Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 64, No. 13, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 1, 2010 Page: 22 of 24
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22 I April 1,2010
TEXAS JEWISH POST & SINCE 1947
Columnists
IN MY
MIND'S I
By Harriet
P. Gross
Here's an old tale for our new Pass-
over this year:
A little boy came home from Sunday
school the week before Pesach, and his
father asked him what he'd learned that
day
"The teacher told us about Mo-
ses leading the children of Israel out of
Egypt," the boy replied. The father then
asked, "How did he do that?" And the
boy answered: "Moses was a big strong
man, and he beat Pharaoh up. Then
he got all the people together and ran
toward the sea. When
he got there, he had the
Corps of Engineers build
a huge pontoon bridge.
Once they got to the oth-
er side, the people blew
up the bridge while the
Egyptians were trying to
cross."
The father was
shocked: "Is that what
your teacher really said?"
"No," answered the boy.
"But you'd never believe
the story she DID tell
us!"
There are so many different ways of
looking at the Passover story!
In the 1960s, for example, lews and
African Americans who had worked to-
gether on civil rights efforts celebrated
with Freedom Seders, where spirituals
like "Go Down, Moses" were added to
the traditional Passover songs,
The Freedom Seder came back to life
in 1999 on the University of Massachu-
setts' Amherst campus. There had been
some rough spots in lewish-African
American relations; Larry Goldbaum
of the school's lewish Affairs Office —
which had been created in 1995 to help
ease tensions and hostilities between
African Americans and lews — thought
a communal seder might help students
from the two groups find what they had
in common. And it not only helped; it
has become an annual event and a trea-
sured tradition.
This year, the 12th Freedom Seder
will begin at 5:30 p.m. next Thursday,
April 8, in the Campus Center dining
room, co-sponsored by the Black Stu-
dent Union, Muslim Students Associa-
tion, Delta Xi Phi multicultural soror-
ity, and the Catholic Newman Students
Association as well as the lewish Student
Union and Office of lewish Affairs,
which Goldbaum now directs.
His office calls this seder "a multicul-
tural and interfaith celebration based on
Exodus themes. Through ritual, stories,
poetry and music, we learn about each
other's cultures and express our yearn-
ing for universal liberation. Its ritualized
ceremony gives voice to our desire for all
people to be free from slavery and other
forms of oppression.
"The Passover seder commemorates
the redemption of the ancient Israelites
from slavery in Egypt. Its themes reso-
nate with the historical experience of
many peoples. The Freedom Seder com-
memorates the experiences of all people
who have been enslaved, exiled or oth-
erwise oppressed, while praying for the
unity and liberation of all people."
Afterward, there will be an inter-
national buffet of foods chosen by the
seder's student organizers to represent
their various cultures, prepared by stu-
dents in the U-Mass Hospitality and
Tourism Management program.
Goldbaum has created a "Free-
dom Seder Haggadah" and pre-
sented workshops on "The Freedom
Seder as an Antidote to Black/Iewish
Conflict" for NCORE (the National
Conference on Race and Ethnicity
in Higher Education). The goals,
he says, are to reconnect to each
group's own historical experiences
of slavery, exile and redemption;
to learn about other people's ex-
periences by hearing their stories
told in their own voices; to reaf-
firm commitments to challenging and
overcoming oppression; and to embrace
redemption and freedom for everyone.
And above all: to affirm the common
humanity of all people.
The seder expands with us as we
grow in our ludaism.
Ma'ayan, the women's Torah studies
initiative, put Miriam's cup on our tables,
next to Elijah's. AIPAC has produced a
Haggadah supplement, "A Story to Tell,"
that gives seder hosts a way to share pro-
Israel activism with participants around
their tables. Clal, the National lewish
Center for Learning and Leadership,
went "green" this year, investing our an-
cient karpas with enhanced meanings as
tiny shoots of personal, communal and
national recovery and renewal.
Newest of all this year: the joint effort
of the lewish Council for Public Affairs
and Mazon: A lewish Response to Hun-
ger, to make America's people aware of
the need for proper childhood nutrition,
and to encourage our government to
invest heavily in federal nutrition pro-
grams.
Two weeks ago, on Thursday, March
18, there was a Congressional Child
Nutrition Passover Seder at the Capitol,
with several Representatives joining lew-
ish advocates for anti-hunger measures
that will especially affect children. Forty
more such seders were scheduled to take
place before, during and after Passover,
in 30 different cities.
That little boy who didn't believe the
tale of Moses and God's miracles is a fic-
tion, but "Let all who are hungry come
and eat" is a lewish reality.
E-mail: harrietg@texasjewishpost.com
ASK THE
RABBI
By Rabbi
Yerachmiel
D. Fried
Dear Rabbi Fried,
I read your response to Mort
W. [TJP, March 18, p. 26] about
the Jewish perspective on wheth-
er viewing the "Body Worlds"
display of cadavers would be ap-
propriate for Jewish patrons. I
respect your position and answer;
but I think you
are making an
assumption
about the gen-
eral popula-
tion's impetus
for attending
this exhibi-
tion. Several
years ago on
a visit to Los
Angeles, I ran
across an ad
for this exhi-
bition at an
L.A. Museum,
excitedly told my husband about
it and quickly purchased tickets.
