Art by Hillel Smith

“With Outstretched Arms”
Social Justice Seder

Bolton Street Synagogue, Baltimore, MD

“We Move: From the Red Sea to the DMV”
Labor Seder

Temple Sinai, Washington, DC

Sunday, March 30, 2025 / 1 Nisan 5785, 3:00 PM

Each spring, the JUFJ community comes together to retell the story of Passover and take action on local issues in our region. This year, more than ever, we need to remember that every generation has a responsibility to work toward collective liberation. Join us on Sunday, March 30, 2025 / 1 Nisan 5785 at 3:00 PM for our 2025 Social Justice Seder in Baltimore or Labor Seder in DC.

“With Outstretched Arms,” at Bolton Street Synagogue in Baltimore will focus on immigrants’ rights, in partnership with CASA. “We Move: From the Red Sea to the DMV,” at Temple Sinai in DC will focus on transit workers’ rights, in partnership with ATU Local 689.

Tickets for the seders are $36 or pay-what-you-can. Sponsorships start at $118 and include two or more tickets to the seder of your choice. Use the forms below to purchase tickets or to sponsor. All sponsors will be recognized in the Haggadah (ritual book) at both seders.

Thank you to our 2025 seder sponsors

Updated March 27, 2025

Storytellers

Anita Lampel and Daniel Metlay
Ann Hoffman
Anna Tubiash Levy
Anonymous (2)
Barbara Kraft and Peter Winkler
Beth Am Baltimore
Carol Goldstein
David and Lauri Rodich
David M. Friedman
Deedee Jacobsohn
Erica and Eli Allen
Harriet Rubinson
Hinenu Baltimore
Jeffrey Rubin
Jesse Glickstein
Jim Wolf
Jody and Sheila Harburger
Karen Caplan and David Freund
Lisa Barkan and Ed Fee
Melissa Goemann
One Fair Wage
Rabbi Gilah Langner and David Drelich
Rachel Kassman
Rebecca Barson
Sax Family

Liberators

Bolton Street Synagogue
Chizuk Amuno Congregation
Claire Landers and Steven Falk
Dan Mauer and Shoshana Gitlin
Diane Gardsbane and Paul Sully
Gary Falk
Jerry Kickenson and Kathleen Michels
Lilah Pomerance
Nadelman-Lauren Family
Robert and Anne Molofsky
Sandra Dzija and Andy Miller
Susan London Russell

Mighty Hand

Abby Glassberg and Frank Staines
Anonymous
Carol Stern and Miriam Eisenstein
Debbie and Michael Amster
Ed Rehfeld
Fabrangen
Jews for Racial and Economic Justice
Jo Shifrin and Jethro K. Lieberman
Krieger-Cohen Family
Lisa & Elad Firnberg
Rabbi Miriam Liebman
Robert Barkin
Temple Rodef Shalom
Tramar Murdock Jennings

Outstretched Arm

Am Kolel Jewish Renewal Community
Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO
Nancy and Ed Kutler
Rebecca Widiss & Raj Nayak
Vicki Spira
Wendy Kahn and Marty Burns

Signs

Montgomery County Leadership Council
Ruth Ellen Goodman

Wonders

Each spring from 2002 to 2019, the JUFJ community came together to retell the story of Passover and take action on local issues in our community. In 2020, our seders were canceled at the last minute due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we look forward to resuming them in 2024.

We have collected the Haggadah (ritual book) from almost all of these Labor Seders in DC (2005-2020) and Social Justice Seders in Baltimore (2014-2020) and made them available to download for your use at home in your own seders. Our 2020 Haggadahs are also available in online interactive form.

We hope these resources will enrich your holiday and help make critical change in our community. Chag Pesach sameach / Happy Passover!

If you are interested in helping to plan future seders, please contact our Program Director, Lindsay Morris (lindsay.morris@jufj.org).

Seder Resources

Haggadot are available to download for almost all of our seders. For the first three Labor Seders, JUFJ used a Haggadah from the Jewish Labor Committee, rather than creating our own. Thank you to Erica Allen and Rabbi Gerry Serotta for helping us complete this collection of Haggadot in 2023!

