Tradition and Change

By Elliot Salo Schoenberg

My father's yahrzeit is the week before Passover. He is gone now 26 years. He always led the seder wearing the same white and blue kippah. He loved eating boiled potatoes for karpas. He would read from the Silverman Haggadah. He filled a glass goblet with wine for Elijah. He would ask questions to which he already knew the answers. My mother always cooked a turkey.

We keep their traditions. We eat boiled potatoes and turkey. We use the very same Silverman Haggadot. Over the years, we have added some new ones, but we have some that are now more than 40 years old too.

But we have added new rituals too. At Dayeinu we follow the Afghani custom of distributing green onions symbolizing the whips of the Egyptian taskmasters. Each participant taps his neighbor with the scallion declaring something they feel gratitude for. We add a Kos Miriam next to our Kos Eliyahu. Filling this cup with water, we recall the life giving waters of Miriam's well that accompanied our ancestors as they wandered in the desert. We ask each participant to share a brief comment about a person who has nurtured, inspired or helped us on our journey. We put an orange on our seder plate. 

We ask those gathered at our table what each of these symbols mean, and since most have been there before, they are all familiar with the answers. The orange symbolizes those who are marginalized within the Jewish community. It is statement of solidarity with women rabbis because legend has it one rebbetzin once said, in anger, that a "woman belongs on the bimah as much as an orange on the seder plate." The orange is a symbol of the juicy vitality of Judaism. The orange is the mark of our confidence in the Jewish future.  

My seder continues the tradition of my parents. We use my mother's Passover dishes. But we have added to it. My parents would recognize their seder and yet also acknowledge how it has grown and blossomed over the years. 

Judaism is about tradition and change. Judaism is a constantly evolving religion. We respect the past and constantly move forward. The task of congregations and their religious leaders is to honor tradition while also bringing new vitality to the community. May you have a zissen Pesah.