On Sat, 2 Oct 1999, Doug Henwood wrote:
> This afternoon I overheard someone described as a "conservadox" Jew.
Just for comic relief, here's an article by Fran Lebowitz that was published in the midst of a flurry of articles about just how alternative seders had gotten -- seders to save Tibet, seders where everyone read from a different haggadah, lesbian feminist seders, etc. This was a pretty funny antidote. The orange, BTW, is a conservadox innovation.
April 10, 1998
Fran Lebowitz Gives Her Slant on Seders
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Related Article
'90s Seders Feature Cultural and Culinary Diversity
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T o learn more about the latest seder trends, The New York Times
called upon Fran Lebowitz, the New York writer and popular party
guest.
Q. It's a contradiction in terms, but what modern traditions are
people introducing to their seders this year?
A. I have no idea. I've gone to the same family seder for 47 years
and I still haven't gotten seated at the adult table yet. My little
cousins have to fight me for the Afikomen.
Q. Interesting new dishes?
A. No. It's entirely possible that in the early fifties, a very
large brisket was delivered to our family and we're still eating
it. We not only have the same food, we have the same conversation.
I don't go anywhere else for holidays but to my family. I went to
London for one holiday when I was in my 20s, and now it's mentioned
at Passover as a plague -- 'The Year Fran Went to London.' That's
the one between locusts and blood.
Q. So you've never heard of the new symbols, like the orange on the
seder plate?
A. What's that supposed to stand for -- Florida?
Q. So nothing changes in your family seder?
A. My cousins in Israel have different melodies -- the wrong ones.
They're the cheerier Jews. All Jewish melodies should be in a
mournful key. I mean, if you're going to be cheerful, you might as
well be Episcopalian.
Q. Do you ever have non-Jews at your seder?
A. Sometimes, but I don't like it because then the seder takes too
long. Everyone feels they have to explain.
Q. So there is nothing liberating for you about the seder?
A. How freeing can it be to have to get to Poughkeepsie by 6 p.m.?
Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com