“As a Jew and an African American, I carry the memory of two groups of people who were once enslaved,” said Rabbi Sandra Lawson, RRC’ 18, Reconstructing Judaism’s inaugural director of racial diversity, Justice and inclusion.
Lawson was a featured speaker in the 2023 White House Passover Seder. The virtual event was co-hosted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and focused on food insecurity.
Strumming her guitar, Lawson sang, “Oh Freedom” a 19th-century spiritual that became an anthem of the Civil Rights movement and is a staple at Lawson’s own seders. The U.S. Army veteran also offered some brief remarks.
“Every Passover, we are commanded to recall the past and tell the story of our people’s liberation from mitzrayim, the narrow place that causes pain,” she said after the song. “As a Black woman in America, the history of American slavery is much closer in our collective memory than Israelite bondage. I often think of my ancestors, who were brought here in bondage, brought here as chattel. I imagine that they found comfort in the Biblical story of the Exodus.”
“Passover reminds us that remembering our collective story should inform our actions today.”
Read about the Reconstructionist movement’s call for reparations and teshuvah.
