Orthodox Women Celebrating Passover and Other Holidays

Typically, when Orthodox Jews celebrate holidays, men participate in the ceremony and women watch the men. Many Jewish holidays, such as Passover, Purim, and Sukkoth just to name a few, involve some sort of a re-enactment of a ceremony. On Passover, Jews recall the Israelites’ trip out of Egypt to freedom.

During a Passover meal, called a seder, the leader who is a male recalls the Exodus, when the Israelites left slavery in Egypt. The man lead the festive meal, reciting many prayers. In leading the meal with accompanying prayers, the leader tells his son the story of how the Jews left Egypt. At one point during the meal, the leader pours wine into a cup for Elijah, a male prophet. At a seder with Orthodox Jews, women do not take part in the ceremonial meal and might feel the similarly to how they are separated from men at synagogue.

To give women the opportunity to celebrate religious holidays, Ronni Becher started a group where women could lead and be a part of a Passover seder in 1980. At Ronni Becher’s seder, women led the prayers ask the children questions. Instead of the male leader telling his son the story of the Exodus from Egypt, the female leader tells one of her children the story. Another difference between the two seders is in the cup of wine given to a prophet. Contrary to the typical seder where a male leader offers the wine to Elijah, at Ronni Becher’s seder, water is offered to Miriam, a female prophet. As a result, Ronni Becher’s seder is more family-friendly and allows children and women to participate instead of only men participating. Through creating her own seder, Ronni Becher teaches us that women are equal to men, but in a different way. Although the two genders can not celebrate holidays together in Orthodox Judaism, women can still come together to celebrate holidays in a similar way to men.

Though reading about how women are taking control and participating their own holidays, I learned how women are taking back the control they do not have in their religion. Women who can not participate in religious holidays feel the same sentiments as when they are separated from men in prayer. They feel that they are inferior and though they might be a part of a religious congregation at their synagogue, they do not feel that they are a part of the group as a whole. While watching men celebrating religious holidays, women wish they can participate as well, but G-d forbids women from taking part in religious holidays together with men. Orthodox Judaism follows laws and the word of G-d so much that whatever G-d says is how Orthodox Jews will behave. However, when women come together to participate in their separate holiday, they feel like they belong and are a part of a group. I believe that women should be able to take part in religious holidays in the same way that men do. If women can not celebrate holidays such as Passover with men, they should be able to celebrate holidays with other women. I applaud Ronni Becher for starting a women’s group, even though it was out of the norm at the time and for standing up for women during a time when women did not have as many rights as men. Although I do not agree with the separation of men and women in celebrating holidays, Orthodox Jews do so for a reason and that reason should be respected. Men and women are separated in celebration of many religious holidays in Judaism because the holidays are reflective on oneself and the Jewish ancestors and the holidays also involve prayers.

Sources:
Perlman, Lani. “Orthodox Women Change Passover Table.” Women’s E-News. Women’s E-News. 24 April 2005. Web 27 April 2010.