Seder Night in the White House

The incredibly pro-Barack Obama Huffington Post reports on Barack Obama's attempt to appear pro-Jewish, holding a Seder Night. Of course as this is Barack Obama there's a subtext (my emphasis):

'For a president of the United States, the personal is inevitably political. But there is one annual event at the White House that truly is personal for its current chief resident -- or at least as personal as anything can be in the most watched building in the country.

President Obama’s upcoming Passover Seder, scheduled for March 25, will host just 20 or so participants this year -- more or less the same core crowd that has been attending it since 2008, when three young staffers began the tradition while on the campaign trail and then-senator Obama surprised them by dropping in.

In many ways, this presidential Seder resembles that of many families, if you can look past portraits of former first ladies adorning the walls, the elegant crystal chandelier hanging over the guests’ heads and the White House china on which the gefilte fish is being served. The Haggadah of choice is Maxwell House, and the Passover fare is traditional, featuring classics like matzo ball soup, brisket and kugel.

But there are some differences in the ceremony itself -- such as the annual reading of the Emancipation Proclamation right before Elijah sneaks in, and the president’s vocal impersonation of Pharaoh. And, of course, the Secret Service always knows where the afikomen is hidden. “When you work in politics, the people you work with are your family,” said Arun Chaudhary, one of the campaign aides who began the now annual tradition, explaining the uniquely personal nature of this Jewish White House event.

It was in 2008, during the rough Pennsylvania primary, that Chaudhary, Eric Lesser and Herbie Ziskend unknowingly began an Obama White House tradition. Disappointed that they wouldn’t be able to return home for Passover, the three aides made plans to meet up at 10 p.m. in a basement conference room in the Sheraton Hotel in Harrisburg. Weaving through cheerleaders from a convention the hotel was hosting, the trio brought their collected Seder items: a burnt bone from the hotel kitchen, Maxwell House Haggadot, shmura matzo squirreled away from Penn Hillel by Lesser’s cousin, and a bottle of Manischewitz wine.

“The spirit of Passover is, if you’re traveling, you do the best you can, and you celebrate it anywhere, under any circumstances,” said Lesser.

Just as they started the Seder, Obama stopped in to join them. “He peppered us with questions, keeping with traditions of a Seder. ... We had a great time. It was a very special moment … in the middle of an exhausting campaign,” Lesser explained.

At the end of the Seder, after everyone raised a glass and said “Next year in Jerusalem,” Obama “raised his glass and said ‘Next year in the White House,’” Lesser recalled.

A year later, on the way to a meeting in the White House, “the president shouted, ‘Hey, are we doing the Seder again?’” to Lesser, who by then was working as a special assistant to Obama’s senior political adviser, David Axelrod. “Yeah. Sure,” he yelled back.

That year, the original staffers, plus a few others, and a handful of Obama’s friends and family, initiated the first official White House Seder. Planned by the original trio, it was intended to be “true to the original spirit” of the 2008 Seder, Lesser said, though, he joked, “it was in much nicer surroundings.” Still, the group stuck with the Maxwell House Haggadah, served Manischewitz wine and shmura matzo, and tacked on the line “Next Year in the White House” to the end of the Seder.'

I must admit that I did wonder how Barack Hussein Obama would deal with the voiced aspiration of Jews for over two thousand years, that Jews be allowed to retuen to Jerusalem after being expelled.

'At the end of the Seder, after everyone raised a glass and said “Next year in Jerusalem,” Obama “raised his glass and said ‘Next year in the White House,’” Lesser recalled.'

I wonder if Dry Bones read the same article:

Either way, the substitution of 'Next Year in the White House' for the 'Next Year in Jerusalem', may have an unintended meaning. 'Next year in Jerusalem' is a messianic reference. Maybe the story that people, and maybe Barack Obama himself, see Barack Obama as the Obamamessiah has some foundation after all.