So it is not surprising that a lesson about learning – the necessary compliment of teaching – is dramatized in the story of the Four Sons. Our rabbis have fashioned a ritual that is engaging and educational – fulfilling God’s command. God has commanded the teaching the story of our redemption to our children. The Exodus from Egypt is rife with the significant role our children played in its historical narrative. They must go forward but with a solid foundation in the godly lessons of our history. We do not look for individual redemption as much as communal salvation.įor that to happen, our children must thrive. Tradition loses meaning unless it is passed forward to the next generation. Judaism is a faith rooted in the past but which is always forward looking. When Moses first confronted Pharaoh with the request to be free to go into the desert to worship, he proclaimed, “We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters.” In making this proclamation, he was giving voice to the ultimate purpose of our redemption, found in the central command of Pesach, “You will tell your son on that day, saying: It is because of this the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt…” When redemption was finally at hand, children were once again at the forefront of this historical and religious drama. How great was Pharaoh’s hatred of the Jews and our children? How threatened did he feel? So much so that the Midrash teaches us that when the Israelites fell short in fulfilling the prescribed quota of mortar and bricks, the children were used in their stead to fill in the foundation of the store cities built in their servitude! Another Midrash describes Pharaoh bathing in the blood of young children. “The children of Israel proliferated, swarmed, multiplied, and grew more and more.” We gave birth to children, in accordance with God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply.” However, Pharaoh felt threatened by our numbers. Why did the Pharaoh cause such suffering against the Jewish people? For no other reason than we multiplied. He demanded that, “…every son that is born… be cast into the river…” “And he said, When you deliver the Hebrew women look at the birthstool if it is a boy, kill him!” With these words, Pharaoh sought to cut off our future by denying us a generation of children. Our Egyptian servitude and suffering was made more painful for its cruelty to our children. And to keep the focus on the student – the child. The question then became, How best to teach? How best to fulfill this commandment? God had commanded that we teach our children. On that day, you shall tell your son what the Lord, your God, did for you in bringing you out of Egypt…Īmong many other things, our ancient rabbis were brilliant educators. The central commandment of our Passover Seder obligation is to tell and to teach. “How different is this night from all others!”Īnd no accident that the youngest child is called upon to utter the enthralling words that have enlivened the Seder ritual for hundreds upon hundreds of years. There is a hush as the youngest enters the room and gazes upon the scene before him. The players are in their places, reclining with their scripts, their haggadot, at hand. The props are in place – the Seder plate, Elijah’s cup, the matzot. The stage is set – the table is bedecked in fine linen the chairs, with soft pillows.
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