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Symposium: Thursday, November 12, 2015

In April 1969, on the first anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Jewish and African-American activists came together in Washington, D.C. to share a meal in solidarity, an event which came to be known as the Freedom Seder. Based on a text written by Arthur Waskow, this event would exert a long-lasting influence on American life, generating considerable controversy while also sparking new forms of political activism and religious practice across the ideological spectrum. The content, context, and legacy of this event formed the focus of this year's Embodied Judaism symposium.

The symposium featured leading scholars and practitioners from across North America. Each presented on a different aspect of the Freedom Seder and its legacy and then lead the audience in an embodied experience. This year, we were excited to welcome , one of the central figures behind the original Freedom Seder and the current director of the Shalom Center; , co-chair of the board of directors of ALEPH: The Alliance for Jewish Renewal and writer of the popular blog Velveteen Rabbi; , Associate Professor of English and Founding Director of the Laboratory for Race and Popular Culture at CU-Boulder; and , Professor of American Studies at the University of Minnesota and the 2015 Jim and Diane Shneer Fellow in Post-Holocaust American Judaism. , Postdoctoral Fellow and Jewish Studies Lecturer, opened this year's symposium with a welcoming song.

In addition to the symposium, there is a walk-through wall exhibit that explores the Freedom Seder and its legacy, along with the storied careers of Rabbi Waskow and Rabbi Leah Novick. The exhibit is located on the 2nd floor of Norlin Library on the CU-Boulder campus. It opened to the public in early November and was formally launched at the symposium. It is available for viewing during regular library hours, which can be found .

The symposium and exhibit engage materials housed in the , a collaborative project between the Libraries and CU-Boulder’s Program in Jewish Studies.

The symposium was presented by the University of Colorado Boulder’s  and . This event was generously cosponsored by CU-Boulder’s , , , , ,, , and . Special thank you to the Bender Family Foundation, the Jim and Diane Shneer Endowed Fellowship Fund, which supported Riv-Ellen Prell’s visit, and all donors to the Program in Jewish Studies for their support.