New Freedom Seder for the Earth
A New Freedom Seder for the Earth, sponsored by the Shalom Center, will mark the 40th anniversary of the historic interfaith Passover seder of 1969, and will draw attention to global threats to the environment. The Seder will also focus on the central Passover themes of freedom and the ten Biblical plagues, most of which were ecological calamities.
“While the original Freedom Seder arose from the Civil Rights Movement and the movement opposing the Vietnam War, this year’s event coincides with another powerful grassroots movement—one focused on threats to our planet,” said Rabbi Waskow, director of The Shalom Center, who wrote the original Freedom Seder and is the primary author of the upcoming Freedom Seder for the Earth. “In the Passover tradition, Pharaoh’s arrogance and addiction to his own power enslave not only the Israelites but the earth itself, tormenting it into eco-disasters, or plagues, including locusts and hail storms. What institutions are playing the role of Pharaoh today, driving us into the current climate crisis?”
*History of Freedom Seder
*About 800 Jews and Christians, both black and white, attended the original Freedom Seder, held in a church in the nation’s capital a year after Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination. The 1969 Freedom Seder and accompanying Haggadah for the first time in Passover history connected the ancient freedom struggle of Israelites with the modern struggles for freedom among Black Americans and other communities. In subsequent years, that unprecedented event has inspired countless non-traditional Seders relating to civil rights, labor, peace, women’s rights and Soviet Jewry, among other topics.
To participate, or for additional information, visit www.shalomctr.org.
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