Pepperdine Law Review Volume 41 Issue 1 Article 2 12-15-2013 Once We Were Slaves, Now We Are Free: Legal, Administrative, and Social Issues Raised by Passover Celebrations in Prison Aviva Orenstein Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/plr Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, First Amendment Commons, and the Religion Law Commons Recommended Citation Aviva Orenstein Once We Were Slaves, Now We Are Free: Legal, Administrative, and Social Issues Raised by Passover Celebrations in Prison, 41 Pepp. L. Rev. Iss. 1 (2013) Available at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/plr/vol41/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Caruso School of Law at Pepperdine Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pepperdine Law Review by an authorized editor of Pepperdine Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. Once We Were Slaves, Now We Are Free: Legal, Administrative, and Social Issues Raised by Passover Celebrations in Prison Aviva Orenstein* Abstract “Once we were slaves, now we are free” is a central line from the Jewish Passover Seder, a ritual meal in which participants retell the story of liberation from Pharaoh’s oppression. In prison, many Jewish inmates request access to a Seder and to kosher-for-Passover food for the eight-day holiday. Prisoners’ requests to celebrate Passover provide a rich example for exploring the Religious Land Use and Institutional Persons Act (RLUIPA) and raise a host of tough questions regarding cost, safety, equal treatment of prisoners, and establishment of religion.