On Fruit
Tonight at Passover Seder, Lisa—the hostess—singled me out and asked if I knew why there was an orange on the Seder centerpiece.
There was no mention of a damned orange in the Wikipedia articles on Passover that I’d spent the better part of this weekend poring over, including the bookoos of “Passover foods”-tagged pages that I’d read.
Defeated, I shook my head.
Lisa launched into her explanation before I could ask for one—as she frequently tends to do. “A Jewish man once said that ‘A woman had as much business being a Rabbi as an orange did on a Seder plate.’ So, as a feminist, there will always be an orange on my Seder plate.”
I’m pretty sure the tale of the misogynist rabbi is actually myth tho, the orange is more of a symbolic representation of the “fruitfulness” of all Jews, including women and queer people. It’s a great tradition tho, I love it.
We also had a tomato on our plate this year for abused/enslaved crop pickers in Florida.
SPIT OUT THE SEEDS IN THE FACE OF OPPRESSION.
No lie, I think that’s what Susannah Heschel actually said.
(Source: sarahfonseca, via amanda-gayfried)
