Thousands of years later, the memory of Miriam, the sister of both Aaron and Moses, was brought to life Monday night during Temple Kol Emeth/Women of Reform Judaism's Passover Seder.

Prayers, songs and dancing filled the temple's social hall. Each of the 70 women, ages 10 and up, read a passage from the "Dancing with Miriam" Haggadah [the prayer book used during the three-hour Seder].

One of the passages, read by Lynnor Holder, who has attended the women's Passover Seder at Temple Kol Emeth for the past 10 years, put the evening's gathering into its proper perspective: "Let us celebrate our growth as Jewish women and the flowering of our own spirits."

But it was a slice of orange that was placed on the Seder plate among a shankbone, a roasted egg, bitter herbs, parsley and a mixture of apples, nuts and wine that reminded these women of the "sweetness of the innovations women bring to Jewish spirituality."

While most of the Seder plate's contents are reminders of the Jewish exodus from slavery in Egypt, the orange represented the foundation of a woman's full inclusion into everyday Judaism.

The orange, as it is told in their specially written prayer book, came about after Susannah Heschel, a Jewish scholar, was informed by a man during her speech at a Florida synagogue about women rabbis that "a woman belongs on the bimah [similar to a pulpit\] as much as an orange belongs on the Seder plate."

In turn, Heschel replied, "women bring to the bimah what an orange would bring to the Seder plate: transformation and transgression."

"Our particular Seder allows us to rejoice in the role that women have played and to continue to play in Judaism," said Cheryl Raskind-Hood, the president of Temple Kol Emeth/Women of Reform Judaism's Passover Seder. "It by no means replaces the traditional family Passover Seder. For us, Miriam is a prophet who thoroughly rejoiced in her Judaism. That's what we, as Jewish women, are doing tonight."

For Jewish men and women, boys and girls of all ages, Passover is an eight-day festival of freedom. It is the holiday of a historical event, a celebration of the Jewish people's journey from slavery to freedom.

The actually Passover celebration begins with the first traditional Seder at sundown on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Nisan. That is Saturday.

The traditional Seder does not have to be conducted by a rabbi or a specially trained man. The Seder is led by the father, even if he is not particularly educated in Hebrew.

"The traditional Passover Seder is led by men, is about men and the four questions pertain to the son and not the daughter," said Mitzi Schepps, one of about 25 women who danced around the social hall during the singing of Miriam's Song. "I came here tonight wanting to experience a Passover Seder where women were in charge and our freedom from slavery was explained from a woman's viewpoint."

One of those girls who took turns being in charge was Brittany Brown, 10, who was accompanied by her grandmother, Charlotte Mills.

"I was 3 when I first read about Miriam," said Brown, who wants to be a rabbi when she grows up.

"She was a very strong woman who played a very important role in Judaism. I'm glad I came here tonight. I wanted to prove to myself that I was mature enough to be around older women and to learn more about Miriam."