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April 6, 2001
Passover edition
Evolutionary seder traditions
From sacred eggs to macaroons, foods are used to tell Passover
story.
RABBI DANIEL S. BRENNER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
What exactly is the egg doing on the seder plate?
The roasted orb has been a guest of honor for generations, and hardly
a word has been spoken in its direction. The matzah, the shank bone,
the bitter herbs - they generate the buzz year after year. But what
would you say about the egg?
After polling some of my friends, I came up with a list of things
we've heard about the neglected egg. At the top, of course, was
"The egg is a symbol of life." Other comments were: "The
egg is symbolic of the Temple sacrifice" (historic), "The
egg reminds us that God has no beginning and no end" (theological),
"The egg is the food of mourning" (psychological), "The
egg is a symbol of springtime and rebirth" (seasonal) and this
rather bizarre one, "The egg is like the Jews - the more time
they spend in oppressive heat the tougher they get."
Where do these references come from? It came as a shock to me that
none of these explanations of the egg appear in either the Bible
or the Talmud. In fact, the only mention we have from ancient sources
is from a rather creative word play. In Aramaic, the language of
the Talmud, the word for egg, beya, is the same word as the word
for please. In the Jerusalem Talmud, there is a suggestion that
on Passover the egg be presented together with the shoulder bone,
suggesting: "Please, God, lift us up from slavery!"
What this tells us is that all the explanations listed above are
relatively new. As Jews in Calcutta, Crakow, Chadera, Caracas and
Cleveland have placed eggs on their seder plates, they've creatively
interpreted the meaning of these ovular delicacies. As a result,
it has become deeply traditional to create new meanings for the
foods eaten on Passover night.
With that historical context in mind, CLAL - The National Jewish
Centre for Learning and Leadership has created a new ritual for
the seder table, all about eggs and the other foods that aren't
part of the Haggadah's telling.
Here is how it is done. Ask the people at your seder table to think
for a moment about eggs. As you point to the egg or pass it around,
ask your guests to connect their thoughts on eggs to the Passover
story. They might say "Peeling an egg is done to free the egg
from its shell - but this peeling is a difficult task, just like
the peeling away of the slavery mentality of our ancestors"
or "An egg, due to its shape, cannot stand without help. From
this we learn that our ancestors needed help to stand up against
Pharaoh." They might speak of the egg itself or, for example,
they might pair the egg with matzah or with the parsley and speak
about how these foods are connected.
Now ask people to suggest connections to any of the other foods
your family shares: the rosemary chicken or macaroons, the figs
or sesame candies. Are there memories of specific family or friends
to whom these foods connect you? Can you creatively relate these
foods to the themes of the Passover seder?
Asking these questions can certainly be a way to add a dose of spontaneity
to your seder. And who knows, maybe in years to come Passover seders
will include some of your family's insights. As we read in the Talmud,
"Eating the charoset was ruled not to be part of the religious
ceremony ... but Rabbi Levi argued that it should be, in memory
of the apple trees [under which Israelite women gave birth to their
children in Egypt]."
Over the years, the Passover seder's ritual has grown from a simple
meal of meat and herbs on matzah to an elaborate feast. This has
happened, in part, because in each generation and in each region,
Jews have creatively added on to the set of foods used to tell the
story. These new practices were not seen as a challenge to the tradition
- they were seen as enhancing it.
That said, I would not be surprised if someday my great-grandchildren's
seder plate has a few extra circles - and maybe even some macaroons.
The Haggadah of the future might read -"These coconut treats
remind us that what is hard to crack on the outside is often sweet
on the inside. Once our ancestors broke free from oppression, they
could taste the sweetness of freedom."
Rabbi Daniel S. Brenner is a senior teaching fellow at CLAL
- The National Jewish Centre for Learning and Leadership.
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