On Wednesday, April 16, 2008, the Bethesda Presbyterian Church hosted a Community Seder jointly with Tree of Life Congregation and the Homewood/Squirrel Hill/Point Breeze Redd Up Coalition. The Seder was conducted jointly by Rev. Eugene Blackwell and Rabbi Stephen Listfield, with music provided by musicians from both church and synagogue, and story telling provided by Maggid Jackie Jonas, an African-American convert to Judaism. The church hall was filled to capacity; we prayed together and sang together and ate together, the stories of going from slavery to freedom resonating in moving fashion among all those present. Whatever differences there were in appearance and cultural identity, in religious beliefs and material circumstances, were rendered insignificant by the shared emotional response to the stories of the Exodus from Mitzraim (the “narrow” place) and the long struggle, still incomplete, to be free at last from black slavery and racism.

It was amazing how well the Jewish story, as told in the Haggadah, and the Africa-American story mesh together. “Go down, Moses” is a great addition to the Seder, and reciting the Ten Plagues with West African Drum accompaniment is a startling experience. We must always remember that Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, marched in Selma, Alabama with Martin Luther King, Jr. and that Jews and Blacks died together for the great cause of freedom for all mankind. For those of you who were not present for this wonderful event, don’t worry; there will be another chance to be a part of this special event, for there are already plans in the works to reciprocate with Bethesda Presbyterian Church and have the Community Seder next Passover at Tree of Life .