Which U.S. president hosted the first White House Passover Seder?

Barack Obama hosted the first White House Passover Seder by a sitting U.S. president.

The inaugural presidential White House Seder took place in 2009, during Obama’s first year in office. The private gathering was held on the second night of Passover so Jewish staff members could observe the first night with their families. About 20 guests, including Obama’s family, staff members, friends, and their families, read from the Haggadah and shared traditional foods.

The tradition grew out of an informal Seder held by Obama campaign staffers in a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, hotel in 2008. Obama joined that gathering and reportedly ended it with the hope that the next Seder would be held in the White House. He then hosted and attended the White House Seder annually from 2009 through 2016.

Bill Clinton’s staff held a Seder in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in 1993, but Clinton did not attend. That distinction is why Obama—not Clinton—is credited with the first Seder conducted by a sitting president at the White House.