Barack Obama invited guests to the White House for what was believed to be the first Seder to be hosted by a US president, media reports said Friday.
“The White House said the Seder meal was traditional, including matzo, bitter herbs, a roasted egg and greens in the family dining room in the executive mansion. The evening also featured the reading of the Haggadah,” The Huffington Post blog news reported.
White House aides said they believed it was a first for a US president to host it. Guests included close advisers and family friends, the report said.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the event grew out of a seder dinner during the 2008 campaign, held in the basement of a hotel in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
“I did not go, but somebody told me that at the event that they said, ‘Next year let’s do this at the White House,’ and here we are,” Gibbs said Thursday.
William Daroff, vice president for public policy and director of the United Jewish Communities Washington office, said the Seder was scheduled on the second night so as not to disrupt first night family Seders and is “a testament to how far we have come as a Jewish people in America.
“Jews are a vital component in the mosaic that is American culture and society,” he said.
“Our welcome through the front door, and the dining room door, of the White House speaks to the inclusiveness of today’s America and of President Obama. This night is indeed different from all other nights,” Daroff was quoted as saying by JTA in Washington.
(Source: AFP / EJP)
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7 Responses
A very perplexing administration. Let’s see what happens when this modern Pharoah in Iran gets his nuclear weapons. Why did Biden say Israel will be ill advised to strike?
go president obama go——–i love president obama
Offensive, condescending, patronizing
This strikes the same chord as Hillary claiming she’s Jewish because her grandmother remarried a Jew or whatever that nonsense was.
lincoln hosted a seder in the room next door to the ford theater the night he was killed
לשנה הבאה בירושלים הבנויה
שפוך חמתך אל הגוים אשר לא ידעוך
כל דצריך יתי ויפסח
I hope he wore a white kittel in the White HouseI hope this President will help welcome Moshiach.
May Hashem help him do what is good for the Jewish people and the world.
boruch shehecheyanu lazman hazeh!!!! i wonder if he broks…. cant wait for his purim seuda next year
i am not sure if to laugh or cry at such a story, but it should have been interesting what happened by “Shefoch Chamoscho Al Hagoyim” – or maybe out of “respect” to the Goyim and in the era of racial tolerance maybe they skipped that part.
but, one minute, does the secret service allow opening the white house door wide open and putting G-d in charge instead of themselves, i mean in G-d we trust, but it doesnt mean we trust him to protect the white house, that would put the secret service out of business.
and anyway, for such a Choshuva host, i am wondering if Eliyohu Hanovie made a ‘show’….