Each year, thousands of Greater Bostonians observe Passover through Seder, the ceremonial meal of prayers, blessings and wine retelling the story of the Jews’ exodus from ancient Egypt. It’s a tradition passed down from generation to generation all over the world, but it didn’t reach the White House until 2009. Author Richard Michelson wrote about this unique Seder in his new children’s picture book, “Next Year in the White House: Barack Obama’s First Presidential Seder.”

Michelson said he was inspired to write the book after hearing the story of an impromptu Seder cobbled together by then-candidate Obama’s staffers — including future Massachusetts state Sen. Eric Lesser — during his 2008 run for the presidency. It’s this Seder that would inspire Obama to start the tradition the following year and throughout his administration.

“Eric gave me what he had: the Maxwell House Haggadah that they used in the Seder and was marked up with sections where Malia and Sasha, Obama’s young girls, talked about the exodus in Haggadah,” Michelson said. “At the end of every Passover, the children search for the afikomen, and that is a little piece of matzah that the parents hide and the children search for it. Then they tend to get a gift when it’s found. So hearing from Eric that the gift was a little chew toy for their dog, Bo, I said: ‘Well, now I have a story with two young girls and a dog. And there’s no story in the world that doesn’t improve by adding two young children and a dog.’”

But before the splendor of the White House, Lesser remembers that first Seder that was held on the road during a campaign stop in Harrisburg, Penn. After gathering as many supplies as they could, the staffers invited Obama to join them.

“We didn’t necessarily think he was going to show up. And he actually did say to me, ‘Yes, I’m going to come.’ I thought he was just being polite, because there was a lot going on. But we all gathered, he showed up and we went through the Seder,” Lesser recalled. “And there’s a traditional ending where everybody raises their glass and they say, ‘Next year in Jerusalem.’ So we all raised our glasses, we said, ‘Next year in Jerusalem,’ we put our glasses down. And then he raised his glass and he said, ‘Next year in the White House,’ and we all clinked our glasses.

“It was an aspirational statement at the time because — in April of 2008, this was one of the absolute lowest points of Obama’s political career,” Lesser continued. “But he had the faith and he had the perseverance to give that aspirational statement with all of us.”

A year later, Obama hosted the first Seder in the White House alongside his family and all the staffers who had been around the table at the Seder in 2008. Obama is the only president to have hosted Seder at the White House, which he did his entire time in office.

Michelson said he wants readers — both children and adults — to learn the story of Passover but also a lesson about pushing through struggles and not getting discouraged, even in the darkest of times.

“You need to hope, you need to have faith in the future. And even if you don’t get to see the changes, you need to continue to work towards them,” Michelson said.

“Next Year In the White House: Barack Obama’s First Presidential Seder” is available online and in bookstores now. 

Guests

  • Richard Michelson, author of the children’s picture book, “Next Year In the White House: Barack Obama’s First Presidential Seder,” illustrated by E.B. Lewis
  • Eric Lesser, former Massachusetts state senator, former aide to President Barack Obama and one of the organizers of the Seder in the picture book