New Haggadah published by Open Orthodox movement

The Lieberman Open Orthodox Haggadah, Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld. Gefen Publisher Jerusalem & New York, 2015. 178pp

By David Strom

David Strom
David Strom

SAN DIEGO —The Lieberman Open Orthodox Haggadah, by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld is a very welcome addition to the many different types of haggadahs that exists today. This is an Orthodox traditional haggadah, but with a twist. It is an Open Orthodox view of the seder and its meaning for Open Orthodox Jews today.

In the large city of San Diego there co-exist several different forms of religious Jewish Orthodoxy. Most Jewish San Diegans know the fundamentalist or the Right of Orthodox Judaism (Chabad/Lubavitch), and the more centrist Orthodoxy of Young Israel or Beth Jacob, but an Open Orthodox synagogue does not exist in the city.

This is a relatively new movement within the Orthodox Jewish world and The Lieberman Open Orthodox Haggadah explains its role within Orthodoxy.  The Open Orthodox are committed to the belief that God wrote the Torah, and “to the meticulous observance of halakhah (Jewish Law).” They are neither fundamentalist nor reactionary. With deep respect and observance of Jewish Law, Open Orthodoxy tries to reconcile the tension between the rigidity of traditional Orthodoxy and Open Orthodoxy, which is a dialectic that causes conflict between differing ideas about the meaning behind the “more rigid halakhic practices.”


Open Orthodoxy is not egalitarian when it comes to the sexes because, for example, a woman cannot get a divorce. A man must grant his wife a divorce.  There are rules on divorce, based on Jewish law that women cannot overcome. If the husband refuses to divorce his wife then a Jewish get (divorce) will not be granted. If she has a civil divorce, from an Orthodox view, she is still married and cannot remarry. The Open Orthodox sign a premarital agreement that maintains the husband shall allow the divorce or get to take place.  “It is rather an approach where men and women share a commonality of roles in more than 90 per cent of areas, but there are still clear distinctions.” Women study and learn on the same level as men. They can have leadership roles including spiritual ones. Women can be ordained and receive semikhah. The same is not the case in the other branches of Orthodoxy.

Open Orthodoxy welcomes the gay community into its synagogues. With sensitivity they fully integrate “all people regardless of sexual orientation or level of religious observance into our communities—our schools, our synagogues, and homes.”

In reading this Haggadah, we see these themes of Open Orthodoxy played out in the seder ritual. Rabbi Avi Weiss, one of the first to use the term Open Orthodoxy, maintains that Open Orthodoxy is distinct in three areas:

  1. It understands mesorah not only a commitment to the past, but also as an understanding that Jewish Law is slowly and carefully evolving to meet the needs of the new conditions and situations.
  2. Open Orthodoxy sees great danger in the centralization of rabbinic authority. Too much power in the hands of a few can and often is corrupting. (What does this have to say to the Hassidic Rov/Rabbi?) “It believes in the authenticity, learning and ability of local rabbis “ to make halakic rulings.
  3. Open Orthodox sees halakhah as a system of The question is not only halakhah, but also kedushah.

The Haggudah brings holiness to action and action to holiness for the participants in the seder and for all humankind. Most of us buy our matzah the market. Baking your own seems like fun if you are involved with your synagogue community. One Open Orthodox Shul made a community project out of the making their own matzah, “The entire matzah-baking process takes a total of eighteen minutes. From when the flour hits the water, through the kneading, pressing, and rolling, and until the matzah is placed in the oven, we have eighteen minutes.” The children were instructed to tell the bakers when seventeen minutes had elapsed. And then the countdown began. “As we entered the final ten seconds there was a mad rush to get as much matzah as possible into the oven. The spiritual energy in the air was palpable.”

For some Open Orthodox, the countdown the making and baking represents a broader spiritual idea. Our time on earth is fleeting and limited. The countdown is at the core of the baking the matzah. It reminds us “to perform the mitzvah of matzah with great alacrity lest we miss our opportunity for the mitzvah.”

The Torah teaches us that we must guard the matzot. The great sage Rashi wrote: “Do not read this as matzot but as mitzvot; just like mitzvah of matzot must be done with great speed and zealousness, so too every mitzvah must be done in the same manner.”

With limited time on earth we must be as diligent as we can to reform the world and use the Torah as one of our guides.

The Lieberman Open Orthodox Haggadah has beautiful drawings and stimulating questions, in addition to the Four to keep the younger children interested and engaged as the story of Pesach unfolds during the seder.

I will use and cherish this particular Haggadah as I learned a lot about Open Orthodoxy and some new ways to observe the freedom holiday.

 

Strom is professor emeritus of education at San Diego State University.  Your comment may be sent to david.strom@sdjewishworld.com, or posted on this website, per the instructions below.

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