- Rabbi Sarah Tasman and Valerie Brown, Original creation Passover 2021 / 5781, Updated Passover 2022 / 5782

Katherine D’Zmura Friedman. 2021. Progressive Seder Plate [Acrylic on Wood Board]. Washington, D.C.

Artist's Statement: Progressive Seder Plate is a play on the perception of progressive. 

Biography: Katherine D’Zmura Friedman holds an MFA from Parsons The New School For Design and is active in the arts community in Washington, D.C. Katherine lives in the District with her husband Paul and their Pomeranian, Peanut.

Stephanie Landes. 2021. Prayer over the First Cup [Water color].

Artist's Statement:The first cup painting is a symbol of two cups clinging together creating an effect of the wine pouring over eachother into a heart shape. The art piece includes the blessing over the wine, and the reminder that our creator has kepts us alive, raised us up, and brought us to this happy moment. The First Cup is called the "cup of sanctification" that represents the first 'I Will' of God - his promise to free Israelites off from the slavery under the Egyptians.

Bio: Stephanie Landes, is a young adult pursuing her career in expressive arts therapy as she is completing her second year at California Institute of Integral Studies. She has a background in painting and writing, and currently posts her "artspiration" on instagram at stephs_artspiration as well as writes a blog called: wuweiletgoandlive.com. She is continuing learning about her relationship with her Jewish identity and is currently a volunteer for the Tasman Center.

Liz Goldman. 2021. The Art of Intention. [Oil Pastels and India Ink]

Artist's Statement: Working with oil pastels and india ink, this “painting” was made during a Summer Solstice art and yoga retreat led by The Tasman Center for Jewish Creativity in 2019 by Liz Goldman. It represents a chance to take the time to pause and set an intention which is what the ritual of handwashing is all about. It is included here in the Art Haggadah to represent the art of intention. Whether through meditation, writing, art, or a water ritual,  this piece reminds us to be present as we begin the seder.

Bio: Liz Goldman is a California transplant who researches the causes and impacts of tropical deforestation. She lives in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, DC with her husband Ben and twin babies Edith and Simon. 

Elyssa Joy Austerklein. 2021. Karpas. 

Artist's Statement: Karpas is the symbol of rebirth and new growth. We use parsley or a vegetable that comes from the earth. Here the parsley encounter each other, roots and all, inviting one and other into a sort of dance. The bottom of their roots touch the salt water, which we traditionally dip our parsley into. The saltwater reminds us of our tears, possibly the very seed of our expansion.

Bio: Elyssa Joy Austerklein is an artist, yogi, musician, and congregational rabbi. She is a graduate of Brandeis University, BU School of Theology, and the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. Rabbi Elyssa has published in The Forward, eJewish Philanthropy, the journal Kerem, has contributed several times to the “Ask the Rabbis” section in Moment Magazine, and has a poem published in the volume When We Turned Within: Reflections on COVID-19. She is a trained mikveh guide, has led Hallel with Women of the Wall in Jerusalem, and was a "rabbi on the road" for the Institute of Southern Jewish Life. Rabbi Elyssa is a Rabbis Without Borders Fellow, and was named one of America’s 33 most inspiring rabbis of 2015 by The Forward.  She is a devoted wife and mother of two. She is so blessed to have an art piece in this Haggadah alongside her son, Georgie. elyssajoyauster.com

Heather Zeiden Rothstain. Breaking of the Middle Matzah. [pencil and water color and digital drawing tools]

Artist's Statement: The illustration shows the breaking of the middle matzah (Yachatz). The piece was created for a recent class I virtually enrolled in with Parsons School of Design/The New School. The assignment was to create an illustration solely based on the theme of food. I couldn’t help but think of the upcoming holiday of Pesach, which happens to also be my favorite holiday. I knew I had to capture the essence of this holiday; unleavened bread, matzah. One of my favorite memories of the seder as a child, was when my dad broke the middle matzah and took one half to put aside as the afikomen; later to be searched for by my brother and I. I loved the crunch it made when the matzah was broken in two and how the pieces went flying. The illustration was created using the traditional mediums of pencil and watercolor paints. The image was then scanned into Adobe Illustrator where I made additional edits using digital drawing tools.

