Happy Passover
About 30 years ago my mom and her sister friend began a Passover Seder within their community. Mom and my auntie P co-created our beloved Haggadah weaving handmade drawings (see above!) with San Franciscan 1970’s feminist liberation politics. In our tradition, we honor Moses and Miriam (his midwife sister). Our Seder plate has a little lamb statue rather than a real bone out of respect to the vegetarians present. Our hardboiled eggs symbolize renewal and the release of women from the role of only childbearer.
Today we have grown into three tables of people spanning four generations from my grandparents (!) to the 5 grandchildren present. Auntie P is our Jewish pied piper of ceremony, managing the still feisty but now gray-haired feminist lesbians but always welcoming the children with song and playful respect.
One of my favorite passages explains how kids are central to the Seder:
We mean this Seder to encourage them [children] to stand up for freedom and justice in whatever way they choose. We pass on to them our experience that freedom occurs within a person as well as within a country or culture, and remind them to listen to their own hearts, and to be true to what their hearts tell them.
Here’s wishing you freedom in your corner of the world.
Tags: community, Family, freedom, life, Passover
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