My grandfather was a jeweler, a sculptor and a compulsive tinkerer. He once took apart a Model T Ford, piece by piece, and put it back together again, just so he could learn how it worked. His hands were marvels of dexterity, and the precise, graceful dance they performed at every seder was a wonder to me. What I often wondered about was this: had the turning of pages, the pouring of salt water, and the breaking of the afikomen been performed by my grandfather’s grandfathers in the same way? Did they twist the parsley with one hand to break it, lift their glasses with all five fingers turned up, cup their grandson’s cheeks as if they were hatchlings? And would my hands ever do the work theirs’ did?
To be a Jew, by which I mean to be a person, is to wonder such things. The Passover seder teaches us that to be a Jew is to be a stranger. Strangers wander, they have time on their hands, and so they wonder about things. To be a Jew is to wander the wilderness, like Moses, and Abraham before him, to be at home everywhere and nowhere. We tell the story of Passover to remind ourselves to love the stranger. No other commandment in the Torah—not even to love God—is mentioned as many times as the commandment to love the stranger as we do ourselves.
Our writers can help you with any type of essay. For any subject
Order now
In Leviticus: “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Because the stranger is you. Because you once walked where he walks. You know the heart of the stranger because your heart has been estranged. It is eye-opening to realize how emphatically the Torah warns against the threat of xenophobia, to not only the hated, but the hater. The Passover seder is a mnemonic device, an exercise of repetition, designed to help us ingest the memory of oppression, to make it a permanent part of our collective body and memory.
It is as if the sages were saying: argument is useless in the face of this hatred, politics are inadequate. Only the force of memory is strong enough to reconcile us with our estranged selves, the shunned, shamed or banished aspects of ourselves that we allow to languish uncared-for at our peril. Only memory will provide the strength of will required to keep our hearts and our homes open to strangers from everywhere, to overcome fear, doubt, prejudice and all the other plagues of a hardened heart.
The seder is a ceremony of welcome, to strangers within and without. It in fact makes no distinction between them. It places our grandfathers’ hands on our cheeks, our mothers lips on our hands, and our daughter’s brows on our lips, impressing the weight of our stories, our history, on our hearts. It invites us to unbind each other and ourselves, to open our doors to the world, to believe in a Promised Land we may never reach but will move our children toward. It reminds us to fight the good fight against oppression, wherever it occurs, and for freedom wherever it is threatened. On this night, and every night.
Description Of Political Corruption In Shakespeare’s Richard II
In Richard II, William Shakespeare describes the political corruption in England during Richards rule. Act III takes place in a garden, in which the Queen, a couple of ladies, the Gardener, and a man are discussing the misrule of Richard and make metaphorical references to nature. This suggests a strong understanding of horticulture for the time period the play was written in. The lines 31-38 say, ”Go, bind thou up you dangling apricocks, which, like unruly children, make their sire. Stoop with oppression of their prodigal weight; Give some supportance to the bending twigs. Go thou, and like an executioner, cut off the heads of too fast growing sprays, that look too lofty in our commonwealth: All must be even in our government.” This is one of the metaphors. This can be seen with young trees when they are tied back in order to grow straight. This is due to weakness of the roots and trunks so they are too weak to completely support their own weight, especially during winds or storms.
The Gardener felt the country needed support to hold up its own weight of oppression and corruption. The time period had a name for the plant and cultivated it for the apricot fruit itself. The lines saying, “give some supportance to the bending twigs, Go thou, and like an executioner, cut off the heads of too fast growing sprays” suggest reference to fan pruning. This technique is used in England and areas with cooler climates. In order to grow apricots, the tree has to be attached to the wall to allow the lateral branches fan out so the plant can absorb heat and light from the wall. It is also mentions taking the fruits which are growing too quickly, because they are too big and weigh down the branches of the tree. This could end up breaking the branches making the tree useless.
Our writers can help you with any type of essay. For any subject
Order now
The men ask why they should keep the garden well maintained while the world around them is full of weeds and infested with insects. This alludes to the politicians and corrupted leaders who are self-seeking. The metaphor also suggests knowledge of invasive species and knowledge that weeds and insects will attack and destroy the garden. Shakespeare also describes pruning and that it improves the health of the plants, and increases the production. The garden is kept up with the seasons while Bolingbroke, Richard’s cousin, lets his land wither away and over grow. He suggests that Bolingbroke shows no care for the structure and order of his country or government after he took rule from Richard. A gardener needs to be maintained all year to keep a garden beautiful and full. This means the leader of a country must always be attentive to his people. Queen Isabel became aware of Richard’s capture and was disappointed at the gardener for not telling her the news. She places a curse on his plant grafts. The gardener promises he will plant her a bed of rue, the herb of sorrow.
In the last part of the play, Shakespeare gives reference to grafting, and that herbs were known about. Grafting is the process of encouraging (or forcing) the tissues of one plant to grow with a different tissue from another plant. A root system that is better for that specific region or root system that supports better plant growth is chosen to be used with the grafting. The stems, leaves, and fruits of a certain plant are selected so that the gardener can achieve the results, fruits, or beauty that is desired. Shakespeare’s reference to herbs suggest using them to take away pain and sorrow. Today, herbs are still thought of as being useful for healing or sicknesses.