Artist Bio: Heather Zeiden Rothstain is a Teaching Artist and currently teaches with the Laguna Art Museum and Irvine Unified School District in Orange County, California. She is the Education chair with NextGenOC, a young Jewish professional group. In addition, she has held various other administrative and educator positions in the greater Jewish community, including American Jewish University's Whizin Center for Continuing Education & Institute for Jewish Creativity, the USC Shoah Foundation, Pressman Academy and the Jewish Learning Community of Temple Beth Am, Los Angeles. She was a recipient of the 2016 “Word Grant” Bruce Geller Memorial Prize and created Transforming Jewish Text Through Artists’ Books, in which students explored the Ten Commandments and visualized them through the medium of book arts. 

Allan Tasman. 2021. White Sands. [photography]

Artist's Statement: This photo was taken at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. The gypsum sand is white as snow and occupies a space of 230 square miles.  There are no landmarks in White Sands itself, only distant mountains to the west and north. Warning signs everywhere caution against walking after dark, or where there aren’t a series of red poles placed in the sand marking the way.  It’s overwhelming and scary to venture out beyond the sight of the road, the only tether to safety, knowing people have been lost there and died as little as a mile from the road when they stray from the pole-marked “path”. Contrast this with the 23,000 square miles of the Sinai desert through which the Israelites travelled for 40 years in the exodus from Egypt. Being at White Sands made me think about what it must have been like for a group who had never personally known freedom to set out with few landmarks to guide them on their 40-year crossing those thousands of years ago.  It took a great deal of faith and courage to make that journey. I wonder how much faith we’d have today, living at a time of the greatest migration of refugees for thousands of years and as we relish our own lives of comfort and safety, to set out on that same harsh trek with no guarantee of safety, shelter, food, or water.

Artist Bio: Allan Tasman, M.D., ’69 is Emeritus Professor, Chairman and Schwab Endowed Chair in Social and Community Psychiatry at the University of Louisville. A psychoanalyst, cognitive neuroscience researcher, and past president of the American Psychiatric Association, he has lectured and published extensively around the world.  With his spouse Cathy, an artist, teacher, and mental health advocate, he has three adult children, including Rabbi Sarah Tasman and one grandchild, the brilliant and adorable Griffin Emmett Tasman Hathaway. He spends most of his free time gardening and making photographs. ([email protected])

Elly Malka. 2021. Bread of affliction. [Digital Art]

Artist Bio: Elly went to a Cooper Union program for gifted art students in High School and continued her Art  Studio studies at Stony Brook. She continued drawing, painting, and sculpting for 10 years, and then  became a technical writer and teacher. Today, Elly does digital art using Photoshop and Gimp, and  depicts images of Kabbalah, her spiritual study. Contact Elly at [email protected] for more  information.

Marilyn Banner. 2021. Looking Upward. [paint]

Artist Statement: This painting, Looking Upward was inspired by a legend about the birth and early days of Abraham as the child looked up at the sky and wondered about the source of the sun, the moon, and the stars. It is about innocence and wonder, the sources of the youngest child’s questions at Passover.

Artist Bio: Marilyn Banner has worked in various media including painting, assemblage, and installation, to address wide-ranging content spanning death and darkness, earth and color, light and the spirit. For over a decade she has worked solely with encaustic paint, and is known for her visceral tactile sensibility and intimate abstract explorations of land and water.

Banner earned a BFA from Washington University in St. Louis, and a MSEd from Massachusetts College of Art.  Her work has been featured in Encaustic Art of the 20th Century and in several books by Ori Z.Soltes on Jewish mysticism and art. She has been the recipient of a Montgomery County Arts Council Grant and a Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Creative Fellows Grant. Her woks are held in the collections of the Embassy of Costa Rica, Hebrew Union College/NYC, B’nai B’rith Klutznick Museum/DC, and Sheppard Pratt Hospital (Baltimore), as well as numerous private collections. She has enjoyed ten residencies at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. Banner is a long-term member of Ceres Gallery in NYC. She lives and works in Takoma Park, Maryland with her husband Carl Banner, with whom she produces a monthly performance series. 

