Now a certain person would read the above quote and immediately hear four notes as familiar to some of us as those of Beethoven's Fifth. "DAA, DAA da DAAA" - followed by "da DAAAA DAAA da DAAA"... Well, you just have to be a fan of The Ten Commandments to appreciate it. And this is the time of year, for obvious reasons, that the story of the Jews' exodus from Egypt and receiving of God's Law, is broadcast. It's on again this coming Sunday, opposite some stiff competition that I'm sure most normal viewers will be taking in - TV movies like the Susan Sarandon-starrer Ice Bound, a biopic about Dr. Jerri Nielsen; and the first part of Helen of Troy, the TBS film being advertised excessively on Yahoo groups and the sides of buses where the face that launched 1000 ships is cut off right at the nose (thereby launching, I presume, only about 510 ships or so) but you can see the full faces of the two male characters who fight over her even though none of the three are well-known. But I'm sorry, as much as I love mythological tales (I mean, even Clash of the Titans holds a special place in my heart for reasons that remain known mostly to me and my college buddy Bill Marcinko... BU-BO, BU-BO, BU-BO! sorry, where was I?) and as utterly cool as Sarandon is (and didja see her SO's retort, huh, didja? via Elaine of Kalilily), nothing beats the best Biblical epic of all time for sheer quotation power. It's just got So Many Cool Lines. And Vincent Price. And a pre-Bo John Derek looking good enough to eat. And a stunning pre-Lily Munster Yvonne DeCarlo. And Dame Judith and Sir Cecil. And EdwardGRobinson, EdwardGRobinson, EdwardGRobinson, EdwardGRobinson... sorry, I always do a sing-songy thing with his name, don't know where I picked that up... playing the worst, most transparent sleaze since, I dunno, Donald Rumsfeld. And Yul, and Chuck before he was Mr. NRA. Oh dang, I'm already shivering with anticipa-- no sorry, that's another movie.
In-Haggadah-Da-Vida
So anyway, that's one of the things Passover means to me. Another is the second edition of my Women's Haggadah by Esther Broner with Naomi Nimrod - the one first published in Ms. in 1977 - with an alternate rough-stock Book of the Month Club cover wrapped around it acquired from my former employer, a book component printer - and between the two covers a 10-year-old letter from Rabbi Vicki Hollander in Seattle (she can be found here now, in "Cat Simril Ishikawa territory"), informing me about how there were "many Passover Hagadot available. There are numbers of feminist, humanist, and other wonderful expressions. You're living near the hub of the best resource area in the country. You may want to contact The Jewish Women's Resource Center... They have a library with over 13 different feminist hagadot. Lilith magazine... would be a good resource as well." Well, hasn't the 'net made all that easier! Here are some good links regarding feminist hagadot ("hagadot" is the plural of "haggadah," I don't remember why the second "h" is dropped or why the plural is "ot" instead of "im" my Hebrew being way rusty) and other Pesach sites of interest:
That should be enough to get y'all started. More about Passover tomorrow, specifically how that whole "freedom" thing resonates with current events. Now I'm going to gnaw on my cardboard - I mean, the shmura matzoh given to me by a couple Lubavitchers who work in the same office building as me. There but for the grace of God go I.
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