The first Freedom Seder was celebrated April 4, 1969, on the one-year anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr. Since that time, Freedom Seders have embraced the stories of people of color, refugees and others who have fought for basic human dignity.
Honoring the spirit of the ancient story of the Jews’ exodus from Egypt, and the struggles of all peoples who have fought and died for freedom, Temple Emanu-El and Humane Borders co-sponsored a Freedom Seder led by actor and activist Ed Asner. The seder was held on April 21 at Temple Emanu-El in Tucson, with more than 200 people in attendance. Participants at the head table included Rabbis Samuel Cohon and Batsheva Appel, Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, representatives from the U.S. Border Patrol, clergy from Episcopal and Catholic dioceses, and volunteers from Humane Borders. The Four Questions were recited in English, Hebrew, Spanish, Yiddish and Hungarian.
The first Freedom Seder was celebrated April 4, 1969, on the one-year anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr. Since that time, Freedom Seders have embraced the stories of people of color, refugees and others who have fought for basic human dignity.
Humane Borders offers humanitarian assistance to those in need through the deployment of emergency water stations on routes known to be used by migrants coming north through the Arizona desert. The water tanks are on a combination of private and public lands. In all cases they have permission to locate the water stations on these lands in writing from the landowners.
Bob Feinman became a board member of Humane Borders three years ago and found that he was one of only two members of the Jewish community actively involved. He is currently the vice chairperson of the organization and has set about spreading the word in an effort to get the Jewish community more engaged.
“Who should know the suffering of wandering in the desert better than us, after following Moses for 40 years?” he asks. “We should be at the front of this charge to help prevent others from going through a similar path today as was ours thousands of years ago. We are a humanitarian organization with no political agenda. We don’t debate the right or wrong of people crossing the border; working with the border patrol, we just try to prevent death from being part of this equation.”
Humane Borders was founded in June 2000 to create a safe and death-free border environment. It is a 501C-3 nonprofit organization with membership of more than 1,500 volunteers and 100 affiliated organizations from all walks of life. Humaneborders.org
