The Orange on the Seder Plate
Oranges have been gaining popularity in their placement on the seder plate. It was erroneously thought that this was a feminist move, created by Professor Susannah Heschel, daughter of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Hescel and herself a noted scholar. Not so, says Heschel.
According to an e-mail Professor Heschel sent out a few years ago:
"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, a statement of defiance against a rebbetzin's pronouncement that, 'There's as much room for a lesbian in Judaism as there is for a crust of bread on the seder plate.' 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. Bread on the Seder plate brings an end to Pesach-- it renders everything chametz (not kosher for Passover).
"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. When lecturing, I often mentioned my custom as one of 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? And isn't this precisely the erasure of their existence that gay and lesbian Jews continue to endure, to this day?"
The National Jewish Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity has a free, downloadable Haggadah that integrates Passover traditions within the spirit of the traditional Passover experience, such as a GLBT-specific Seder Plate, the Four GLBT Children, the Prophetess Miriams’ Cup, a time-line of GLBT events that parallels the Magid and much much more.
On another note, will you be in Colorado this Passover?
April 10, Colorado | 4th Annual Queer Seder
Join lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and allied Jews, our families, and friends as we celebrate Passover at Colorado’s 4th Annual Queer Seder. Includes a full seder meal, dessert, wine, and beverages. Jewish dietary laws will be observed. Vegetarian and gluten free options available.
Details:
Time: 5:30 pm
Where: Temple Emanuel, 51 Grape Street, Denver
ADA accessible location
Cost: $25/adults, $15/students and teens, FREE/under 12*
For more information, click here.