1) 1 or

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IMPLE.
DINNER IS JUST

known trapeze to the
unknown — and
clutch something
known at the end,"
she says in an inter-
view with the Jewish

15 MINUTES

Right:
The title of
Broner's book
is inspired by
the author's
mother.

News.
She then laughs, a
big hearty laugh, which she does
often. She seems to take herself, her
Judaism, quite seriously, leavened with
a joyousness, warmth and ongoing
search for deeper meaning.
Admittedly, she's never been con-
ventional. In her 1994 book, Mornings
and Mourning, she told of her experi-
ence in her year of saying Kaddish for
her father, when she attended the only
morning minyan in her area, in an
Orthodox shul.
She took to wearing an orange coat,
so bright that the men who decidedly
chose not to notice her would have no
choice but to see her every morning.
If there was a chairman of the ritual
committee of Broner's group of long-
time friends, friends of friends, col-
leagues, it would be Esther, as her
friends know her, who is often called
upon when someone has a crisis or is
going through a life transition.
Creating ritual, she says, is to "find
a way that's not biological, not psy-
choanalytical, to help the pain, a way
to ease, to celebrate." In the process,
souls are altered.
The book is organized according to
the calendar year, with holidays and
other seasonal landmarks to be corn-
memorated and also rituals not bound
by time: rituals of celebration and
honor, of peace, loss, healing, the
body, aging and more, always with a
sense of inclusiveness. She suggests
psalms, original prayers, texts, sym-
bols, settings and materials — from
fanciful to practical — and makes
them sacred.
"We need help in the middle of
winter," she says, noting the long span
between the High Holidays and
Passover. She describes winter as a
time of aging, and also of new adven-
ture, new color.
In her section on winter, she
includes rituals of movement, "cere-
monies of journey, of moving on" and
in early spring, a ritual to honor great
women.
The author's mother inspired the
book's title. When Broner would ask
her mother about the circling hand
movements she made as part of the
Shabbat candle-lighting ceremony, her
mother would say shyly that it was for
the family, then added, "I'm bringing
in the light."

xwxy.

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Co-writer of the widely used and
groundbreaking Women's
liaggada, E.M. Broner will cele
brate her 25th women's seder this
year. In Bringing Home the Light,
she suggests the following exercise
to create a personalized women's
seder in your own home.

Set the table/floor with your artif acts.,
Maybe you have the fish bowl and
chopper of a grandmother.
Maybe you have an item always
used by yourfitmily, now part of
the history of holiday,
Maybe you want it to be tntergen-
erational and your mother and
grandmother add the melody of a
song they sang at the table when
they were young.

Maybe you and your friends want
to write of a moment of discovery
or inquiry.
Make a Haggada of your stories.

Compose songs for Miriam to sing, of
prophesy, of an elder sister's responsi-
bili songs ofwaten water thatfbl-
lows her wetly through the desert, the
well drying when she dies.

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•

4/14

2000

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