I am currently working on an oral history of the First White House Seder, based on interviews with the founders.

The story is as follows:

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When was the first ever Passover seder in the White House?

Would you believe — 2009, President Obama’s first term?

Prior to that, no president had ever thought to host a seder in the White House.

The origin of the 2009 seder came on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania during April of 2008.

Three young Jewish campaign staffers, Arun Chaudhary, Herbie Ziskend, and Eric Lesser found themselves in Harrisburg with nowhere to go for Passover.

With some help from a relative at a nearby Hillel, they pulled together a small seder kit and had an impromptu seder in the basement of the Harrisburg Sheraton.

To their surprise, as they were getting started, they heard a very familiar voice ask, “Is this the seder? May I join you?”

In walked the candidate, Senator Barack Obama, who proceeded to ask the participants questions about the meaning of the seder with the pointed precision of a law professor who had been to a lot of seders back in Chicago. The man knew his seder stuff.

At one point someone uttered the familiar refrain, “Next year — in Jersualem!”

“No”, said Senator Obama. “Next year — in the White House!”

It had been a tough time on the campaign trail. Obama lost the Pennsylvania primary decisively and there was negative press related to the candidate’s prior association with a controversial reverend.

But his words at the seder, “Next year — in the White House!”, gave much needed hope and resolve to Arun, Herbie, and Eric.

They stuck with the grueling work of the campaign and stuck with their candidate…

And even with the thrill of the election victory and the excitement of the inaugural, President Obama never forgot his promise to his three young staffers.

And indeed, in April 2009, the Obama family along with Arun, Herbie, and Eric, hosted Passover in the Blue Room.

And that is how the First Ever White House Seder came to be a tradition the Obama Family maintained for all of their eight years in the White House.