This comprehensive guide to celebrating Passover teaches, entertains and celebrates through stories, customs, recipes, games, crafts and songs. more
Vintage Based on the Old Testament, Jewish commentary, legend, and tradition (all cited in the author's notes), this book will be magnificent for sharing as well as for teaching about holiday history. Music and lyrics from "Miriam's Song," written by Debbie Friedman, appear on the back of the jacket. Biblical stories of valorous women--from Eve to Yael--have helped shape the human character and spirit. Fran Manushkin’s sensitive retellings of stories from the Bible and Jewish tradition portray strength and honor, but also jealousy and fear, and Caldecott Medalist Uri Shulevitz’s heroic illustrations highlight the bold, passionate essence of each woman and her world. The result is a collection of tales with heroines who are, above all, human.
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Passover Recipes Available for purchase in the Passover Section @ AJP
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Miriam's Story & Miriam's Cup return to Passover: Index Like
most religions, Judaism developed within a patriarchal society,
and not a whole lot of page time is given to the women of the
Bible. Miriam is a biblical heroine endowed with many qualities inspiring to young women today, a little girl with protective instinct, who unasked, watches over her baby brother floating in the reeds of the Nile to ensure his safety, and intelligent enough to trick an aristocratic Egyptian princess into returning baby Moses to his home and into the care of his real mother as nursemaid instead of killing the baby as per Pharaoh's orders. Miriamhad faith when others did not, despite the adversity of Pharaoh's decree against the first born male children and her brother, Moses, and later against the fast approaching Egyptian army. In fact, so certain was Miriam's faith in her prophesy of victory that she even brought her musical instruments so she could celebrate that victory. In the Passover story, Miriam led the women in grateful song & dance, after the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea. --------------------------------- And Miriam the prophetess ... took the tambourine in her hand; and all the women followed her with tambourines and dances. And Miriam called to them: Sing
to G-d....Exodus 15:20-21 I've been to some hot musician-populated seders and let me tell you, it's a lot of fun, especially if there's a good percussionist! Make Your Seder Sing with tambourines that celebrate Miriam's Song and the feminine spirit with beautifully decorated tambourines. (choose from 6 styles) Order Here: use advanced search; keyword "tambourine" --------------------------------- Later on, things get more problematic. When Moses decides to marry an Ethiopian "outsider", Miriam is not happy. She knows that if she is going to confront a powerful figure like Moses, even though he's her brother, she's gonna need help. So she encourages Aaron to join her and together they go to Moses to convince him that his marriage is inappropriate. God is not happy with Miriam's and Aaron's actions. But Miriam is the only one punished. Miriam is the only one who receives a curse from God, punished with leprosy, while Aaron gets off scot-free. In fact, Aaron accompanies Moses to ask God to forgive Miriam and to cure her from the leprosy. Not exactly fair from a human perspective, and I had trouble with this part, as it's often been interpreted as God putting Miriam in her place so Moses could shine and do his thing. Some commentators contend that there is a consistent effort in scripture to minimize Miriam's authority and erase her memory and deeds from the sacred texts in order to elevate Moses' position in the community, and in a patriarchal system, this might not be that surprising. History is written by the victors, and men have always dominated in these religious fields. It also happens to conveniently reinforce an absolute need for respect for God's authority that every religious tradition has used as a way to control its people and keep order. Miriam's issue is that she too is a prophetess, and Aaron a priest, and she challenges Moses's authority thinking he had decided for himself to take the authority that God would speak only through him, not that God had specifically told him that such authority was his to take. I have seen an interpretation that used this as a biblical lesson that negative speech based on incorrect facts or interpretations is something to be avoided, and that Miriam's jumping to incorrect conclusions and subsequent beratement of Moses without knowing all the facts was the actual problem, not that she tried to assert herself. During Miriam's 7 day punishment period, the Jews made no progress in the desert, kind of just waited around. The Bible also notes that when Miriam dies, like her brothers, before entering the Promised Land, the waters of her well dry up. It is as though nature itself, along with the community, mourns her passing. She is also supposed to be the ancestress of other creative geniuses in Israel's history such as Bezalel, her grandson, and the architect of the mishkan (the portable sanctuary used in the desert) (Ex. 31:1-3) and King David (via the tribe of Judah lineage). This all indicates to me that despite the time which she is "missing" from the story, basically from Moses' childhood until they're all wandering around in the desert, she is not to be written off at all as second-rate character, or denounced as an uppity woman who God punished just because she didn't know her place. Miriam's Cup A second cup, called Miriam's Cup, is often added to the Passover dinner table (alongside Elijah's Cup), filled with water to symbolize the miracle of Miriam's well, which sustained the Israelites during their long journey in the desert. This honors the role of Miriam in the Exodus, her importance as Moses's sister and a Prophetess in her own right in the Exodus, and highlights the past and present contributions of women to Jewish culture. Miriam's Cup is a new addition to the seder, so there is no "set" tradition or a blessing you need to say, although you might want to read one of the songs or poems included at the bottom of this page aloud at your seder. The presence of Miriam's Cup at the Seder Table is what's important to remembering her contribution. Some people fill Miriam's Cup at the very beginning of the seder, to symbolize inclusion of men AND women at the seder, plus Miriam, appears at the beginning of the Exodus story, so it makes sense to do this from that perspective too. You can also fill or hold up Miriam's cup after
the recitation of the Ten Plagues and before dayyenu, which tells
the story of the Exodus across the Red Sea and
into the wilderness, and is the time during which Miriam and her
well played an important role. Songs & Poems about Miriam
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