I am an endangered species—I still make Pesach at home. While not nearly as grueling as it once was, it is still a lot of work. I often get caught up with the cleaning, shopping and cooking and forget to take time for the studying. My friend Alice, who is not observant, recently started making seder. As she studied the Hagaddah, she would periodically call me with the most wonderful questions, and, for just a moment, I would sit and remember what the holiday is all about.
It is hard to find the “new” in something you have been participating in for over fifty years. I love the old traditions passed on to me by my parents. I want to keep them for the next generation. However, I also want my granddaughters to feel part of the extraordinary story of the Exodus from Egypt. The women were, after all, also part of the miracle. It was Yocheved, Moses’ mother, who had the faith to bring a child into the world. It was the midwives, Shifrah and Pu’ah, who had the courage to deliver the children of the Israelites. And it was Miriam, with her unrelenting optimism, who watched over her brother’s basket as he traveled down the Nile.
I love setting the table before the seder, with its traditions old and new. One of the new items on my table is Miriam’s Cup. As I fill this cup with water, I am reminded of the well that accompanied the Israelites through the desert. This well, we are told, was given by God to Miriam to honor her. Miriam’s Cup, the new symbol on my table, allows me to begin a conversation about the women who have been an essential part of the story of the Exodus and of the Jewish people.
The Midrash tells us that there are ten occasions when the experience of redemption found expression in song. One of those is Shirat HaYam, the Song at the Sea. There are two versions of this song. First Moses and the children of Israel sing and then:
ותקח מרים הנביאה אחות אהרן את התף בידה ותצאן כל הנשים אחריה בתפים ובמחלת. ותען להם מרים שירו לה׳ כי גאה גאה סוס ורכבו רמה בים.
Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took the tambourine in her hand; and all the women followed her with tambourines and dances. And Miriam called to them: “Sing to God, the most exalted; horse and rider God cast in the sea…(Exodus 15:20-21)
I read the following based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe:
The men sang, and then the women. The men sang…they sang their joy over their deliverance, they sang their yearning for a more perfect redemption—but something was lacking. Something that only a woman’s song could complete. Miriam and her chorus brought to the Song at the Sea the intensity of feeling and a depth of faith unique to womankind.
The Midrash, quoted above, goes on to say that the tenth song will be the shir hadash, the “New Song” of the ultimate redemption—a time when suffering, ignorance, jealousy and hate will vanish from the earth. So much of our liturgy is filled with references to this “New Song.” Everyday in our morning prayers we recite the words of the Psalmist: “Shiru lo shir hadash”—Sing to God a new song. At our seder we sing again:
ונאמר לפניו שירה חדשה
Let us sing before God a new song.
As we sit around our seder table this year, may we all be privileged to sing the old songs that are part of our heritage. At the same time, let us not be afraid to open ourselves to the new—the shira hadasha.
A Happy and Kosher Pesach!