March was a busy month for the Center for Interfaith Engagement (CIE) at EMU, with multiple important religious celebrations and holidays occurring throughout. On March 30, CIE brought the month to an end with one final event: an EMU-sponsored Passover Seder, led by Assistant Professor of Formation at Eastern Mennonite Seminary Courtney Joyner, and Rabbi Jeffrey Kurtz-Lendner of Beth El Congregation in Harrisonburg. Also helping to plan the event were Trina Trotter Nussbaum, the director of CIE, and Miranda Beidler, a senior Student Chaplain with CIE.
A Passover Seder is a ritual feast which takes place every year at the beginning of Passover. The Seder follows a Haggadah, which tells the story of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, and walks the group through the steps of the Seder. The Haggadah which was used at EMU’s Seder was put together by Joyner.
Joyner explained that the motivation to hold a Seder at EMU was to show the community more about Judaism than just its history relating to Christianity. “How can we expose the campus to a celebration that is how Jews currently practice, rather than just looking to Judaism as a history for one’s own religious foundation?” she asked.
In order to accurately reflect Seder practices, Joyner decided to invite Rabbi Kurtz-Lendner to the event. “It’s essential if you’re going to have a Jewish celebration that it be led by contemporary practicing Jews.” In addition to leading the group of attendees through the ceremony, the Rabbi also took part in a question and answer session at the end of the night to fill any gaps in attendees’ knowledge.
Brian Martin Burkholder, the University Chaplain at EMU, was one of the attendees. He emphasized the value of interfaith events such as the Seder at a Mennonite school, saying that “addressing religious diversity and connecting across differences has the potential to build partnerships, capacity, and partners.”
Another participant that night was Kathy Evans, Professor of Teacher Education and Program Director of Undergraduate Teacher Education at EMU. Evans, a strong believer in the importance of educators being able to respect religious and cultural differences, shared that her motivation for attending was education. “If we’re going to acknowledge any faith tradition, we should acknowledge all faith traditions,” she said. “I started saying that to my students, and realized that I don’t know much about other religions, so it’s really important for me to dig in and learn about Ramadan, Eid, Holi, and Passover.”
Although not a Mennonite herself, Evans reflected on the unique position of EMU as a historically Mennonite school with a deep interest in interfaith connection. “When I was hired, we actually had a category of professor called OTM [other than Mennonite] … and there could only be a certain percentage of OTM faculty,” she said. Although that fact has now changed, EMU still maintains its identity as a Mennonite university. Evans shared that she believes that “it’s absolutely possible for you to honor your Anabaptist roots and follow those teachings while also honoring people of other faith traditions.”
First-year Ani Koontz was one of the students in attendance at the Seder, and shared that it was an opportunity to learn about and experience a tradition which she has had limited exposure to in the past. “I knew [the Seder] was religious … but I didn’t really know what it meant or what went on,” she said. “I thought it was really interesting how ritualistic it is…. Before, I definitely just thought that it was just a feast, like any other fast-breaking feast. I thought it was really cool to learn what each thing meant.”
Burkholder also mentioned the value of rituals like the Seder, which follows the story of the Israelites’ liberation. “I think it’s good to have a holiday or an observance where that story is centered, and we get to encounter it afresh. It begs the questions, ‘How is oppression happening today, and where are the opportunities for liberation?’” he said. “It’s one thing to kind of go through the ritual. And it’s another thing to let the ritual shape who we are and what our current focus is.”
The Seder, which was attended primarily by non-Jewish members of the EMU community, had a different focus than a typical observance would. “We wanted this to be an opportunity for people who knew nothing about Passover, who knew very little about Judaism, to come away saying, ‘I learned something,’” said Joyner.