My husband and I are both in
the medical field and were ea-
ger to get an inside look into the
human body from a horizontal,
lateral, anterior and posterior
view. Not once did we consider
it gratuitous or exhibitionistic,
in a bad sense. The museum
provided information about the
bodies, and we were able to see
both normal and diseased bod-
ies with their organs. Seeing hu-
man anatomy in a book or in a
video provides routine educa-
tion, but autopsies greatly boost
anatomical understanding. This
is why medical and nursing stu-
dents use cadavers and attend
autopsies. Looking at the nerves
in one color, the tendons in an-
other, veins in yet another, in a
three-dimensional perspective, is
astonishing and if nothing else,
proof that humans are not the
result of a "Big Bang Theory."
The average person doesn't get
those opportunities, and maybe
the exhibit will ignite a passion
for medicine or the study of any
of the dozens of its branches.
The folks we met at the museum
were quiet and respectful; they
were there to learn about the
human body. Several were from
high school science classes. These
were not depraved people. Nor
do we consider ourselves part
of the moral degeneration that
you claim society has descended
into. The bodies on display were
donated willingly and uncon-
ditionally, we were told, so it
doesn't seem likely we were in-
vading their privacy. Since when
do Jews impose their laws and
beliefs on others? Never did we
as Jews think that we had sunk
so low as to become socially de-
praved voyeurs, giving money to
a profiteering German master-
mind. Try and see it our way.
D. Shulkin, RN, BSN, CRNI
Dear D.,
Thank you for sharing your
feelings and perspective. For
the sake of the readers I will
repeat the final analysis of the
mentioned column (quoting
Rabbi Dr. j. David Bleich):
"In summary, there's no
clear halachic case to forbid the
visit of this exhibition. How-
ever, the endeavor is odious
in the extreme. The absence
of a formal interdiction does
not serve to render a practice
innocuous in nature. Com-
mercial exploitation of human
remains and its acceptance by
the public at large is one ex-
ample of the depravity of the
age in which we live. Refusal to
become complicit in the moral
degeneration of society by per-
sonal participation and finan-
cial support is certainly an ap-
propriate lewish reaction."
My intention was not at
all to label all attendees of
this exhibit as depraved, and
I'm quite sure that many had,
and have, only the best inten-
tions. I'm also convinced that
much can be learned from this
display, especially by those
whose profession allows them
to truly appreciate the lessons
gleaned from this level of ex-
posure of the inner workings
of the body. All the benefits,
however, cannot outweigh the
dignity owed the human body,
which is to be properly buried,
even if the temporary owner of
that body forgives that dignity.
The use of cadavers is already
an explosive enough discus-
sion in Jewish law; at least they
are directly being used for
the private benefit of medical
study to save the lives of oth-
ers. This exhibition, however,
takes things to a completely
new level, one that, in the out-
look of Jewish tradition, does
not bode well for the ethics and
morals of today's society.
Rabbi Yerachmiel D. Fried, noted scholar
and author of numerous works on Jewish
law, philosophy and Talmud, is founder
and dean of DATA, the Dallas Kollel.
Questions can be sent to him atyfried@
sbcglobal.net.
Dear Families,
A long-ago Jewish demo-
graphic study found that the
Passover seder was the
most "observed" ritual
of American Jews. That
meant that we Jews sit
down for a seder more
than we light Shabbat
candles, more than we
go to synagogue on
the High Holy Days
and even more than
we celebrate Chanu-
kah. There are many
thoughts on why the
seder is so central, but
most feel it has to do
with home, family and food
(probably not in that order).
The question they did not ask
was, "What does your seder
look like?" Some kasher the
house, burn the chametz, have
a long seder (all in Hebrew) and
SHALOM
FROM THE
SHABBAT LADY
By Laura
Seymour
keep all the rules throughout
the holiday. Others invite lots
of people, worry about the food
and, oh yeah, have
matzah. Does it mat-
ter? That's the ques-
tion I leave to you!
As you read this
column, many have
already put away
the matzah while
others are trying
to figure out what
can we make out
of matzah that will
taste different. Joel
Lurie Grishaver, in
"40 Things You Can
do to Save the Jewish People,"
has a chapter called "Take the
Matzah Challenge". He writes:
"The matzah challenge is good,
because it gives you a Jewish
accomplishment in your life.
It's easy to do with kids — just
think of all the charts on which
you can paste gold stars. But,
the matzah challenge is also
good because it teaches us the
Bet Hil lei lesson. If you manage
to get through a whole week —
going to all the ordinary places
you need to go, doing all the
things you need to do — and
bread (chametz) has not crossed
your lips, you've proved that or-
dinary life and being a Jew can
go together — that neither has
to lose."
Think about this and take
the matzah challenge — and
if you already follow the rules
of Passover, think (and talk)
about why. Don't let any obser-
vance become rote — make it
matter, make it work!
Laura Seymour is director of camping
services and Jewish life and learning at the
Jewish Community Center of Dallas.
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Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 64, No. 13, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 1, 2010, newspaper, April 1, 2010; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth188286/m1/22/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .