On April 4, 1969, one year to the day after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a group of Jews and African Americans gathered in the basement of a church in Washington, D.C. to celebrate Passover together. This evening was the beginning of a powerful tradition, the Freedom Seder.
The first Freedom Seder wove together the themes of our ancient ancestors’ journey from bondage to freedom with those of modern fights for liberation: the civil rights and women’s equality movements.
Over five decades later, we recognize that while progress has been made, there is still much work to be done to achieve true freedom; true equality. This is work that Blacks and Jews (which includes Jews of Color) must do together.
To that end, last week, our communities organized an extraordinary evening dedicated to continuing the work. Over 200 people gathered at Stephen Wise Temple in Los Angeles for a Freedom Seder hosted in partnership with Van Jones, Amanda Berman, Greater Zion Church of Compton, Stephen Wise Temple, and Deborah Marcus.
Exploring the symbols and rituals of the Passover seder gave us a shared language for telling our stories both personal and communal. We also had the opportunity to dance together, to sing together, and to pray together. We connected our traditions in deep ways as we reflected upon Passover and Easter as holy days, central to each of our traditions.
The heart of the evening focused on renewing our covenantal relationship—the commitments and promises that we make to each other. As Van Jones has emphasized, shared dedication to this important work is not only to our specific communities’ mutual benefit, it has been, and is still, critically important to the development of our nation. As he powerfully states: “The reason this country is a democracy at all is because Black and Jewish people have loved each other, and helped each other, and supported each other, and stood up for each other.”
In our shared tradition, there is a Hebrew word for that love, help, and support : berit (בְּרִית). A berit is a covenant; a sacred and enduring promise. An oath. An eternal commitment which we honor throughout both the good times and the challenging ones as well.
This covenant is actualized—lived—through the obligations to one another which we take upon ourselves. It is born of a promise to stand together and support each other as we work for freedom and fight for our shared human dignity. Our communities are each all too familiar with the pains of oppression and bondage, xenophobia and hate, racism and antisemitism.
There are powerful forces–both algorithmic and political–that are attempting to pull us apart. But we will not allow ourselves to be divided or to be used as pawns by others.
While we are humble enough to admit that we are sometimes unsure of the path forward, our faith reminds us that our journey is most decidedly a shared one.
As individuals and as leaders of our communities, we vow–in covenant–to, in the months and years ahead, continue doing the work together; encouraging and facilitating conversations with the intent of continuously learning from one another’s diverse backgrounds and perspectives.
We know that we are not the first to recognize the challenge or embrace the possibilities of our partnership. Throughout the millennia, long before that historic evening in 1969, our paths have crossed and our stories have intersected. Today, as much as—or maybe even more so than—ever, we need each other as allies, as friends, and as brothers and sisters. We need to love, help, and support one another through times of pain such as the present one. When we and our fellow marginalized communities feel abandoned and alone, we must be able to lean on one another all the more.
The Passover Seder reminds us powerfully that in every generation, it is our responsibility to see ourselves as if we personally went forth from Egypt. Each and every one of us must imagine the pain of bondage so that we can live one of the most powerful—and most difficult —commandments of the Bible: “You must love the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:19)
וַאֲהַבְתֶּם אֶת־הַגֵּר כִּי־גֵרִים הֱיִיתֶם בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם׃
With an understanding of what it means to journey from slavery to freedom, and an acknowledgment that—having once been strangers ourselves—we now carry an obligation to all who feel estranged today, we embrace this berit, this covenant, and pledge ourselves to continue the work of liberation together.
—Bishop Elect Michael J. Fisher and Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback