The seder that transformed American Judaism

In 1969, Arthur Waskow wrote and helped organize the original Freedom Seder, and in so doing, transformed American Judaism forever.

One year prior, a then mostly secular Waskow was living in DC when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated. Outraged and devastated, Waskow took to the streets in solidarity with his comrades in the Civil Rights Movement, providing mutual aid and support to his friends as federal troops rolled in and a punishing curfew was set. When Passover arrived, Waskow began to walk home for first night seder when he passed a Jeep with a gun pointing down his block and thought to himself, “Why am I going home to celebrate Passover when Pharaoh’s army is right here in the streets?”

That question - that revelation - and Arthur’s response to it, changed the course of American Judaism forever. It lit up in Arthur a glowing sense that Judaism was not just a set of ancient texts and symbolic traditions, but living and breathing stories that needed to be wrestled with and reimagined in each generation.

One year later, on the anniversary of King’s assassination, Waskow co-hosted the first freedom seder in the basement of a Black church in DC with 800 eager participants in attendance. The haggadah that he wrote, which the group used that night, is thought to be the first time another people’s liberation narrative - the Civil Rights Movement - was placed alongside the liberation narrative of the Jewish Exodus story. That night, Judaism came alive and became intertwined in the world in new and profound ways that would shape generations to come.

Footage of the original Freedom Seder, April 4, 1969

Waskow’s radical recontextualization of the Exodus story, of Passover, and of Judaism itself lives on today in the countless social justice haggadot and supplements that proliferate each year, in the thousands of freedom seders that have happened since 1969 and continue to happen, and in the foundational evolution of American Judaism towards a justice that roots itself resolutely within - and derives its power from - Jewish practice, time, and ritual. The Freedom Seder’s impact is still being felt, its resonance still striking a chord in minds, hearts, and spirits spanning continents and eras.

As we enter into Passover tomorrow night, and as we prepare to launch the Reb Arthur Waskow Legacy Fund next Wednesday, we wanted to make sure you had easy access to the Original Freedom Seder, which in retrospect marked the beginning of Reb Arthur’s Jewishly-infused journey, the start of a life that has now birthed a legacy.

Please read, print, and discuss the Original Freedom Seder - or any of Arthur and The Shalom Center’s newer Freedom Seder editions - this Passover by clicking the button above.

Then next Wednesday, join us as we formally launch our campaign to celebrate Arthur’s life and legacy while ensuring a thriving future for The Shalom Center and the prophetic spirit that Arthur so deeply embodies.