HERALD PAGES 9-12 the Only English-Jewish Weekly in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts
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***************CAR-RT SORT**C-027 1874 04/ 01/00 BUREAU OF JEW I SH EDUCATION 130 Sess i ons St Providence RI 02906-3444 11 Rhode Island JeW1·s·n'·"· .. , .. ,., .. ,., .. , .. II.II .... ,.,., Spring Home and Garden HERALD PAGES 9-12 The Only English-Jewish Weekly in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts VOLUME LXIX, NUMBER 22 NISAN 29, THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 1999 351! PER COPY Sharing Pride, Prayer and Matzoh at Temple Beth-El Women's Seder by Emily Torgan-Shalansky "Why a women's seder?" vice rife with symbols of how Jewish Community Reporter Cahana began, reading from an modem women could represent he first of the Four Ques especially compiled Haggadah. themselves within an ancient tions is usually asked as "Something very special hap tradition, the guest found them Tfollows: Why is this night pens when women come to selves facing seder plates lhat different from all other gether to form a community. bore the requisite karpas, nights? While we are part of the larger charoset, egg and shankbone as The familiar, beloved answer community of Kial Yisrael, we well as a large orange. goes like this: It's different be have a distinct voice, a voice Twenty-five years ago, Pro cause it's Passover, the time that wants to be heard in its fessor Susannah Heschel, the when we remember our libera uniqueness. As bearers of Jew daughter of the renowned Jew tion from Egypt. ish tradition, we want to expand ish scholar Abraham Joshua However, this traditional re on, inspire and deepen the in Heschel, was speaking at a syna sponse does not fully explain a terpretations of that tradition." gogue on the controversial sub Mom, Can I Take It Home? Passover gathering that drew In an unusually high-pitched ject of Jewish women as leaders The first and second grades at the Providence Hebrew Day 230 women to Temple Beth-El rumble that seemed to become and rabbis," Cahana read. "A School recently took a'most interesting field trip to Biomes, a on April 5. that oft-overlooked voice, the man jumped up and shouted marine education center in North Kingstown, RI. Biomes is a So, why was this seder dif that a woman belonged on a hands-on marine biological learning center where children ferent from all other seders? bimah as much as an orange be can see and touch various marine life. The highlights of the day As explained by Cantor and longed on a seder plate. Profes were the shark petting station and the salt marsh touch tanks. seder leader Ida Rae Cahana, sor Heschel responded that The bus trip home featured a detour over the Jamestown this was a seder organized for 'womenbringtothebimahwhat Bridge and swing around the Island of Conanicus (better and by women. According to an orange would bring to the known as Jamestown) which brought us by a 1780 windmill, Cahana, these gatherings, which seder plate - transformation, Beavertail State Park and its historical lighthouse. As the bus celebrate Jewish womanhood not transgression." · followed the shoreline, the children chanced getting a glimpse by presenting the Passover story This spirit of transformation of an osprey (an eagle-like sea bird with a 6-foot wing span) from a fenµnist perspective, are continued as the participants and they were successful. Beverly Hall, a second-grade teacher rapidly gaining national popu- followed a version of the Pass who lives in Jamestown, said "Watching it soar around its . larity. over story that focused on the enormous nest was a sight to behold! The day was complete." " I had experienced a essential roles of its female char Photo courtesy of PHDS women's seder at my previous acters. pulpit in Toledo, Ohio, and it As Jewish men suffered as was wonderful," she said. slaves in Egypt, their Jewish "when I came here four years wives fed, loved and nurtured ago, I started one at my house them, read the participants. with 17 guests. I thought it When Pharaoh's advisor, would be something small, but Bilaam, suggested that the Jew there was tremendous interest." ish midwives be forced to kill Three years later, with the Cantor Ida Rae Cahana the newborn infants, Shifra and women's seder well on its way Herald photo by Emily Torgan-Slialansky Puahrefused to comply despite to becoming a community insti great risks. tution, Cahana worked with women read that the Passover After the Jewish leader Deborah A. Waldman, singer/ story shows that Jewish women Amram divorced his wife, • songwriter Laura Berkson, and acted with courage and wisdom Yocheved, because he felt that it a women's seder committee co to ensure the survival of their ~as useless to bring children