2020 Labor Seder Haggadah
This year is unprecedented in many ways. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, like so many other events, our Labor Seder was cancelled.
Our Haggadah is available to you for download here. (PDF)
Please feel free to use the Haggadah in your own (virtual) Seders this year!
We want to thank all our honorees, Tom Flynn and Josh Zakim, as well as the workers of the Battery Wharf Hotel, Harvard Graduate Students Union, and the Dedham Teachers, for their understanding when we made this difficult decision to cancel our Seder. We want to thank all of our supporters who placed ads and purchased tickets, and all of the volunteers and staff who worked tirelessly for months to get to this place.
The New England Jewish Labor Committee is committed to continuing the essential work of supporting workers during the pandemic and assisting them when we recover.
We also believe that the message of the Passover Seder contains wisdom to help us endure and thrive, as the Israelites did under Pharaoh’s life-threatening oppression, and provides us all with tools to give us hope.
We fully expect to bring our supporters together at a later date to celebrate our honorees in a festive way.
We wish you good health, perseverance, and courage.
The 20th Annual Labor Seder, scheduled for March 22, 2020, is cancelled.
The 2020 New England Jewish Labor Seder, scheduled for March 22, has been cancelled due to concerns prompted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the state of emergency declared by Governor Baker.
This was a particularly hard decision to make because the New England Jewish Labor Committee's core mission is about bringing communities together. The step necessary to ensure health and safety of all in our community are seemingly at odds with our most cherished traditions and goal of celebrating community in shared story of liberation.
We especially want to thank our honorees, all those who have purchased ads in our Haggadah, and those of you who have already purchased a ticket to this event.
We will be sending our Haggadah out in electronic form for your use in your personal Seders in an email, and it will include all ads.
What confronts us now isn't just about a canceled Labor Seder, as sad as we are to have to cancel.
This is about the vulnerable populations who are being hit hard by Coronavirus -- and vulnerable workers, too. Hourly workers, those with inadequate sick time, those who cannot take time from work or work remotely, those who are in industries like the airport workers or hotel workers who are hit hard by the economic toll. The New England Jewish Labor Committee is committed to serving these individuals and communities.
We will be in touch in the coming days and weeks about the ways we will work to specifically fight for the rights, pay and benefits of those most affected by the spread of Coronavirus. We intend, as always, to live our Jewish values and fight for these workers.
—————————-
Thank you to everyone who attended the 19th Annual Labor Seder!
Last year’s Labor Seder was a huge success. Roughly 300 people attended to join us in honoring Brian Doherty, Secretary-Treasurer/General Agent of the Building Trades & Construction Council of the Metropolitan District (Metro BTC), and Rabbi Jill Jacobs, President of T’ruah: A Rabbinic Call for Human Rights.We celebrated the victories of the Marriott Hotel Workers of UNITE HERE Local 26 and the Gas Workers of United Steelworkers (USW) Locals 12003 and 12012. We also recognized outgoing New England JLC Board Co-Chair Don Siegel for his decades of significant efforts on behalf of labor justice and for JLC as an organization.
In case you missed the seder, here is the Haggadah/Program Book. Your attendance and support, helps NE JLC continue to engage the Jewish community to speak up on issues affecting all workers and engage the labor movement on issues that affect the Jewish community. We are committed to working for justice on issues of common concern to both communities. Thank you for recognizing the importance of this partnership.