President Obama will host a Passover seder Thursday evening in the White House.
The president’s schedule for the rest of the week, released on Tuesday evening, said that Obama would mark the beginning of the holiday with a seder for friends and staff. No other information was provided. It is believed to be the first presidential seder held in the White House.
William Daroff, vice president of public policy and director of United Jewish Communities’ Washington office, said the White House seder demonstrated how far the American Jewish community has come:
In 1943, rabbis marched to the White House to demand action from the President of the United States to save European Jewry from the Nazis. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt responded by sneaking out the White House back door to avoid seeing the rabbis.
Sixty-six years later the President of the United States is spending Thursday evening with his friends and family celebrating the liberation and survival of the Jewish people.
President Barack Obama’s seder – scheduled on the second night so as not to disrupt first night family seders — is a testament to how far we have come as a Jewish people in America. Jews are a vital component in the mosaic that is American culture and society. Our welcome through the front door, and the dining room door, of the White House speaks to the inclusiveness of today’s America and of President Obama. This night is indeed different from all other nights.
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