Introduction:
Be Optimistic! AKA "The Blackness"
(Keep, Keep On!)
As an African American woman in the conversion process, the more I explore Jewish holidays and rituals, the 'blacker' Judaism seems to me. 2020 was my first time celebrating the High Holidays. I ran into my local Sprouts my third stop, desperately hunting on Friday afternoon for non existent challah. (I live in the area of California affectionally known as 'The Jew-Free Zone, a minimum of 45 minutes away from a Synagouge in every direction. You don't buy challah by Wednesday morning? Forget it!) What did I spy by the Sprouts checkout line? Snoop Dog wine.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90529233/snoop-dogg-is-now-a-wine-merchant-yes-you-read-that-right
I purchased it on a whim, as my son (22) and I are fans. Then, halfway through the Rosh Hashanah meal, as I fumble through the My Jewish Learning printouts with the Seder directions,
I realized- wait! Are we pouring out a 'lil liquor for the homies?!
Alright, bet!
Cutting our enemies down with green onions?
(No leeks in stores either, remember grocery store shelves in the early pandemic?) Check! New Year foods for prosperity?
Double Check! This was going swimmingly! No one at the table felt as though something alien was happening during that celebration. We blended the two cultures seamlessly.
Passover seems to be the most natural fit for African American Jews I can think of. We only need briefly turn on the news to be served up a nightly portion of our own Bread of Affliction.
We likely don't have to think very hard about imagining ourselves personally escaping slavery, albeit not from Egypt. Harriet Tubman (Statue by African American and Jewish sculptor Alison Saars)
https://www.6sqft.com/the-story-behind-harlems-trailblazing-harriet-tubman-sculpture/
wasn't called "The Moses of Her People" for nothing. And African Americans 'of a certain age' most certainly remember The Fresh Prince and Carlton in jail, belting out 'Go Down Moses'-
"Let my people go!!"
I added these lighthearted examples of a few links I see that exist between African American Jews and the rich Passover tradition, that I thought many could relate to. Because really, we currently have enough sad. I'm going to be adding to this source sheet as I draft of my plans for the 2021 Passover Seder.