Obama and staff mark last Seder in White House

US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama on Thursday hosted their last Passover Seder at the White House, concluding a tradition that began in 2008 when Obama was still running for president.

That year, Obama and his staff marked the Jewish holiday in a conference room at the Sheraton in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, still on the campaign trail.

On Thursday, the White House also issued a statement by Obama marking the Seder and also in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month.

“Jewish Americans,” Obama wrote, “have been instrumental in ensuring our Nation stays true to the principles enshrined in our founding documents. They have helped bring about enduring progress in every aspect of our society, shaping our country’s character and embodying the values we hold dear. This month, as we pay tribute to their indelible contributions, we recommit to ridding our world of bigotry and injustice and reflect on the extraordinary ways in which Jewish Americans have made our Union more perfect.”

Obama noted that many of the Jews who reached America’s shores fleeing racism and persecution, “found a cause in the Civil Rights Movement that — in its call for freedom and justice — echoed the timeless message of Exodus and the Jewish people’s journey through the ages.”

The US president wrote that Americans “cannot pay proper respect to the legacy of Jewish Americans without also reflecting on the rise of anti-Semitism in many parts of the world, and in remembering the lessons of the Holocaust, we recognize the imperative need to root out prejudice.”

He noted that the US helped organize the first United Nations General Assembly meeting on anti-Semitism last year, and added that “in celebrating Jewish Americans’ contributions to our country, we also reaffirm our unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security and the close bonds between our two nations and our peoples. Throughout my Administration, the multifaceted relationship between our countries has grown and strengthened to an unprecedented degree, particularly with regard to US-Israeli security assistance and cooperation.”

The tradition of celebrating the Passover Seder originated with three Jewish staffers in Obama’s team: Herbie Ziskend, Eric Lesser and Arun Chaudhary. The three decided to conduct an improvised Seder at the hotel where they were staying when they realized they would not make it back home in time for the holiday.

The service that April day in 2008, Ziskend recalled, was held at the end of a long and hard day, after Obama stopped at six different locations and when he and the rest of his team were expecting to be defeated at the Philadelphia primary by Obama’s then-rival Hillary Clinton.

“For the senator – and all of us – it was a pause,” Ziskend told the Guardian. “And the Seder is supposed to be a pause.”

Chaudhary recalled that when the staffers around the table were taking turns reading out of the Haggadah, “it just wasn’t fair,” because when it was Obama’s turn, one of the greatest orators in his generation – when he’s doing Pharaoh’s voice, it was hard not to feel a bit shown up.”

At the end of the 2008 seder, when Jews traditionally call for a toast “Next year in Jerusalem”, Obama toasted in Harrisburg to “next year in the White House.”

After Obama won the presidency, he decided to make good on his promise and and celebrate the seder in the White House. He was the first president to do so.

Lesser recalled to the Washington Post that in that first 2008 ceremony there was “a sort of feeling that everything was about to change, very dramatically. For all of us, though especially for him.”

Eight years later, that statement seemed once again true.