‘Blackness Deserves a Seat at the Seder’

At a table in Fredericksburg, Va., surrounded by loved ones, Michael W. Twitty will celebrate Passover this year with a Seder plate that speaks directly to his identity.

Mr. Twitty, an African American food historian and author, will make his haroseth, a dish that symbolizes the mortar Israelites used while they were enslaved by Egyptians, with pecans and molasses. The molasses represents the sugar cane that was central to the American slave trade, and the pecans represent African American resilience and celebration in the South.

Sweet potato, an important vegetable in the African diaspora, will serve as the karpas, signifying hope and renewal; it is usually dipped in salt water, a symbol of the tears Israelites shed during oppression. Collard greens will represent the maror, the bitter herbs that serve as a poignant reminder of the bitterness of slavery.

“Blackness deserves a seat at the Seder,” said Mr. Twitty, 45. “I use food to guarantee not just a place, but a legacy to build on.”

Passover, which begins this year on the evening of April 15, is one of the most important holidays for Jews around the world, a day in which liberation and freedom are not just remembered, but venerated in the Seder, the holiday’s ceremonial meal. The Seder plate, which bears an array of symbolic foods, is a source of reflection and celebration. Other common holiday dishes in the dinner that follows — like braised meats, fish and soups — also allow for cultural symbolism, and let Jews make the experience their own.

“Food is a very pliable, necessary, constant and interesting way of being able to define who you are and what you are not,” Mr. Twitty said.

For Black American Jews like Mr. Twitty — the author of the book “Koshersoul,” about the intersection of Jewish and African diasporic cuisine, which will be published in August — the table can be a place to create and claim their own culinary traditions, ones that reflect both their faith and ethnic background. It’s also a space to reaffirm their identity and place in American Judaism, where questions of authenticity often plague Black Jews.

According to a 2021 report from the Pew Research Center, there are about 5.8 million Jewish adults in the United States; the overwhelming majority identify as white and non-Hispanic. In a 2021 study commissioned by the Jews of Color Initiative, an organization devoted to supporting and empowering that community, 80 percent of roughly 1,100 self-identified Jews of color from across the country said they had experienced discrimination in a Jewish setting.

One percent of Black Americans identify as Jewish, but in younger generations, that percentage is increasing, and young American Jews overall are a far more diverse group than their older counterparts.

“Jewish civilization has, can and will look like us as much as anyone else,” Mr. Twitty said.

There are clear parallels between the Black American experience and the story of Passover.

In the biblical book of Exodus, God inflicts the 10 plagues — including the killing of each family’s firstborn child — to persuade Pharoah to let the Jewish people go. (God instructs Moses to tell the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb and mark their doors with its blood, so the Angel of Death might “pass over” their homes.)

God then frees the Israelites from slavery in Egypt after four centuries of bondage, parting the Red Sea so they can escape; then they wander in the desert for 40 years. It is a tale of struggle and liberation — the same kind of liberation that Black Americans experienced after the Emancipation Proclamation, and still seek today.

Robin Washington, 65, a journalist and editor at large of the Forward, and a longtime prominent voice among Jews of color, tells a story about reaching for a book to prop up his laptop during a virtual Seder in 2021 at his home in Duluth, Minn. Halfway through dinner, he realized he had grabbed Taylor Branch’s “Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63,” about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s early work and accomplishments during the civil rights movement — a divine coincidence.

“Passover, for me is empowerment,” Mr. Washington said. “As far as liberation from slavery is concerned, they’re inseparable, in my mind. I couldn’t possibly think about Jews being held as slaves without thinking about Blacks being held as slaves.”

Nigel Quartey, 40, an executive assistant who lives in Baltimore, has roots in Ghana and the Caribbean, and his wife’s family is of Eastern European Jewish descent. Passover is a moment to ensure that his children understand the importance and depth of the story of the Jews, he said — one that “interrelates in such a deep and emotional way with the story of African Americans and the trans-Atlantic slave trade.”

The story, he said, provides an opportunity to reflect: “At each point, the negative thing that happens is a point of strength and a point of pride for the people.” He added, “The tragedies and the intermix between that trauma still goes on.”

