By Rebecca Rich, Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor
On March 25, 2025, over 80 Black and Jewish people of all ages came together at the JCC of Greater Ann Arbor to celebrate their joint journeys to freedom through the lens of a Passover Seder. The Freedom Seder is a concept dating back to 1969, when Jewish activist Arthur Waskow brought together Black and Jewish people in commemoration of the first anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and in protest of persisting racial inequality. Many Freedom Seders have been held around the country since. The greater Ann Arbor community held its first Freedom Seder in 1992, which continued for a few years afterwards. This year’s Freedom Seder aimed to revitalize that tradition and put on the first local Freedom Seder in about 30 years.
To realize this goal, the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor’s Jewish Community Relations Committee convened a committee consisting of both Black and Jewish community members: Federation’s Community Relations Director Rabbi Asher Lopatin and Graduate Student Intern Rebecca Rich, plus Pastor Carnel Richardson of the Metropolitan Memorial Baptist Church and community members Rena Basch, Deborah Greene (local Jewish People of Color Network), Nancy Margolis, and LaTina Saba. Together, this committee worked to create a brand-new haggadah bringing together Jewish and Black traditions and to coordinate the logistics of the night. Throughout the process, an emphasis was put on collaboration and equal representation.
The seder included many creative elements, including a non-traditional seder plate containing symbolic foods of both Black and Jewish cultures and a menu with a variety of cultural foods such as cornbread and collard greens, expertly prepared from scratch by the JCC’s in-house chef Carly Balmer. There were also a number of prayers and creative readings from both cultures compiled, led by prominent community members such as MI State Representative Morgan Foreman, Federation CEO Eileen Freed, and Ann Arbor NAACP president Andre Watson.
Throughout the program, participants were given the chance to learn, reflect, and connect with each other. A favorite activity of the night was one connected to the ten plagues in Egypt, where participants were encouraged to write down on small sheets of paper and then crumple or tear up their own personal plagues, which Rabbi Lopatin then brought home to use to burn his chametz (leftover traces of bread before Passover).
Overall, it was a fulfilling, exciting event—the room was filled with the energy and warmth of community, new friends, and shared stories.
To be part of planning next year’s Freedom Seder, email jcrc@jewishannarbor.org. To learn more about the work of the Jewish Federation and JCRC, visit JewishAnnArbor.org/Engagement.
