Obama Becomes First U.S. President to Hold a Seder

President Obama is certainly a man of many firsts - America's first black president, first soon-to-be White House owner of a Portuguese water dog (when, exactly, is this happening? Haven't Sasha and Malia been patient enough?!) Now, add to the list: First American president to host a Seder at the White House.

On Thursday night - the second night of the Jewish festival of Passover, since it starts at sundown tonight - the Obama clan will mark the beginning of Passover and will have friends and aides over for a White House Seder. The eight-day holiday commemorates the end of the Jews' enslavement in Egypt.

Obama apparently became a big fan of the tradition last year, when he participated with friends on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania. A White House official told FOX News that the president yelled out, "Next Year in the White House." It's a time to regroup for his staff.

"This year's Seder is meant not only to celebrate the holiday, but also to reflect on all that has happened in our lives since last year's Seder in Harrisburg," the aide told FOX News.

Who's going to be on the invite list? And how private of an event will it be? We don't know for sure, but the White House says it will be with "friends and staff." NRO says key Jewish donors to Obama's presidential campaign will get the invite. Top Obama advisors David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel, both of whom are Jewish, likely will be there. The Chicago Sun-Times says Rabbi Capers Funnye, Michelle Obama's first cousin once removed, who is the lead rabbi at the Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Chicago, wasn't invited. In fact, she didn't even know about.

So far, no one can remember any previous president who personally took part in a Seder, although it's not uncommon for staff to hold one. William Daroff of United Jewish Communities told The Jerusalem Post that in 1943, FDR actually snuck out the back door of the White House to avoid seeing marching rabbis demanding US intervention in the Nazis' European invasion.

It's "a testament to how far we have come as a Jewish people in America," Daroff said.

The significance of Obama's move is in no way small, and his openness to new things a welcoming sign. In fact, he is even being compared to ... Moses?

Estelle Frankel, a Berkeley psychotherapist and teacher of Jewish mysticism who is ordained as a rabbinic pastor, told The San Francisco Chronicle (before we learned of Obama's Seder) that there is one great lesson of Passover:

"I think the great lesson is that change is possible, that how things are now is not how they have to or will always be. ...I think Barack Obama was so effective in his campaign, because, like Moses, he awakened hope. I think that's what the seder night is about. It's about the idea that things can change, and each small step we take contributes to the slow working of redemption in the world."