Claire Abramovitz. 2021. Four Sons. [Watercolor and Ink]

Artist Statement: Are the four sons separate or really one in the same, symbolizing our fluctuation relationship to Judaism, to the Divine? None of us are wholly wise, wicked, or simple, and often we do not know how to ask. If we, then, are all four sons, it is the response of others and their perspective that become significant. Each figure is permeated by their respective question; does he ask of himself or are we the ones who ask him, have him internalize these ideas? The background colors are similar to each other, and also reminiscent of another famous Pesach four, the four cups of wine. Watercolor and ink

Artist Bio: Claire Abramovitz is an emerging writer and artist currently living and studying in Jerusalem as an Arts and Culture fellow at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. She dabbles in drawing and watercolor. And though she primarily writes for the stage, she is an avid writer of short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. When she is not making art, nine times out of ten she is making some sort of soup for all who will come and eat it.

Valerie Brown. 2021. Narrative Collage. [Collage]

Artist Statement: I've been experimenting with narrative collage making over the last year or so. The experience of sifting through found images to create a story presents unique challenges and requires some intepretive storytelling. A few midrashic intepretations played in to my use of imagery. First, for the plague of frogs, we are told that the frogs were everywhere, even amongst the Egyptian's flour. I included the vessel images for this purpose. Another midrash tells us that the plague of darkness was so complete as to be paralyzing for the Egyptians, so placing the image of the crowd overlaid on an image of space felt apt. I considered a more organized approach with more separate sections for each of the plagues, however, in the end I decided I wanted to capture the overwhelming experience of the plagues. It must have been a constant psychological struggle for the Egyptians to be unaware of what might come next.

Artist Bio: Valerie Brown is a student at Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. When she takes a break from studying Torah and Jewish education, she can be found mining free libraries all over Jerusalem for collage materials. Valerie has been creating in various mediums from a young age, including ceramics, jewelry, and textiles. Since the beginning of COVID lockdowns, she has become a proficient crocheter and has plans to become a candle maker next. 

Weinstein, Elana. 2021. Kos G’ulah. [Mixed Media] 

Artist Statement: Her piece is a mixed media piece (Prismacolor colored pencils and pastels) and she did it within a span of a few hours while watching the “Prince of Egypt.” The theme of this piece focuses on the “2nd cup of wine” known as Kos G’ulah (redemption/deliverance). Elana enjoyed working on this and sharing her interpretation of when our ancestors came out of Egypt. Big focus on water as freedom from crossing the Red Sea and fire as symbol of power and also the burning bush Moses encountered before he was told by the divine to help his people become free from slavery.

Artist Bio: Elana Weinstein resides in the Metropolitan Detroit area and just returned to where she grew up after spending several years “wandering and exploring” Chicago and most recently, Colorado. She received her MSW from The University of Michigan with a focus on Community Organizations and Social Systems. Since Elana was young, she has expressed her creativity through drawing. Originally, Elana was an art education major and then found her true calling in social work. Elana has always felt a large tug to tie her passions of community, judaism, social justice and art and was thrilled of the opportunity to contribute to this Haggadot. Currently, Elana is a cohort participant in the Jewish Ethics and Social Justice Certificate Program at JTS on “Zoom.”

Over the years, Elana has dabbled in her craft and believes that this year is time to deepen her relationship with art. She tends to wrestle with it just like her relationship to Judaism. Elana is inspired to work on combining her art background more with her career in the Jewish communal/social work world. If you want to get in touch with Elana, you can find her on her IG: tikkunelana also check out her blog: tikkunelana.com 

Rabbi Sarah Tasman. 2021. Dayenu: Gratitude and Abundance. [Photograph]

Artist Statement: Dayenu is a song that reminds us to be grateful.  Had God only brought us out of Egypt, that would have been enough. Had God only given us the Torah, that would have been enough. Had God only given us Shabbat, that would have been enough. Though we only sang the first three stanzas growing up, Dayenu actually goes on for 15 verses. I chose to represent this sense of abundance and gratitude with an image from a retreat that I led a few years ago for Summer Solstice. In the center, a plate of seasonal items including fruits, vegetables, spices and natural objects reminds us to harvest and take stock of the season. Reminiscent of the seder plate, this round platter evokes the circular nature of the wheel of the Jewish year cycle. Passover is springtime, renewal, and rebirth at its fullest. Surrounding the plate in the center are cups of india ink and art work made by each of the participants. Like the song Dayenu, the retreat also represents gratitude and abundance. If we had only gathered for the season, it would have been enough. If we had only had a meditation and movement, it would have been enough. If we had only done the plate making ritual, it would have been enough. If we only did the art making, it would have been enough. Take the time to notice the many layers of gratitude and abundance at your seder. 