Rabbi Sandra Lawson, the director of racial diversity, equity and inclusion for Reconstructing Judaism, the central organization of the Reconstructionist Jewish movement, said she feels the parallels. “As a Black woman, I can totally embody the connection between the American slave experience and the mythological sort of slavery experience for Passover,” she said. “The way Jewish tradition works is that we are supposed to imagine ourselves as if were currently slaves.”

In many ways, the Passover meal is a lot more flexible than it may seem. While certain foods are prohibited by Jewish law, cooks can still customize the details of the menu to reflect their identifies and priorities.

Ms. Lawson, 53, is vegan and keeps a kosher home in Burlington, N.C. She and her wife, Susan Hurrey, prepare their own matzo, the unleavened bread that the Jews are said to have made because they left Egypt quickly and did not have time to let the dough rise. (The process has to supervised by a rabbi — in this case, Ms. Lawson — to be considered kosher for the holiday.) “The store-bought matzo is factory-made,” she said. “Ours might not be much of a difference, but I appreciate it more.”

Her Passover menu prioritizes simplicity, she said: “For me, it’s an opportunity to get closer to the earth, and eat as closely to the ground as possible without a lot of extra stuff.”

Mr. Quartey uses the Passover table to reflect his family’s rich background, using spices like suya and hwentia (also known as selim pepper) to season his chicken; simmering flavorful pepper or groundnut soup instead of the more common chicken soup; and preparing kontomire stew, which he makes with spinach, palm oil, dried fish, tomatoes, pepper and eggs.

Mr. Twitty follows the tradition of holding two Seders at the beginning of Passover, both of which feature his African American Seder plate and the traditional Seder plate. The meals that follow include Afro-Judaic dishes like his Senegalese-inspired chicken soup, made with tomatoes, minced herbs and nutty suya spice; matzo meal-fried chicken; a West African-inspired brisket bathed in a fragrant sauce to be served with rice or fufu; and kachumbari, a tomato and onion salad with roots in Kenya.

Mr. Twitty, who won a James Beard Foundation award in 2018 for his book “The Cooking Gene,” is a leading scholar on the connections between Black and Jewish foodways. An active social media user with a large following, he has also been recognized as a prominent voice among Jews of color.

Tema Smith, 38, a multiracial Black Jewish woman in Toronto who works as an educator and diversity advocate, said she felt inspired by the work of Mr. Twitty, a friend and colleague.

“As Jews become more diverse in the U.S, and are in more racially diverse leadership roles, modeling that it’s OK to bring all of your culture into Judaism is really beautiful and important, because food is such an important part of who we are,” she said.

Mr. Twitty recalled his first Passover celebration, when he was in high school, as the moment he connected with the holiday’s deeper, progressive themes. “My general impression was that it was these ideas about freedom and about your culture’s destiny, and your people’s destiny, that were being discussed,” he said. “It develops into a full-blown conversation that lasts the better part of the whole night.”

The holiday, he said, can be a reminder of the work that needs to be done in the United States and around the world.

“We’re making a claim on how we do our culture,” he said. “There have been Jews of African descent since there was Judaism. And we won’t stop telling that story.”

Recipes: Matzo-Meal Fried Chicken | Kachumbari (Tomato and Onion Relish) | West African-Inspired Brisket

And to Drink …

Fried chicken goes with just about any wine, as long as the wine is not too oaky or tannic, which essentially means that you can choose anything you like. I love Champagne — it goes beautifully with most fried dishes. Riesling is great as well, either dry or moderately sweet. My other top choices among whites include Chablis, dry chenin blancs and assyrtiko from Santorini. If you prefer red, pinot noir is a great choice. So is Beaujolais or sangiovese. You could drink a modest Bordeaux or a restrained malbec, whether from Mendoza or Cahors. If you are preparing this dish for Passover, many of these wines are available in kosher versions. You could also try good Israeli producers like Domaine du Castel and Tzora, or kosher American producers like Hagafen and Covenant, which makes wine in Israel as well. ERIC ASIMOV

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