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 Contributor(s): |
Arthur Waskow and the Shalom Center
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Symbolic Foods, Shulḥan Orekh
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symbolic foods, חרוסת ḥaroset, Jewish Renewal, סגולות segulot, haggadah supplements, recipes
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There it sits on the Seder plate: ḥaroset, a delicious paste of chopped nuts, chopped fruits, spices, and wine. So the question would seem obvious: “Why is there ḥaroset on the Seder plate?” That’s the most secret Question at the Seder – so secret nobody even asks it. And it’s got the most secret answer: none. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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| Categories: |
Symbolic Foods, Barekh
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20th century C.E., water, 58th century A.M., סגולות segulot, סימנים simanim, haggadah supplements, water protectors, In the merit of Miriam, water is life
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Rabbi Yosi son of Rabbi Yehuda says: “Three good sustainers arose for Israel. These are they: Moses and Aaron and Miriam. And three good gifts were given because of them, and these are they: well, and cloud, and manna. The well was given in merit of Miriam… Miriam died and the well ceased, as it is written (Numbers 20:1-2) “And Miriam died there,” and it says right afterwards “and there was no water for the community.” . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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| Categories: |
Symbolic Foods, Barekh
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20th century C.E., symbolic foods, השואה the Shoah, 58th century A.M., סגולות segulot, סימנים simanim, the Holocaust, haggadah supplements, shfokh ḥamatkha
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Pearl Benisch… remembers Passover in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany in the spring of 1945, just days before her liberation. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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| Categories: |
Symbolic Foods, Shulḥan Orekh
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20th century C.E., symbolic foods, 58th century A.M., סגולות segulot, סימנים simanim, haggadah supplements, inclusion, LGBTQ, inclusion and exclusion, oranges
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In the early 1980s, while speaking at Oberlin College Hillel, Susannah Heschel was introduced to an early feminist haggadah that suggested adding a crust of bread on the seder plate, as a sign of solidarity with Jewish lesbians (suggesting that there’s as much room for a lesbian in Judaism as there is for a crust of bread on the seder plate). Heschel felt that to put bread on the seder plate would be to accept that Jewish lesbians and gay men violate Judaism like ḥamets violates Passover. So, at her next seder, she chose an orange as a symbol of inclusion of gays and lesbians and others who are marginalized within the Jewish community. She offered the orange as a symbol of the fruitfulness for all Jews when lesbians and gay men are contributing and active members of Jewish life. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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| Categories: |
Symbolic Foods, Shulḥan Orekh
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symbolic foods, סגולות segulot, סימנים simanim, haggadah supplements, 3rd century C.E., beets, 41st century A.M.
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The color of beets, which never leaves our hands, symbolizes the teachings of the sages, which are still passed down. And the redness symbolizes the blood of the covenant, still there after all these years. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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| Categories: |
Symbolic Foods, Seder l'Pesaḥ
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symbolic foods, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., סגולות segulot, סימנים simanim, haggadah supplements, cup of miriam, leeks, beets, miriam's fish, oranges, turnip peels, Maxwell House coffee
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A Passover seder supplement containing seven additional symbolic foods and their associated ritual presentations, along with their collective organization on a second seder plate. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Emily Kesselman (art & transcription), Baruch Jean Thaler (translation) and Unknown Author(s)
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| Categories: |
Hoshana Rabbah, Conception, Pregnancy, and Childbirth
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19th century C.E., תחינות tkhines, תחינות teḥinot, 57th century A.M., Jewish Women's Prayers, סגולות segulot, Yiddish vernacular prayer, fertility, pregnancy, the pitom of the etrog
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A tkhine for when biting the pitom from the etrog . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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| Categories: |
Magid, Symbolic Foods
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symbolic foods, סגולות segulot, סימנים simanim, Geonic prayers, haggadah supplements, miriam's fish, 10th century C.E.
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A millennium-old tradition, recorded by Rav Sherira Gaon in 10th-century Iraq. He would always have three cooked foods on the seder plate. The egg, a product of the birds of the sky, a sign of renewal and rebirth, represented Moses, the law, the heavens, and the revelational aspects of faith. The shankbone, a product of the animals of the field, a commemoration of the original Pesaḥ sacrifice, represented Aaron, the priesthood, the earth, and the ritual aspects of faith. And the fish, representing the constant flowing nature of water, represented Miriam, prophecy, the waters, and the spiritual aspects of faith. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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| Categories: |
Symbolic Foods, Shulḥan Orekh
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20th century C.E., acrostic, symbolic foods, 58th century A.M., סגולות segulot, סימנים simanim, haggadah supplements, diaspora, Maxwell House coffee, mnemonic
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Why is this coffee different from all other coffees? Because Maxwell House coffee is a deeply spiritual representation of the Diaspora experience. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Rabbi R. Karpov, Ph.D.
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| Categories: |
Seder Akhilat haSimanim
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four worlds, seudot, festive meals, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., סגולות segulot, ecoḥasid, סימנים simanim, neo-lurianic
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Ḥazal, — some of our Jewish Sages, May Their Memory Be For A Blessing — suggest that ‘simanah milsah‘ — a symbol has significance. Some of the teachers of Jewish tradition encourage us on Rosh HaShanah to partake of a variety of foods suggestive of prosperity and happiness. This usage is alluded to in the directive of the prophet Nechemiah to the assembly: ‘Go your way, eat the fat and drink the sweet …” (Nechemiah 8:10). Our kavvanoth — sacred intentions — are that these Symbolic Foods Of Life are to help us effect a good coming year. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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| Categories: |
Seder Akhilat haSimanim
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seudot, festive meals, symbolic foods, punning, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., סגולות segulot, סימנים simanim, teḥinot over foods, teḥinot during meals
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Many communities have a custom of reciting “simanim” on the night of Rosh haShanah — invocations on a series of foods punning over their Hebrew or Aramaic names. This is an assortment of common simanim, along with English loose translations that preserve the punning aspects of the foods. . . . |
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