Every year, on the morning of Erev Pesach, I feel conflicted. My Abba, a firstborn, would go to minyan at shul to attend a siyyum, so as to obviate the obligation to fast as part of Taanit Bechorot, the Fast of the Firstborns. The fast commemorates that while Egyptian firstborns were killed in the final plague, Israelite firstborns were saved. But as a girl, my community never pushed for me to attend a siyyum; I didn’t hear conversation about if women needed to fast.
"I want an egalitarianism that pushes me toward solidarity with the woman behind the millstone. I want an egalitarianism that craves less pain rather than more." So much this. Thank you for writing what I feel in my heart to be true.
Thank you, Rabbi. I'm the elder of two daughters, and my father always took me with him to the Fast of the Firstborn at our synagogue. It seemed right to me to claim egalitarianism in that ritual as well as the other rituals I claimed it in. But I really like what you're saying about the complex egalitarianism of being present with everyone behind the millstone.
"I want an egalitarianism that pushes me toward solidarity with the woman behind the millstone. I want an egalitarianism that craves less pain rather than more." So much this. Thank you for writing what I feel in my heart to be true.
beautiful and thought-provoking D’var Torah Rabbi. I look forward to your book review. Bob
Thank you, Rabbi. I'm the elder of two daughters, and my father always took me with him to the Fast of the Firstborn at our synagogue. It seemed right to me to claim egalitarianism in that ritual as well as the other rituals I claimed it in. But I really like what you're saying about the complex egalitarianism of being present with everyone behind the millstone.