Women taking political actions. And We Cry Out: Ex 2:23

The 2020 Labor Seder, And We Cry Out, was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. JUFJ staff created an online interactive Haggadah for use in people’s home seders, including song videos, downloadable supplements, and more.

Time clock with plagues on it and a time card that says No Time To Care: A Plague on Our Communities.

The 2020 Social Justice Seder, No Time To Care: A Plague on Our Communities, was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. JUFJ staff created an online interactive Haggadah for use in people’s home seders, including downloadable supplements, and more. Since then, the Time To Care Coalition successfully pushed to pass a paid family and medical leave law for Maryland!

seder on water justice flyer

The 2019 Social Justice Seder, Common Resource, Common Need: A Seder on Water Justice, explored the fight for water justice in Baltimore and the sacred role of water in Jewish traditions.

The 2019 Labor Seder, In Every Generation, celebrated 50 years since the first Freedom Seder and 20 years of JUFJ.

labor seder flyer. a ballot box is a matzah box and someone is inserting mastzah instead od a ballott

The 2018 Labor Seder, Let My People Vote, was a collaboration with the Jews United for Justice Campaign Fund. We mobilized our community’s power and passion to re-tell the Exodus story and to elect bold, accountable leaders to office in DC and in Montgomery County.

social justice seder postcard, people enjoying a seder outside with birds and flowers

At 2018’s 5th annual Social Justice Seder, “Shelter of Peace: A Seder on Migrant Justice,” we asked how immigration policy reflects our society’s values, what the Exodus can teach us about today’s migrants’ journeys, and how we, as a Baltimore Jewish community, will respond.

art depicting the parted red sea with text reading resist pharaoh

The 2017 DC Labor Seder, Out of Mitzrayim, Into the Streets, was a training session to help prepare us for resisting the Trump agenda by responding to public instances of hate and harassment; holding elected officials accountable; leveraging fiscal policy to advance racial and economic justice; and standing with immigrants and refugees.

passsover art drawing parralels between the pharaoh and police

At 2017’s 4th Annual Social Justice Seder, “Coming Through A Narrow Place: Seeking Police Accountability in Baltimore,” we delved into the complexities of policing and police accountability in Baltimore.

labor seder flyer

The 2016 DC Labor Seder focused on good jobs, and the policies we need to ensure that every hardworking person has access to one.

art depicting MD court as the Pharaoh

At 2016’s 3rd Annual Baltimore Social Justice Seder, “Let My People Go … Home!”, we learned about the terrible housing conditions that struggling Baltimore renters face, and the frequent injustices of Rent Court, the legal system which is meant to protect Baltimore City’s tenants.

labor seder flyer

The 2015 DC Labor Seder, None of Us is Free Until All of Us are Free, focused on racial injustice, in solidarity with the ongoing movement.

The 2015 2nd Annual Baltimore Social Justice Seder, Environmental Justice and the Curtis Bay Incinerator, focused on a toxic deal to build an incinerator in a low-income, already polluted Baltimore neighborhood.

labor seder flyer

The 2014 Labor Seder, It’s Time for the Dough to Rise, focused on the vast income inequality in the U.S. and the need to raise the minimum wage!

The cover of the Haggadah from the first Social Justice Seder in Baltimore in 2014

The 2014 1st Annual Baltimore Social Justice Seder focused on the criminal justice system.

labor seder flyer

The 2013 Labor Seder, Let My People Go Home Sick, addressed the crucial need for Paid Sick Days for all workers in our city and region. This seder highlighted the fact that no one should have to choose between their health and their job.

labor seder flyer

The 2012 Labor Seder, Immigrant Roots, Immigrant Rights, highlighted our region’s diverse immigrant communities and weaved the Passover freedom story with the struggles of local immigrants.

labor seder flyer

The 2011 Labor Seder, Everyone Deserves a Good Job, focused on unemployment in our region and the struggles of working families and low-income residents to find and keep good jobs.

labor seder flyer

The 2010 Labor Seder drew attention to the need for a strong, well funded social safety net, as city and state budgets are cut in ways that disproportionately affect working families and low-income residents.