Artist Bio: Rabbi Sarah Tasman is the founder of the Tasman Center for Jewish Creativity which offers. Rabbi Sarah specializes in leading experiential spirituality and Jewish mindfulness classes, providing opportunities for personal and professional development, and incorporating expressive modalities including writing, yoga, art and ritual. She was ordained by the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College in 2012. She also holds a master of Jewish Education and a certificate of non-profit management. Rabbi Sarah completed her 200 Hour Yoga & Meditation Teacher training at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in 2014. She is a Rabbis Without Borders Fellow and member of the Kenissa: Communities of Meaning network. She serves on the board of Shalom Learning. Learn more at www.tasmancenter.org or on Facebook or Instagram.

Aliza Boyer. 2021. Sacred Reminder. 

Artist Statement: As we navigate Passover during this time of great challenge and uncertainty, we have been constantly washing our hands and sanitizing our surroundings, Rachtzah—the second  hand-washing and 6th step in the seder—marks a transition in the Passover story of hardship and affliction to redemption, hope, and freedom. Rachtzah comes before the blessing and eating of matzah and sets us up for a new mindset. Washing our hands is a visceral reminder of our responsibilities: that we are all interconnected, share precious resources, and rely on one another for well-being. It is a ritual as well as a practical action, this time with a blessing that sets this washing apart and elevates the act from other times we wash our hands. It also reminds us that there are so many without access to clean water - in Texas and Oklahoma, and in the ongoing plight in Flint, Michigan. Water is vital to life, health, and growth. Rachtzah can remind us that we are responsible for protecting ourselves, one another, and the environment. Let’s hope that this year our hand-washing and symbolic expression of washing away impurity (while we sing “Dayenu”!?) helps to finally wash away what has been plaguing us for too long, and gets us closer to wider protection and greater freedom.

Artist Bio: Aliza Boyer is an artist and arts educator who has been creating handmade ketubahs and other contemporary Judaica for over 18 years through her Brooklyn-based design studio, Ketubah Graphia. After studying art at the Claremont Colleges in California, teaching, and working on public art projects in Los Angeles, Aliza moved to New York City to pursue a graduate degree in arts education at NYU. She has remained in NYC working as an arts educator and administrator at the Museum of Arts and Design, Lincoln Center, Society of Illustrators/Museum of Illustration and more. Aliza enjoys sharing and learning about modern Jewish and cross-cultural ritual through her artistic practice, working directly with people to create meaningful designs, as well as collaborating with other illustrators and artists.

Sarah Berman. 2021. 

Artist Bio: Sarah Berman is a graphic designer and calligrapher based in New York City. She’s been interested in words as long as she can remember, and received her B.A. in Linguistics at Macalester College, in St. Paul, MN, where she also studied ethnomusicology. Most recently, she worked as a graphic designer for a local synagogue, but is working freelance as of this year. In her free time, Sarah is an active member of her local chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), a medieval re-creation group dedicated to researching and promoting the arts, cultures, and learning of various medieval societies in a creative, supportive environment.

Sarah thinks that words and languages are the coolest things in the world, especially when it comes to the endless possibilities presented by different orthographical traditions around the world. She loves to use them in her art to communicate something that is more than the sum of its parts. She is also inspired by the history and tradition of art, and likes to make subtle and overt references to history and culture in her art.

Find her graphic design portfolio at www.designbysarahb.com, and her Etsy shop (featuring mostly calligraphy) at www.etsy.com/shop/SimpleScribe.

Shoshana Spencer. 2021. Redemption. [Digital Collage]

Artist Statement: This digital collage was created from a photo I took in 2009 in Jerusalem, Israel. 

Matzah is a symbol of redemption, hope and freedom. At the end of the seder we optimistically exclaim, “L’Shana Haba B’Yerushalayim” or “Next Year in Jerusalem.” It is also a symbol of affliction and humility -- a reminder of our collective tribulations -- like the aging ruins of the temple in the Old City. By consuming the Matzah, we may come to embody these ideas more fully.

Artist Bio: Shoshana Spencer is a mixed media visual artist and art educator based in Brooklyn, NY. She received her BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Tufts University in 2013. A certified art teacher, she received her Master of Arts in Teaching from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2017. She teaches Digital Art full time to grades 6-12 at York Prep School in Manhattan, and is the Chair of the Art Department.

