Women at the Seder: A Passover Haggadah

""Today we take it for granted that women will not only learn Torah at advanced levels, but also develop professional halakhic competence,"" writes Wolowelsky, the dean of the faculty at the Yeshivah of Flatbush. This traditional haggadah is designed to honor and celebrate those achievements. Its commentary includes rabbinic discussion of various questions related to Passover in general and women in particular: are firstborn daughters expected to fast on the day before Passover, as well as firstborn sons? What do Miriam and the other prophetesses of the Hebrew Bible have to teach women of today? Which of the mitzvot (commandments) are women obligated to keep, and which may they choose to keep? Throughout, Wolowelsky defers primarily to Ashkenazic practice, but sometimes mentions Sephardic customs as well. In addition to traditional rabbinic sources, he draws upon the work of two well-known women scholars, Nechama Leibowitz and Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg.