Dancing with Their Timbrels at Women's Passover Seder [VIDEO]

(A look back at last year's Passover holiday by Linda Rubin, check here to see what the are doing this year at .)

This is the first Passover at synagogue for Associate Rabbi Deborah Silver, the eighth for Associate Cantor Judy Dubin Aranoff. Together they joined with the synagogue Sisterhood in welcoming 150 guests to their fourth annual Women’s Seder.

This special celebration is held three weeks in advance of the Passover holiday to give the women, who expect to be cooking and serving during the real Seder, a chance to relax with one another, pick up some ideas for the festive meal to come, and be inspired by teachings from the rabbi and sharing stories with their invited speakers.

The theme of this year’s Seder was Women in Leadership, exemplified by the evening's presenters, 9th District Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jan Perry, Dr. Najeeba Syeed-Miller, Asst. Professor at Claremont School of Theology, and Elana Vorspan, an Adat Ari El board member who is also Director of Program and Marketing at the Jewish Free Loan Association.

In a feminine twist on the Passover story, Rabbi Silver offered a teaching not about Moses, who led the Israelites out of Egypt, but about his sister Miriam the prophetess, who is identified with a well that followed the Jews as they roamed the desert.  

And, like a well, said Rabbi Silver, “When a woman is a leader, she cannot be owned. When a woman is a leader, she belongs to the community. And when a woman is a leader, every one has an equal share in her and she gives to everybody.”

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