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On Slate this week, they're recycling a 2007 piece by Mark Oppenheimer protesting the 21st century's profusion of Haggadot. I recognize that to some degree, the sentiment behind this argument is cousin to Jill's surprise at discovering how cluttered the progressive Seder plate has become. But I couldn't disagree more with the argument itself, which hinges on the theory that Jews keep reinventing Passover because they're uncomfortable with Judaism. The diversity of Haggadot is a symptom of the unease that many Jews feel about Judaism. For some, the unease is political: Passover is a holiday about liberation, so the Haggadah has special meaning to those who feel that Judaism today is insufficiently attentive to left-wing political causes. For others, the unease is just a species of what all secular Americans feel around religious tradition, and Jews like this are always looking for a Haggadah that is "contemporary" or "relevant" enough to produce religious sentiment with a minimum of embarrassment.
I actually can't think of a better sign of spiritual health than that so many people (ranging from the glitziest nouveau-Kabbalists to the crunchiest secular activists) are rewriting and reinventing and relearning Jewish ritual texts. Think of all the steps that have to go into this: - Someone has to CARE about Passover.
- Someone has to care about what the traditional Jewish texts say about Passover.
- Someone has to construct a thesis of some kind of how these texts ought to be modified to better suit present circumstances.
- Someone has to go back to the old texts, splice them in with some new sources, and compile and edit a new Haggadah.
- Someone has to pay for the publishing of these new Haggadot.
Inevitably, this leads to where we are today, step 6:
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