By Day Greenberg The Daily Northwestern

Kosher fried chicken was on the menu Tuesday night for Tzedek Hillel and For Members Only’s fifth annual “Black Jewish Freedom Seder” at Hardin Hall in the Rebecca Crown Center.

The black student group FMO and the Jewish student group Tzedek Hillel co-sponsored the event, which offered about 130 students a free Passover dinner a week after the recognized Passover days. The event aimed to give black and Jewish students a chance for a relaxed dialogue and an appreciation of each other’s cultures, said Mara Botman, a member of Tzedek Hillel and one of the event’s organizers.

Christian Dorsey, from the Washington, D.C.-area organization Operation Understanding, spoke at the event. Dorsey said the cultural connections between blacks and Jews began during the Civil Rights movement. The event was intended to mend broken ties between the two groups that “share a history of oppression and discrimination,” he said.

Traditionally Southern foods – which were Kosher for Passover – were served at the seder. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes and peach cobbler were served buffet style and washed down with Manischewitz Passover wine.

“It is everything you would traditionally expect (from a Passover seder), except with a twist,” said Botman, a School of Education and Social Policy sophomore. She described the night as a “big, Jewish soul food event.”

Weinberg senior Matt Yalowitz, another organizer from Tzedek Hillel, said the event was unique and provided a forum for discussion about cross-culturalism and race relations.

“To ask people to sit down and eat a meal together,” Yalowitz said, “is a very organic, natural event.”

Tzedek means “social justice,” according to Heather Langerman, a SESP sophomore and Hillel organizer.

NU’s Jewish a capella group, ShireiNU, and Northwestern Community Ensemble, a gospel choir, performed after a reading of the story of Passover from the Haggadah sitting on each student’s plate.

Weinberg freshman Jalisha Tolbert, who came to support the ensemble, said she was interested to see the differences between the way Jewish people and Christians interpret the Passover holiday.

“It’s enlightening for those who grew up in a sheltered background,” Tolbert said. “I’m learning stuff. I never knew the significance of the matzoh.”

The dinner conversations were guided by specific topics, including Monday’s shootings at Virginia Tech, this week’s housing process and volunteering.

After students took turns presenting what each table discussed, Dorsey talked about the historical roots of cross-cultural cooperation between American blacks and American Jews, current problems of miscommunication, and apathy and relations in Chicago and on the NU campus.

“Hopefully these two groups will find the basis to fight common issues … to recognize and fight racism and all other forms of discrimination,” Dorsey said. “They are not only empowered, but duty-bound to deal with social issues of today.”

Students who attended the event said they would like to see more events that bring diverse cultures together.

“No one would have drawn this connection off the bat … but it’s a very valid and important connection,” said Aisha Smith, a Weinberg freshman and treasurer of FMO.

Weinberg sophomore Lauren-Ashley Buchanan agreed.

“It’s good to find what we do have in common and celebrate that,” Buchanan said. “We should come together because of our similarities as opposed to separating due to our differences.”

Dorsey encouraged students to continue the night’s dialogue in order to make changes on campus and in their communities.

“College students (have) many competing interests,” Dorsey said. “Through events like this, hopefully we realize there are allies. You find out the field of interested people is quite larger.”

Reach Day Greenberg at [email protected].