The Bread of Affliction

by: Rabbi Ari Weiss

Fri Apr 15, 2011 at 11:11:51 AM EDT

Next Monday evening, Jews across the world will be participating the Passover seder, the quintessential Jewish meal. Its food recreates the tastes of slavery and freedom: matzo, the bread of affliction; the maror of embittered lives and hard work; charoset, thick as mortar; the four cups of triumphant redemption; and the savory pesach sacrifice, a celebration of being passed-over and chosen for a life of service. Food at the seder goes beyond just simple nourishment; it is symbol and performance.
 
The seder incorporates these tastes and smells of freedom to tell a story about the Jewish people, specifically, a story of the liberation from slavery and their realization as a people. The Haggadah provides the general narrative of this story but its telling remains incomplete. In every generation, one must regard themselves as though they had gone out from Egypt and in every generation we must continue the work of the Exodus and continue to create freedom and fairness in the world. In this generation, Uri L’Tzedek has chosen to add an ambitious chapter to the seder’s never-ending story of oppression and freedom: food and justice.

The Food and Justice Haggadah Supplement contains commentary by 26 different authors highlighting themes related to food, social justice, and ethical consumption found in the Haggadah.

Download the supplement for free.

JFSJ in Today's Washington Post

by: Erica Brody

Mon Mar 29, 2010 at 13:58:01 PM EDT

Don't miss JFSJ's "A Passover Plea: Don't Tread on E Pluribus Unum" column on the the Washington Post website.

Gut Yontif!

An American Seder

by: Jeremy Burton

Sun Mar 28, 2010 at 14:59:46 PM EDT

By now probably every Jew in America knows that tomorrow night President Obama will host his 2nd annual White House Passover seder (and his third annual participation going back to the now legendary campaign seder during the PA primary).

If President Clinton was the 1st African-American President (to use his own communications hype), then it would seem that President Obama is firmly establishing himself as our 1st Jewish President (it helps that the 1st lady's cousin is a respected rabbi).

So what is it about Obama and Passover that feels just so damn authentic this year? Of course it all makes sense considering that Passover is the most American of Jewish days, America inherently embodies Passover values, and this President, like none in half a century, embodies both.

Corporations love to sell us our Passover story

by: Mae Singerman

Fri Mar 26, 2010 at 15:43:39 PM EDT

A lot of people think the problem with “our generation” is that we’re too into irony. For example, I have a fanny pack and someone asked me if it was ironic and I wasn’t sure. It’s hard to even know what’s “authentic” these days.

But, what about when things are ironic, but the entity creating the irony doesn’t even realize/care? I guess that means their authentic identity is just phony/hypocrite. For example, if you’ve ever visited your grandparents in Boca Raton (and I know you have), you’ve gone to Publix. It’s a huge grocery chain, making $622.3 million in the first half of 2009. They have Passover ads celebrating the Jewish peoples’ “perseverance and faith”. What's ironic about this?

Glenn Beck's Attack on Social Justice

by: Erica Brody

Thu Mar 25, 2010 at 13:55:02 PM EDT

The Tea Party, Glenn Beck, and social justice have been generating a lot of headlines and conversation of late in response to comments Beck made earlier this month. And now JFSJ's making our own!

From the Daily Beast:

Outrage is building over the Fox News host’s claim that churches advocating “social justice” are using code words for Nazism and communism. Now a Jewish group is fighting back—through haiku......

On Wednesday, JFSJ launched HaikuGlennBeck.com, a site where readers can submit haiku responses to Beck’s “social justice” quote. Chief Strategy Officer Mik Moore said his site will feature a parallel campaign on Twitter using the hashtag #becku, and celebrities are expected to contribute as well. Comedian Nick Kroll has already offered a poem to accompany the launch.

Read the whole article.

From JFSJ President and CEO Simon Greer, right here on Jspot, in case you missed it.

Meet Pam and Carol. Two women facing similar problems. Pam's son lost his job, then his house. Carol faced foreclosure on her home. They both went looking for help. That's where their stories diverge.

