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[balmofgilead]

A few days ago at the library I randomly picked up the book Like Bread on The Seder Plate, which is subtitled "Jewish Lesbians and the transformation of tradition" (which seems to adequate summarize what it's about

Comments

[jaclynemily]

yes, that always struck me as strange. if someone had just told me "it's like bread on a seder plate," i'd interpret that as, "it's clearly forbidden and has no place whatsoever in Judaism." in fact, there is another version of the same story (printed in some other book, by a different author) in which the rebbetzin says it's like bread on a seder plate, and goes on to explain that it simple doesn't belong in the Jewish tradition--no mention of it being a small transgression but rather an emphasis on it being clearly out of place and wrong. also, in regards to the feminist tradition of putting bread* on the seder plate, there is a conflicting story that it started when a rabbi told a woman that women belong on the bimah as much as bread belongs on the seder plate.

*or an orange, then it gets even more complicated

wow, the first time i've felt like my senior thesis was useful for something, although that's probably much more than you ever wanted to know about it. thanks!

[ruakh]

There's a feminist tradition of putting bread on the seder plate?

[jaclynemily]

well it's usually an orange. if i remember correctly, one year someone decided to put a piece of bread on the seder plate in solidarity with lesbians or women, but from then on decided to replace it with an orange, because an orange better represents transforming the tradition to make room for more people.

[ruakh]

I've heard of the orange. I'm down with the orange. I'm not so down with the bread. I mean, putting bread on the seder plate is basically like stating upfront, "Ignore me, my opinions have no basis in Judaism, please carry on as if I didn't exist."

[jaclynemily]

yeah, i think most people agree, so the bread idea failed.

[balmofgilead]

Yeah, even as totally secular as I am, that seems ridiculous to me. Eating bread on Pesach is one thing, but choosing to have a seder and putting bread on the table is odd.

[jaclynemily]

http://www.miriamscup.com/Heschel_orange.htm

[ruakh]

Cool, thanks for the link!