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FAIRFIELD, Conn. The Jewish feast of Passover begins Friday at sundown. With so many young children in Fairfield and Easton, we turned to the experts at Congregation Bnai Israel, a reform synagogue on the Fairfield-Bridgeport border, for advice on getting the holidays message to kids.
Passover commemorates the ancient Israelites flight from slavery in Egypt in 23rd century B.C.E. According to the book of Exodus, God unleashed 10 plagues on Egypt while sparing the Israelites, until the Pharaoh agreed to release the Jewish people.
But as Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz Congregation BNai Israel says, The meaning and the purpose of Passover have changed over the centuries it has fulfilled a different need for us at different times.
We dont know what the next generation will dream, Gurevitz continued on her blog. But while Passover has traditionally always been a time when the youngest ask the adults the questions so that they will understand where they come from and the inheritance that is theirs, it is essential that we adults ask our children questions, too.
The main focus of the holiday is the seder, a dinner with family and friends. Jewish families eat matzoh, or unleavened bread, and bitter herbs to remember the slavery endured in Egypt. Yet they also drink wine or grape juice to symbolize the celebration of the first Passover and the flight from persecution. The seder also features the Haggadah, a retelling of the biblical story.
Educators at Bnai Israels Hebrew School offered some advice for parents with small children to get them to participate in the seder. They suggest not strictly sticking to the text but to encourage discussion about the story of Exodus. One method is to have everyone write a question on a piece of paper and go around the table after the four questions to keep the conversation going.
They also encourage families to take a less strict approach with the presentation. One way to do this is to have guests act out scenes between Moses and the Pharaoh.
Dont underestimate the value of silly Passover parody songs to break the ice, the synagogues Young Families blog adds. The Internet provides a treasure trove.
Another way to get keep kids engaged in the holiday is to observe the traditions outside the seder. One is the search for chametz, or leavened foods. Tradition requires families to clear out foods containing yeast before the holiday and replace them with matzoh.
You can also keep the holiday going by counting the omer, to mark the 49 days between Passover and Shavout, the holiday that celebrates receiving the commandments on Mount Sinai.
By counting the omer, we symbolically connect liberation with the idea of Torah, says the synagogues experts. Counting the omer is an exercise in the discipline of mindfulness.
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