It is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and I am sharing a round table with four African-American women and two white, Jewish teenagers, including my daughter, Sarah.  

We have joined with many others on this sixth night of Passover to participate in a unique freedom seder jointly crafted by two communities: Congregation Shaare Emeth and Ward Chapel AME.  

Together, we read about bitterness and about our collective fight for freedom from narrow places.  At our tables, we dip pinky fingers into wine glasses and recite not only the 10 plagues of the Exodus but modern plagues like gun violence and lack of quality education for all. We pass around charoset and sweet potatoes, greens and black-eyed peas, sharing these symbols of rejuvenation, and of prosperity. 

We are here to commemorate our shared history as enslaved people and we are here to hold tightly to the awesome power of what we all need right now, and that is hope.

So, we sing dayenu and, in the spirit of universalism, we join together in a libation ceremony: 

We pour to our children, that they may know the importance of family.  That they may know we are the answers to our ancestors’ prayers and they are the answer to ours.  We pour this cup for those to come, the yet unborn who will water the seeds we have planted today; that our hope may grow in their tomorrow. 

Tonight’s four questions do not begin with Mah Nishtanah. Tonight, we ask each other about commitments to heal communities.  We ask about family heritage, and about gratitude. 

And, at the end of the evening, Doris, one of the women at my table, holds tightly to my hand and to the hand of my daughter, as all of our voices join together in “Every Praise.” And after we finishthis melody that she and her community sing every Sunday at church, I promise Doris that I will cook some homemade matzo ball soup and deliver it to her home. 

And then we hug, and for this one moment, the brokenness in our world has disappeared. 

For this one moment, there is only that promised land that Dr. King spotted from atop the mountain. 

Debra Solomon Baker is a member of Congregation Shaare Emeth who is an educator and lives in Olivette.