On Friday, April 13, we hosted the 2nd annual “Drinking Gourd Black-Jewish Community Liberation Seder” at the farm. Using the order of the Jewish seder, we infused our evening with the stories, songs, and rituals of our African American and African diaspora traditions. Neshima led a beautiful maggid (story) of Harriet Tubman’s underground railroad interwoven with African American spirituals and freedom songs. Guests brought items for a second seder plate, with personal and ancestral meanings related to liberation. These items were the basis of the stories we shared with each other, bookmarked by prayer. The meals was delicious, with potluck items including tilapia, quinoa salad, baked yams, and matzoh ball soup with chicken from the farm. It was wonderful to experience the leadership of the children, who were in charge of the drumming, much of the ritual, and many points of deep, illuminating reflection. We are reminded that the purpose of the Passover Seder is to “tell your children” and we also experience how much they “tell us.”
