In the 1980s, feminists and progressive Jews began putting an orange on the seder plate to represent women in Jewish life. But as it turns out, the orange has a much more complicated origin that raises the question: who gets to tell women's stories? We'll explore the evolution of this ritual and talk about how we might lift up the experiences of women in our own seders this year.
Please welcome us in joining Rabbi Leah Rachel Berkowitz, as she leads us in: Unpeeling the Orange on the Seder Plate: Who Gets to Tell Women's Stories?
With sincere gratitude to Barbara Ritchin for making this program possible.
Leah Rachel Berkowitz is a rabbi, teacher, and author based in Philadelphia, PA. Leah teaches for Laasok.org, the Jewish Learning Collaborative, and the Union for Reform Judaism. Each summer, she serves on the faculty at the URJ 6 Points Creative Arts Academy. She is a Jewish Studio Project Fellow, a Rukin Rabbinic Fellow at 18 Doors (formerly Interfaith Family), and a Past President of the Women's Rabbinic Network. She has contributed to The Torah: A Women's Commentary, The Sacred Calling: Four Decades of Women in the Rabbinate, and several of the CCAR Press prayer books and anthologies. She is the author of three children's books (including the beloved Queen Vashti's Comfy Pants) and the co-author of the middle-grade midrash collection Maybe It Happened This Way: Bible Stories Reimagined (with Erica Wovsaniker). You can find her on social media @rabbilrb or online at leahrachelberkowitz.com