I have been to a lot of unique sedarim. I've been to a seders with Hawaiian haroset, seders where each person read from his/her own haggadah, a Moroccan seder in Paris, and sedarim in Israel, but one of the most meaningful was a seder we hosted at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base.
It was Pesach 5761/2001. We were stationed at the Marine Corps Base. It was a slightly smaller seder than we were used to; there wasn't a very large Jewish community at Camp Lejeune. As was our practice, we invited other chaplains from the base to share the experience of seder. That year Chaplain O.J. Mozon and his family joined us. We often had Christian colleagues share our holidays, but this time it was different. The Mozon family shared a connection that others had not. The Mozon's are black, and can count the generations back into slavery. For them, as for us, the seder was not merely an academic experience. The collective memory that we shared made us who we were and are, informing our actions, ethics, and ideals.
For me, seder represents the formative moment of the Jewish people. Zeicher yitzi'at Mitzraiyim, in memory of the exodus from Egypt is the mantra oft repeated in prayer and halakha. Jewish tradition teaches that the reason that generation merited redemption was their own actions. They were willing, whether it be the midwives defying Pharaoh to his face, the women who insisted on continuing the Jewish people in the face of death, or Yocheved hiding her child, and then giving him to be raised in the palace right under Pharaoh's nose, their willingness to stand up to tyranny has forever shaped the Jewish people. It leads many to fight tyranny everywhere, even sometimes to their own detriment.
This year, with rebellions against tyranny spreading across the Arab world, wouldn't it be a wonderful miracle if the reaction could end with a shared collective memory desiring the end of oppression and looking instead toward freedom for all.
