This year, individuals and organizations will meet at Tufts University Hillel on March 30 to discuss modern workers’ rights movements relative to our ancestors’ escape from slavery. The JLC has held past seders at the CJP and at Harvard Hillel; the “Citywide Labor Seder” is expected to bring together hundreds of students, faculty, union organizers, hotel workers and Jewish activists for a provocative evening with a full kosher dinner.

“It's been an amazing collaborative effort among the JLC, the Boston JCRC, Tufts Hillel, The Rabbinical School of Hebrew College, local labor organizations and Jewish groups, said Ari Kristan, who graduated from Tufts in 2003, worked at UCLA Hillel for a year, and returned to serve as program associate at Tufts Hillel.

The seder, which is free of charge, will be conducted by Hebrew College rabbinical students, he explained. The program will include both traditional elements and contemporary readings tying the Passover story to workers' rights. Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, Associate Dean for Hebrew College Student Life, will MC while rabbinical students facilitate discussions at each table.

JLC New England Regional Director David Doley approached Tufts last September. “The idea was not just to have Hillel host the event,“ said Kristan, “but to involve students and staff in planning and creating the actual program.” Sophomore Sara Lindholm, an Albany native with many union organizers among her family members, jumped in. “I had not found much labor issues activity on campus,“ she said. “The story of the exodus from Egypt offers a great new perspective on the topic.“ Another bonus for Lindholm was that it merged her political science focus with her Judaism.

The New-York based JLC, which has a Boston office at 33 Harrison Ave., was formed in February, 1934 as a response to rising Nazism in Germany. Originally made up of Yiddish-speaking leaders from immigrant trade unions and groups that included Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring, the Jewish Labor Bund, and the United Hebrew Trades, the independent organization continues to assist the Jewish community and the trade union movement. “We are now in the midst of a campaign to support hotel workers, and just facilitated a friendship agreement between the Haifa Labour Council-Histadrut General Federation of Labour in Israel and the Greater Boston Labor Council,” said Doley.

“It’s important to highlight the historical impact that the Jewish community has had in the field of workers' rights, and stress that there's still a lot of work to be done,“ said Kristan. “Even though Jews don't necessarily have a large presence in manufacturing anymore, we can't just turn our backs on labor issues.“

Margie Klein, student chair of the social justice program at Hebrew College Rabbinical School, has been working with other HC students to deepen the Jewish content of the seder. Klein is also bringing 25 members of the Kavod Jewish Social Justice House, which she coordinates, and is working with Kavod and HC leaders to ascertain the seder’s effectiveness in empowering the Jewish community to help local workers. “This means connecting with key labor unions that need religious community support, like the security officers union (SEIU 615) and the hotel workers union (UNITE-HERE),“ she said, “and finding out how we can plug in.”

Klein is also an organizer for Interfaith Worker Justice, and is helping to organize Christian seminarians from around the Boston area to attend. “My seminarian friends are excited to learn from the Jewish community about how to create a model for religious ritual around critical social justice issues,” she said.

“As moral leaders and as consumers, the Jewish community has a great deal of influence over local businesses,“ Klein continued. “When we speak, managers listen. That's why it is so important that we let managers know - if you can't treat workers fairly, we look to do our business elsewhere.”

“The Labor Seder is a unique interfaith opportunity in which labor and Jewish community leaders and activists can continue to build bridges through an afternoon of exploration,” said Doley. “We hope that by joining us at the table, people will be able to learn more about the current situation that many workers face, and rejoice with us in an ancient and joyful tradition that is celebrated every spring.”