Marc Tasman. 2021. About Bitterness. [Digital Arts]

Artist Statement: About Bitterness--we know it has a tendency to bite back. That doesn’t mean that you have to hold lingering resentment about it. Try experiencing what else bitterness has to offer: Refreshment and a call to alertness; a heightened sense of the brightness of things and the dark, earthy undertones hidden below those high notes in herbal potions. Clearing out, like a clarion call; forceful and strong; a real zing-zinger. Sharp, tart, acerbic with aromatic compounds of a botanical matter. Coniferous, medicinal, vegetal, savory. But don’t fixate on the burning. Let the bitter herb teach you how to let go of those caustic vapors. And please always wear your protective personal equipment when processing potent plants

Artist Bio: Marc Tasman is an Intermedia artist focusing his research-creation on the strengths of social technologies to create meaning in culture. He is currently director of the interdisciplinary Digital Arts and Culture and a Senior Lecturer in the Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His mission, through teaching and community engagement, is to empower people to innovate with new media forms and creative enterprises. You may recognize Tasman’s work from his photographs published in the New York Times Digital Edition, The Huffington Post, Mother Jones, and Tablet Magazine; from his proto-selfie Ten Year Polaroid Project; from his drawing of iconic former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; or from photographs of his ritualized bread-making on social media

Samantha Vinokor-Meinrath. 2021. Bitter/Sweet. [Paper]

Artist Statement: In creating art to represent Korech, the “Hillel Sandwich” part of the Passover seder, what immediately drew me in was the dichotomies that this part of the seder embodies. I wanted to portray complexity, with contrasting colors and elements showing that different, sometimes disparate pieces, are able to come together into something larger than themselves. The seder is the embodied reenactment of an age-old story of transitioning from slavery to freedom, and darkness to light. As all of us are constantly on individual journeys, we spend time in the gray area between poles such as dark/light, past/future, etc. Putting the various pieces together is a lifelong pursuit, embodied by the bitterness and sweetness of this juncture. 

Artist Bio: Dr. Samantha Vinokor-Meinrath is a lifelong Jewish educator and learner. An alumna of the University of Pittsburgh (BA), the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (MA), Gratz College (EdD), and the Pardes Experiential Educators Program, Samantha has taught learners of all ages across North America and in Israel, and specializes in the engagement and identity development of Jewish adolescents and emerging adults. She currently serves as the Associate Director of Adolescent Initiatives for the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland, and is an adjunct lecturer in Jewish Education at Gratz College. She has received awards as a researcher/practitioner for her doctoral dissertation, An Exploration of Jewish Identity Development in Generation Z Religious School Alumni. Samantha lives in Pepper Pike, Ohio, with her husband and two beloved rescue dogs.

Austerklein, Georgie. 2021. The Passover Meal. 

Artist Statement: This drawing was done especially for this Haggadah to represent family gathered at the table for the festive Passover meal.

Artist Bio: Georgie Shalom Austerklein is almost 6 years old. He likes Jigglypuff, rollercoasters and bioluminescent marine life. His favorite school subjects are zoology, biology and geography. Georgie also loves nature.

Faygle Train. 2021. Group of Animals enjoying Pesach. [Digital Art]

Artist Statement:This engaging colouring page was designed during the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020 in order to bring some Pesach cheer to my community during a challenging time. I drew upon my educator background to create a series that depicted a group of animals enjoying Pesach - from burning the chametz to finding the dessert afikomen. I deliberately chose a mix of mammals, reptiles, and marine life as a nod to my personal love for wildlife as well as a fun way to represent diversity within the Jewish community. I was delighted to see so many children and adults using this series as a teaching tool, stress reliever, and way to decorate their homes for Pesach - and I hope it continues to spread happiness.

Artist Bio: Faygle Train is an educator and artist with a passion for environmental and social justice. Before moving from Toronto to Israel, Faygle completed a B.F.A. Hons. with a focus on black and white photography, a B.Ed. in high school education, and numerous courses at the Academy of Realist Art where she learned the classical techniques of the masters. Her art has been published in books, displayed in shows, splashed on theatre backdrops and props, and decorated on school walls in rural villages. In addition to creating art, Faygle has taught in high schools for Armenian and Arab youth in the Old City of Jerusalem and for Jewish youth in the Israel Goldstein Youth Village. She now works at the Shalom Hartman Institute after time at the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development and its affiliate NGO, Jewish Eco Seminars. Her earlier work on women’s health and human rights in Nepal with Tevel b’Tzedek (Earth in Justice) ignited her profound interest in sustainability and global development from a Jewish perspective. She now lives in Jerusalem, Israel and in her spare time is a set designer and foster-dog mom when she’s not trying to save the planet or playing with mosaics.

