"The Wise One, What Does She Say?": Gendering and Queering Passover Symbols and Customs in the Reform Jewish Seder

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The ritual feast known as the Seder on the eve of Passover is one of the most family-oriented Jewish holidays observed in Israel. Rich in symbolism and narrative, it invites a wide variety of discussions, study, and intergenerational mentoring and supervision. In this article I demonstrate how the Seder can serve as a representational performance that includes gender and sexual identities normally omitted from Jewish liturgy and society at large. A Reform community workshop in preparation for the Seder Night, exposes congregants to alternative versions of the traditional Haggadah text and introduces new ritual gestures that allow for the "presencing" of gay and heterosexual life-stories. Old patterns and family traditions are undermined; special additions are added to the Passover plate and the Haggadah itself. Thus, the narrative of national redemption is reconstructed as gender redemption, marking the Israeli Reform Jewish community as an egalitarian agency of contemporary conflict for gender equality.