Metro

Wine, Women And Song

Women's seder celebrates the joy of spiritual renewal.

KERI GUTEN COHEN

Story Development Editor

F

ood, wine, melodies and spiri-
tual renewal made the annual
Women's seder a meanin
experience for the more than 400
women who attended April 7 at Adat
Shalom Synagogue.
Leading the seder were Lisa Soble
Siegmann, director of Jewish
Experiences for Families of the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit,
and Adat Shalom's Rabbi Rachel
Lawson Shere. They combined music,
including Passover songs in English
and wordless melodies, with explana-
tions of holiday symbolism geared
especially to the audience of women.
"So often on seder night, we're busy
getting food heated, checking on chil-
dren, making sure everyone is com-
fortable that there's no time to do the
real work of the seder — the need to
transcend words and have an experi-
ence," Rabbi Shere said.
"In every generation, we need to see
ourselves leaving Egypt. Egypt is not a
place, but it means narrowness, limits,
constraints. Think about your life,
about last year, about when you've been
limited and couldn't really be you.
"Where are YOU — the real you
like God created you?" she asked.
"Why are we stuck in Egypt and not
living the lives we want?"

Following an abbreviated service
punctuated by songs and a guided
meditative journey, participants
enjoyed a festive meal.
At many tables, generations of
women in one family shared the expe-
rience together.
"It's special to be with my grand-
ma," said Danielle Schostak, 10, of
Huntington Woods. She was with her
mother, Lillian Schostak; her aunts
Elise Schostak of Birmingham, Amy
Katz of Huntington Woods and
Nancy Schostak of Bloomfield Hills;
and her grandmother Arlene Tilchin
of Farmington Hills.
Irena Jacobson of Farmington Hills
calls herself "a new Jew by choice."
She was sitting with women involved
in Sarah's Tent, a Federation program
for interfaith families and Jews by
choice.
"I haven't done a seder yet myself,
but I love the book [Haggadah] and
the songs," she said. "I like the idea of
a women's seder where you can actual-
ly sit down. I do Shabbat dinner each
week for my family and there's so
much to do."
The women's seder was coordinated
by co-chairs Pearlena Bodzin and
Trudy Weiss and their associate chairs
Gina Horwitz and Roberta Madorsky
under the auspices of Federation's
Women's Campaign and Education
Department.

❑

Clockwise from top left:

Lisa Soble Siegmann of JEFF plays the guitar during a meditation segment.

Joan Crenshaw of West Bloomfield chats with Rabbi Rachel Lawson Shere near the
book table.

Three generations enjoy the women's seder together: mother Lillian Schostak, daugh-
ter Danielle Schostak, 10, and grandmother Arlene Tilchin.

4/14

2005

