Religious School

April, 2009 Ma-aseem - You Shall Teach Your Children

3/26/2009
Pesach: The Ultimate Family Education Event

I can never resist the temptation to use the Pesach Seder as the ultimate setting for Jewish education. For in reality, that's exactly what our Sages intended it to be when the Hagaddah was composed. Taken in modern terms, when else these days do we really have a gathering of family and friends over a meal on the scale of the Seder (other than Thanksgiving)? So let's make the most of this teachable moment in our busy calendar. Here are 3 "Big Ideas" that you can use with children and adults alike, albeit you may need to adjust the discussions and presentations to accommodate your group:

1) THE MEANING OF CHAMETZ: There are no more stringent regulations in Jewish law than those prohibiting the possession and benefit derived from ownership of Chametz. What does Chametz represent in our lives? What does it represent in the life our ancestors led in Egypt? Matzo is the bread of the poor: dry, quickly-baked, flavorless. Much like the lives of the Israelite slaves under the rule of Egypt. What kind of bread do we eat the rest of the year? Enriched, yeasty, flavorful. Just like the bread the Egyptians ate all the time. Jewish slavery provided for the unjust, enriched lives of the Egyptian populace. How does slavery go against the Jewish value of "B'Tzelem Elohim (Every person being created in the image of God)?

2) UNDERSTANDING THE ORDER OF THE SEDER: If you look at some of the opening steps of the Seder, they seem either to possess antiquated explanations ("Karpas is the reminder that it is the spring season"; did the Rabbis really need to tell us this!?) or the sequence of steps does not seem to connect together towards any understandable goal. In his intriguing new book, "Leading the Passover Journey", Rabbi Nathan Laufer says, "The order of the Seder not only mirrors the experience of the Jewish People in ancient Egypt, but closely approximates the experience of the Jewish People throughout their journeys in the Diaspora, including our people's most recent past. In nearly every Diaspora--Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany, Russia, and so on--the Jewish People were first welcomed into their host countries with open arms." He goes on to point up the pattern that followed in all of these instances was:
Jewish successes and prosperity triggered a counter reaction from the ruling elites who felt threatened by the flourishing Jewish minority.
Discriminatory laws to help "contain" the Jews.
Physical boundaries from the other local populace were erected (ghetto walls, restrictions on economic or social intercourse).
With continued Jewish success despite these restrictions, local authorities would resort to violence or physical expulsion.
This pattern which culminated with the Holocaust had its origins in the Jewish experience 3500 years ago in ancient Egypt.

3) WHAT'S IN A NUMBER? Play the numbers game with your Seder guests. Here's a hint: 4 is a biggie. So is 15 which occurs seven times in the reading of the Hagaddah. This can be endless fun and learning for children and adults alike at your Seders.

We can all be teachers and learners at the same time at our Passover Seder this year....and save me a matzo ball!

Donald Cohen
Education Director
eddirector@tbibluebell.org


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