Suzie Amelia Kline. 2021.

Bio: Suzie Amelia Kline is an artist, spiritual director and writer.  Her primary focus is on mindful drawing, painting, and paper arts.  Her photography and most of her work draws on inspiration from the natural world.  Suzie Amelia feels her art is her most direct line to G!d.  She lives in Bethesda, MD with her beloved partner, Miles, and her bichon frise, Jet.

Suzie Amelia Kline. 2022. Clematis Blessing

Artist Statement: Suzie Amelia Kline is an artist, spiritual director, and writer.  Her primary art focus is on mindful drawing, painting, and paper arts.  Her photography and most of her work draws on inspiration from the natural world. Suzie Amelia feels her art is her most direct line to G!d.  She lives in Bethesda, MD with her beloved partner, Miles, and her bichon frise, Jet.

LaurieAnn Yeisley-Drogin. 2022. Miriam's Cup 5782.

Artist Statement: 

"Daughter of"

"Sister of"

You had a name

Guardian of the young and helpless

Sustainer of your people

Prophet raising spirits in celebration

Daughter, Sister, Guardian, Sustainer, Prophet

Every woman of every generation

Has wandered her own desert

Guarding, sustaining, raising spirits

From generation to generation

Women have kept the stories of our people alive

From generation to generation

Women have been guardians of the young and helpless

Hiding children in baskets on the Nile and in attics and under floorboards in Berlin and Kiev

From generation to generation

Women have been sustainers of our people

Telling the stories, sharing the recipes, lighting candles in the darkness

From generation to generation

Women have been prophets of hope

Leading songs of defiance, celebration, and deliverance in the face of tyranny and despair

From generation to generation

Your story sustains your daughters as living water sustained those who wandered at G-d's direction

We raise your cup

We say your name

Miriam

This piece came to me as a dream, with women of varying hues, of many generations, carrying Miriam's Cup to establish our place at the seder. As we celebrate the deliverance of the Exodus, one of many survival stories of our people, we remember the women who have been at the heart of every Passover meal, generation after generation, and we celebrate them.

Eitan Marcum (he/they). 2021. Praise Gd in the small moments. [photograph]

Artist Statement: It feels easy to praise Gd in the big things: the grand moments of sky-on-fire sunsets, rays of light filtering through the trees of a forest, the birth of a child, accomplishing something you’ve been working toward. But do you notice the smaller moments? The bees in the trees just doing what they do and making sure we have food to eat by doing it, the bright colors of a flower that are so pleasing to our eye, the rich smell of melting chocolate, the snails in the garden leaving shimmering trails of slime. Can you praise Gd for the hard moments when you’re late for work, when the printer jams, or the sink backs up? What a wonderful thing it is to be able to simultaneously praise Gd for our freedom and for the strength to work towards a better world and collective liberation.

Artist Bio: Eitan Marcum (he/they) has been pursuing photography as a hobby for over a decade and uses it as a way to slow down and pay attention to what’s physically near by. A graduate of Humboldt State University and alumnus of Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, Eitan is an enthusiastic Torah student and excited to start Hebrew College’s Rabbinical Program in the Fall.

Serena Faye Feingold. 2021.

Artist Bio: Serena Faye Feingold is a community artist, illustrator, and object maker whose work centers around memory, heritage, and visual storytelling. She received a BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, and a certification in Majolica glazing from the Scuola d'Arte Ceramica Romano Ranieri in Deruta, Italy. In 2017, she completed a residency at the Skopelos Foundation for the Arts in Skopelos, Greece. Serena is currently living in Branford, Connecticut, where she works virtually for an emerging artist non-profit and runs her jewelry and illustration studio.

Jen Berger. 2021.

