April 25, 2003/Nisan 23 5763, Vol. 55, No. 35
Seder brings women together
ALISA SLOAN
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 Women dance at the Temple Chai Women's Passover Seder April 21. Photo by Alisa Sloan |
This tradition originated after the first female rabbis were ordained, when a man stood up during a speech given by Susannah Heschel and announced, "A woman belongs on the bima as much as an orange belongs on a seder plate."
There was also a Miriam's cup on each table, which the women filled with water from their own glasses while recognizing a woman who had made an impact on their own lives.
Cantor Sharona Feller led the approximately 80 attendees in prayer, sharing and song in a woman-centric service adapted from the traditional Passover seder. Each participant had her own reason for being there.
Suzi Abramson-Johnson has attended the women's seder for the past five years. A veteran of women's seders in New York and Milwaukee, Abramson-Johnson came to her first seder at Temple Chai "not knowing a soul."
"I just sat down at a table. I was petrified. And I loved it," she recalls.
What makes it special for Abramson-Johnson is "the community, being with women of all ages, young, old, seeing the connections of the generations." Since her family lives out of town, the synagogue has become her local family, she says.
Abramson-Johnson also cites Feller as a reason for attending. "When (Feller) does something you want to be a part of it; you know it's going to be beautiful. I come every Shabbos and I'm here a lot and I sing in the choir, but she just makes it a place you want to be."
Another participant, Teresa Berman, agrees.
"It's the connection. I think women are amazing and I think that we don't have enough opportunities to celebrate those aspects of who we are as women, as Jewish women."
Further, says Berman, the women's seder gives women the chance to do something special for themselves.
"When we do these things that are for women only, we look at things in a way that we can only see them as women," says Berman. "We can't see some of these events the same way when we're fixing dinner, when we're taking care of other people. When we sit together, we take care of each other in a different way.
"When I'm in my home, I'm the mother, or I'm the daughter, and I'm the wife, and I'm in relation to other people. When I sit here," explains Berman, "it's me in relation to myself, and the people that sit around me are feeling the same thing."