
Rochelle Wilner President	Frank Dimant Chief Executive Officer	Prof. Stephen Scheinberg National Chair

Blacks & Jews in Dialogue

BJD Seder

By Norman L. Epstein, April 25, 2001

Freedom at last! Freedom at last! God almighty, we are free at last.

M.L.King

Freedom, emancipation, autonomy are important words that describe the human requisite for a meaningful journey in life. Without freedom, there is no fulfillment and life on earth becomes a purgatory devoid of all else but a mere, brutal existence. Freedom is to living as oxygen is to life.

On April 25/01, Blacks and Jews in Dialogue attracted over 70 people to celebrate a common seder "From oppression to freedom: our shared experience and vision". The Hagaddah was excerpts from the traditional Passover Seder, along with a compilation of Jewish and Black writings. Naturally it retells the story of the Exodus from Egypt and the plight of African Slaves and indefatiguable will towards liberation.

God wants us to understand that nothing is more central to the divine purpose than our freedom - and that freedom depends upon just law.

BJD Seder

The lesson is not lost today. A man faced the bars in his cell along with the spectre of a life of confinement. The longer he faced the bars, the more his resolve steeled. Trumped up political charges may have enslaved his body, but not his mind or spirit. The man is Nelson Mandela, a modern icon whose ‘indefatiguable will’ lifted a people and transformed a nation.

The BJD seder was beautifully designed with the ornate symbols of a traditional seder. For example, the bitter herbs symbolizing the bitterness of slavery and the greens dipped in salt water signifying the copious tears engulfing a life of struggle.

We are slaves because in today’s world, there remain people in chains, and no one can be truly free while others in chains.

BJD Seder

The ‘Berlin Wall’ was a symbol. It stood for the oppression by a political system which snuffed out free will. It stood for a Skinnerian Box where one conformed or faced arbitrary and ruthless punishment. Communism or totalitarianism failed miserably because a system that suppresses freedom will eventually implode.

The seder reminded us of the great travails of the human condition visited us like plagues - both natural causes and man’s own barbarity.

The sword comes into the world because of justice delayed and justice denied.

BJD Seder

The Twentieth Century was certainly a blight on how humans treated each other. The genocide of Armenians and Cambodians, the Rawandan massacre, the extermination of Jews and the despair in Africa sadly illustrate this. Despite the retelling the Exodus from Egypt, unbearable cruelty continues. Talk is cheap. Will we ever say "Never Again" and actually mean it?

Yet no adequate message has travelled from our eyes and our ears to our hands, until it reaches our hearts.

BJD Seder

A Common Road To Freedom: A Passover Seder

It is somewhat of a paradox that seder means ‘order’, yet we celebrate the freedom to express ourselves. The BJD seder was wonderfully embellished with music and song; seder favourites "Dayenu" (Enough is Enough) "Adir Hu" ( G-d is Might ) along with Black poetry and folk songs. Music, art and creativity are the ultimate expression of freedom.

Even individuals in a our society must not denied the opportunity to enjoy freedom and live in dignity. That the deprivations of the homeless and poverty do not undermine this opportunity. That prevailing self-doubts and negative inhibitions do not preclude us from achieving our infinite potentials. That our intellects and abilities are free to flourish for our self-actualization and betterment of others. Freedom is the fuel that provides sustenance, energy and purpose to the soul. And without nurturing the soul, life has no meaning.

Whenever the slaves get together something happens in Pharoah’ s Court… … that’s the beginning of getting out of slavery. Now let us maintain unity.

M.L.King ( BJD Seder)

We shall overcome… … we shall overcome.

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