Artist Statement: There are many legends about Miriam’s Well. It is said to have been a magical source of water that followed the Israelites for 40 years because of the merit of Miriam. The waters of this well were said to be healing and sustaining. Thus Miriam’s Cup is a symbol of all that sustains us through our own journeys. - www.myjewishlearning.com 

Miriam carries the jug of water on her head. The water symbolizes the source of water for Jews in the desert, and the nourishment and sustenance that both water, and women, bring to a community. The weight of the jug on her head symbolizes the weight that women often carry in this world to provide and support our loved ones. 

Artist Bio: Jen Berger works as an interdisciplinary, community, and socially engaged artist and educator. Jen uses street, stage and guerilla theater, visual arts, painting, printmaking, puppetry, video for education, and dialogue to raise awareness and intervene in social issues that affect us all. Jen works as a teaching artist, working with students, from early childhood through adults, and hosts creative and educational workshops throughout the community to engage in dialogue and action.  Along with individually designed projects, Jen is creating community engagement opportunities through her new project ‘At the Root. She is currently adjunct faculty at the Community College of Vermont and Champlain College.

Lizzie Sivitz created this original piece for a joint program with The Tasman Center for Jewish Creativity called The Art of Mezuzah. We are including it here in our Art Haggadah as a visual reminder of the freedom and redemption the Israelites experienced in the Passover story. Mt. Sinai plays an important role in the Passover story, since that is where Moses spoke with God at the burning bush and was told to lead the Israelites out of slavery. After leaving Egypt they made their way to Mt. Sinai where they received the 10 Commandments. This piece reminds us of the intensity, emotion, joy, relief and awe felt at that moment.  - Rabbi Sarah Tasman

Artist Bio: Lizzie works with her partner, Rabbi Hayley, to run Base at Cornell Hillel. Lizzie is from Bainbridge Island, WA. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2013. After college, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue comedy writing. Deciding that telling jokes was more fLizzie works with her partner, Rabbi Hayley, to run Base at Cornell Hillel. Lizzie is from Bainbridge Island, WA. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2013. After college, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue comedy writing. Deciding that telling jokes was more fun around the Shabbat table than in the club, she moved to Tel Aviv in 2018, where she met Rabbi Hayley. Together Rabbi Hayley and Lizzie created Nireh Or, a weekly creative response to the Parsha, which you can find on Instagram and Facebook. Lizzie spends her free time traveling, drawing, painting, printmaking, and baking.un around the Shabbat table than in the club, she moved to Tel Aviv in 2018, where she met Rabbi Hayley. Together Rabbi Hayley and Lizzie created Nireh Or, a weekly creative response to the Parsha, which you can find on Instagram and Facebook. Lizzie spends her free time traveling, drawing, painting, printmaking and baking.

Cathy Tasman. 2021. New Beginings. [Fabric]

Artist Statement: Using only remnants of fabric and threads, it gave me much joy to create a whole when before there was nothing. This piece began fifty years ago from my fabric scraps and embroidery thread, but was just completed recently incorporating hand dyed yarn saved from twenty years ago. In this stitched composition, there are many threads and fabric scraps that have come together with love to create something where there was nothing before.
So may our diverse beliefs and cultures come together and seek to establish a bond in spirit with each other, full of tolerance, compassion, hope and peace.

As we pray , “...next year in Jerusalem”, let this be not only the conclusion to the Seder ceremony , but a beginning for all who hope.

Artist Bio: Cathy Goldstein Tasman received her BFA, summa cum laude, from Newcomb College of Tulane University, spending one year at the Exeter College of Art, Exeter, England. She received  her MFA from the University of Kentucky.  She has participated in exhibits at the Speed Museum, The Louisville Visual Arts Association and other shows. Her main focus has been printmaking in addition to interests in painting, drawing, collage and paper making and fiber arts. She has taught art in schools for children kindergarten through middle school age. She has been active as a volunteer in anti-stigma work for mental illness and is a past president of the American Psychiatry Association Alliance, receiving a special Presidential Commendation  from the American Psychiatry Association. She is a past board member of the Temple in Louisville, KY, where she worked on redesigning the Bima decor and furniture. She lives in Louisville, KY and is the mother of three adult children and a proud grandmother. 

Leo Potashnick. 2022. Mishpacha.

This haggadah wouldn't have been possible without our amazing contributors. Thank you to all the artists! 

If you feel inspired to create a piece (perhaps to be featured in next year's haggadah...) please post on social media and tag us @thetasmancenter! 

Wishing you a Chag Sameach!