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What Are the Roles of Women in the Pesach Seder, Haggadah, and Story? ‐

Rebekah Grzebinski (9th Grade) and Dina Kirshner (11th Grade)

Men and women have all the same obligations during the Seder. This includes the obligation to discuss the story
of the exodus from Egypt, eating matzah and marror, drinking 4 cups of wine, and saying Hallel.

Interestingly, there is only one woman mentioned in the Haggadah, Hadassah, which is during a song in the sec-
ond seder. Throughout the Pesach story women play significant roles in contributing to the miracles. There are
many other major women in the story. For example the midwives, Shifra and Puah, who defy Pharaoh’s order to
murder the Israelite boys. There is also Yocheved and Miriam, Moshe’s brave mother and sister, as well as
Pharaoh’s daughters who saved baby Moshe. We should celebrate the heroism of these women in the story of
Pesach.

Recently, there has been an effort to add a new tradition to the seder in hopes of doing a better job representing
female heroism in this holiday. This tradition is known as Miriam’s Cup. A Kiddush cup is filled with water to
symbolize the miracle of the well of Miriam, that G-d gave to the Jews in the desert, in Miriam’s merit. It may
also symbolize the women’s role of beautiful song to Hashem after the miracles of the splitting of the see. Alt-
hough it is not a common custom yet, there are many Jews that pay homage to Miriam by commemorating the
role of the prophetess in Jewish history.

Emma Yadan—2nd grade