chaired by Gloria Feibish and people. into the world only to see them ,; Selma Stanzler. As they moved through a ser- slaughtered, it was his daugh ter,Miriam, who persuaded him , to reunite with her; it was · 'One by One' Miriam who hid her brother Moses amongst the bullrushes; by Lenka Rose Survivor, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Bergen-Belzen it was Pharaoh's daughter, Batyah, who retrieved him. Remember and "never" forget the6 million Jewish men, women Sharing food, music, and the and children who perished during the Holocaust at the Persian custom of lashing each , hands of bloodthirsty Nazis in Germany. other with scallions to com Tremendous brain power lost to humanity. Hitler's willing memorate Egyptian whips, the executioners blinded by hate. Sadistic rage in a blitz of hate women sang, laughed, and lis rounded up the victims i•n a cage, like cattle for slaughter. tened to tributes to Miriam, Dr. Mengele in Auschwitz alone, on a whim, with a wave of his Leah, Rachel and Sarah. hand in command with his cohorts, kept cutting young lives At the end of the seder meal, down, "One by One" to the bitter end. Cahana again faced the all-fe Using the Holocaust as a base for fantasy, deludes and distorts male crowd. the unspeakable horror that actually took place. "We have remembered who It sends erroneous information to the present and future gen we are and seen who we can erations. be," she read. "Oh G-d and G-d They said: "They died, so we can live." of our mothers, G-d of Sarah, It is the whole world who let them down and so they died Rachel, Leah and Miriam, a heri alone "One by One." tage of faith and learning has What a tragedy that was. What a shame. It bears forever, a come down to us out of the life constant refrain. To preserve their sacred memory, we must create an everlast of our own people. We go forth ing shield as if protecting a most precious yield. tonight in strength, our faces turned toward a futurewhenall Remember. Israel, and all the world, shall be free." 2 - THE RHODE ISLAND JEWISH HERALD, THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 1999 HAPPENINGS ,t- Ent=.t·rtAinm=.t·nt Calendar: April 16th thru April 21ST 16 Daffodil Days at Blithewold Mansion & Gardens, 101 Ferry Road, Bristol. Scilla, crocuses, and more than 50,000 naturalized da,ffodils and hundreds of tulips bloom in the gardens. I' 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., April 16 through May 16. Call 253-2707. · . f@r Childr=.t·n The Newport Art Museum, 76 Bellevue Ave., Newport, exhibits works by Robert Greenberg. Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday noon to 5 p.m. Call 848-8200. The Providence Children's Museum, 100 South St., Provi 17 Student Spring Art Sale at Rhode Island School of Design, 224 Benefit St., Providence. Call dence announces 'the following activities. Call 273-KIDS. 454-6100. Pawtucket Red Sox takeonSyrc1cuse at 1 p.m. at McCoy Stadium, Pawtucket. Call 724-7300. April April 17 and 18. Dan Moretti brings the smooth jazz sounds of his quartet to CAV, 15 Imperial Place, 16 Preschool Friday: Stories Aloud. From 9:40 a.m. to 1:50 Providence at 9:30 p.m. Tickets $5. - p.m. preschoolers ages 3 to 5 listen to the beastly favorite The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus and Autonomadic Bookmobile Road Show. AS220, 115 Where the Wild Things Are. Kids celebrate the beasties Empire St., Providence. 8 p.m. Call 831-9327. within and create creatures of their own, using an assort-, K&S Ballroom Dance, UCT Ballroom, 1530 Atwood Ave., Johnston. 7 p.m. Call 821-4108. ment of bizarre, recycled materials. Pre-registration for an 18 Service of Comfort offered by Temple Beth-EI, 70 Orchard Ave., Providence, 5 p.m. Call eight-week series is recommended for this program. Call 331-6070. 273-KIDS, ext. 234, for enrollment information. There may Brown professor Kenneth Sacks speaks on "Jews Among the Greeks and Romans: be space available for same-day registration. There is a $1 Resistance, Assimilation, and Accommodations" at the monthly Kulanu Brunch of Temple fee above the price of admission for same-day registration. Emanu-El's Kulanu. $1 to $2 donation suggested. 9:30 a.m. Call 331-1616. 17 Stories On-Stage: At 1 and 1:30 p.m., children ages 5 and 19 Conservation Week and Earth Day Celebration at Roger Williams Park Zoo. April 19 to 24. older watch an animated environmental show, performed A weeklong celebration to teach youngsters and adults about the environment and by special guest, Looking Glass Theatre's Diane Postoian. conservation. Animal interviews, and crafts. Postoian brings animals and nature to life with her spirited Singer Samuel Ramey will perform at Veterans Memorial Auditorium, Brownell Street, show and musical accompaniment.