labor seder flyer

The 2009 Labor Seder focused on the efforts of day laborers in D.C. to build a workers’ center and receive fair pay and working conditions.

labor seder flyer

The 2008 Labor Seder focused on the DC voting rights campaign, and how voting is a Jewish issue and a labor issue.

labor seder flyer

The 2007 Labor Seder focused on making our celebrations green and just in collaboration with the JUFJ Simcha Project.

labor seder flyer

The 2006 Labor Seder focused on economic justice and the challenges facing working people today.

labor seder flyer

The 2005 Labor Seder related the history of Jewish Americans in the Labor movement and how our Jewish values are represented in the struggle for workers’ rights.

The 2018 Labor Seder, Let My People Vote, was a collaboration with the Jews United for Justice Campaign Fund. We mobilized our community’s power and passion to re-tell the Exodus story and to elect bold, accountable leaders to office in DC and in Montgomery County.

Download the Haggadah as a PDF here.
Download the 2018 Labor Seder Maggid as a PDF here.

At 2018’s 5th annual Social Justice Seder, “Shelter of Peace: A Seder on Migrant Justice,” we asked how immigration policy reflects our society’s values, what the Exodus can teach us about today’s migrants’ journeys, and how we, as a Baltimore Jewish community, will respond.

Download the 2018/5778 Social Justice Haggadah as a PDF here.
Download the 2018/5778 Seder Plate as a PDF here.

The 2017 DC Labor SederOut of Mitzrayim, Into the Streets, was a training session to help prepare us for resisting the Trump agenda by responding to public instances of hate and harassment; holding elected officials accountable; leveraging fiscal policy to advance racial and economic justice; and standing with immigrants and refugees.

Download the Haggadah as a PDF here.

At 2017’s 4th Annual Social Justice Seder, “Coming Through A Narrow Place: Seeking Police Accountability in Baltimore,” we delved into the complexities of policing and police accountability in Baltimore.

  • Download the 2017/5777 Social Justice Haggadah here.
  • See photos from the 2017 Seder here.

The 2016 DC Labor Seder focused on good jobs, and the policies we need to ensure that every hardworking person has access to one. Download the Haggadah as a PDF here.

At 2016’s 3rd Annual Baltimore Social Justice Seder, “Let My People Go … Home!”, we learned about the terrible housing conditions that struggling Baltimore renters face, and the frequent injustices of Rent Court, the legal system which is meant to protect Baltimore City’s tenants.

  • Download the 2016/5776 Social Justice Haggadah here.
  • See photos from the 2016 Seder here.

The 2015 DC Labor SederNone of Us is Free Until We are All Free, focused on racial injustice, in solidarity with the ongoing movement. Download the Haggadah as a PDF here.

The 2015 2nd Annual Baltimore Social Justice Seder, Environmental Justice and the Curtis Bay Incinerator, focused on a toxic deal to build an incinerator in a low-income, already polluted Baltimore neighborhood.

  • Download the 2015/5775 Social Justice Haggadah here.

The 2014 Labor Seder, It’s Time for the Dough to Rise, focused on the vast income inequality in the U.S. and the need to raise the minimum wage! Download the Haggadah as a PDF here.

The 2013 Labor SederLet My People Go Home Sick, addressed the crucial need for Paid Sick Days for all workers in our city and region. This seder highlighted the fact that no one should have to choose between their health and their job. Download the Haggadah as a PDF here.

The 2012 Labor SederImmigrant Roots, Immigrant Rights, highlighted our region’s diverse immigrant communities and weaved the Passover freedom story with the struggles of local immigrants. Download the Haggadah as a PDF here.

The 2011 Labor Seder Everyone Deserves a Good Job focused on unemployment in our region and the struggles of working families and low-income residents to find and keep good jobs. Download the Haggadah as a PDF here.

The 2010 Labor Seder drew attention to the need for a strong, well funded social safety net, as city and state budgets are cut in ways that disproportionately affect working families and low-income residents. Download the Haggadah as a PDF here.

The 2009 Labor Seder focused on the efforts of day laborers in D.C. to build a workers’ center and receive fair pay and working conditions. Download the Haggadah as a PDF here.