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Penn State Harrisburg hosted its first “freedom seder” April 6 to celebrate the shared commitment of blacks and Jews to freedom from slavery and oppression. Seder is a traditional Passover dinner, marking the Jews' escape from slavery in Egypt. The original freedom seder took place in 1969, on the coincidental occasion of Passover and the one-year commemoration of Martin Luther King's death. Since then, the freedom seder has become a multicultural, interfaith event at colleges and urban centers nationwide.
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Professor Simon J. Bronner, lead scholar of Penn State Harrisburg's Holocaust and Jewish Studies Center, led the campus' April 6 freedom seder. For more pictures from the event, click on the image above.
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Students, employees and community members who gathered at the Penn State Harrisburg freedom seder learned about Passover customs and the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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The freedom seder included traditional Passover foods, prepared by Housing and Food Services, and a discussion of the customs surrounding the meal. Unleavened bread, or matzah, is served, representing the story of Jews' hurried flight to freedom from Egypt, when they left so quickly they could not wait for bread to rise.
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Wine plays a prevalent role in the traditional seder. At Penn State Harrisburg’s freedom seder, participants drank grape juice to honor deliverance from oppression.
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During the freedom seder, participants took turns with individual readings, recited traditional lines in unison and sang both traditional Jewish and American folk songs.
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Simon J. Bronner shared his personal collection of yarmulkes, the traditional skullcap worn by Jewish men, with students, employees and community members at the college’s April 6 freedom seder.
Sunday, September 15, 2019