Worried about her family, Pam went looking for answers. She found the Tea Party.

Scared to lose her home, Carol also went looking for answers. She found Hope Community Credit Union.

Read the whole post.

While paradies and protests abound, here are some highlights.

Jon Stewart's Response to Beck, replete with blackboard and swastikas. 

Stephen Colbert's take-down.

Bob Herbert, in the New York Times, on Tea Party "lowlife" behavior -- spitting, epithets, and the like.

Color of Change has a campaign addressing over-the-top Tea Party racism.

Connecting the Dots

by: Erica Brody

Wed Mar 24, 2010 at 13:27:58 PM EDT

Every Passover, I'm fascinated by the extreme diversity of parallels and connections people make between the holiday and the news of the day.

Today, my hat goes off to Rep. Henry Waxman, who successfully connected the dots between the health-care bill's passage and Passover. 

Passover: A Season for Social Justice

by: racrj

Thu Mar 18, 2010 at 18:38:03 PM EDT

Tweeting the Exodus

by: Philip Bump

Wed Mar 17, 2010 at 11:22:17 AM EDT

The Wall Street Journal has an article today discussing ways in which people are trying to make Passover observance "more fun".

Rabbi Oren Hayon of Dallas had an idea to that end. He and some colleagues are tweeting the Exodus story, building the story by collecting the simulated tweets of its participants.

For example:

@DaughterofPharo: Hey! Something just touched my leg! Is it a croc? Oh - just a basket. Whew! OMEG! There's a baby in here!

This will either get people more excited about Passover or less excited about Twitter. Which, remains to be seen.

Next Year's White House Seder

by: Mik Moore

Sun Apr 12, 2009 at 18:01:19 PM EDT

Well, this is pretty cool.

One small thought: If the President would like to elevate the importance of the Passover seder even more than he has already, he might consider replacing the annual White House Hannukah party(currently the big Jewish White House party) with an annual White House seder. The fact is, Hannukah is a minor holiday that has been taken over by Christmas; Passover has held its own against Easter and is the most popular - and interfaith-friendly - of all Jewish holidays. It also speaks to the relationship between Jews and other traditionally oppressed communities, but particularly between blacks and Jews. Passover is, in short, a holiday with good politics.

A large seder would be less fun for the President, perhaps, but would be a great way to bring together all of the President's closest friends and allies in the Jewish community.

Escaping the Mitzrayim of Despair

by: Rabbi Jill Jacobs

Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 10:10:53 AM EDT

Click here to download a beautiful PDF of a bookmark with JFSJ's 2009 Pesach message--perfect for holding the page in your haggadah while leaving two hands free to juggle parsley and salt water.

 Text of the message below:

The economic collapse has left many of us feeling powerless and despondent. The world, it seems, has drifted into a new Mitzrayim, a term that refers geographically to the land of Egypt, but literally means a narrow or constricted place.

It is not easy to escape from Mitzrayim. According to the Torah, the ancient Israelites endure slavery for hundreds of years before
summoning the strength even to pray for liberation. Frightened when freedom comes, the people continue to long for a return to the security of slavery.

At one point, God comments, “They will know that I am Adonai their God who brought them out of Mitzrayim to dwell among them.” (Exodus 29:46) Rashi, an eleventh century scholar reads this verse conditionally: “On the condition that I dwell among [the people], I
have brought them out of Egypt.”

That is – as long as the people allow the divine presence to dwell among them, they will remain free from Mitzrayim. But the moment the people stop actively trying to make the divine presence manifest, they will metaphorically return to the constricted space
of Mitzrayim.

By giving tzedakah, by working for policies that will create opportunity for everyone, and by helping to create a more just society, we too can make the divine presence evident among us, even – or especially – in difficult times, and will lift ourselves collectively out of the narrowness of Mitzrayim.

— Jill Jacobs, Rabbi-in-Residence for Jewish Funds for Justice and author of There Shall Be No Needy: Pursuing Social Justice through Jewish Law and Tradition (Jewish Lights 2009), is a leading expert on Jewish perspectives on economic and social justice.