We have all had the experience of being students. We went to
school for many years and sat at our desks, patiently, or not
so patiently, absorbing our lessons.
Many of us have also had occasion to teach, whether by
standing at the front of a classroom and giving formal
lessons, or by giving private instruction in some skill that
we are fortunate to possess.
Then there is a large segment of Klall Yisroel who wear the
`hat', and carry the job description of `teacher' once a
year. They are the men who sit at the head of the Seder table
and impart to their families and assembled guests the crucial
lessons of the Exodus from Egypt.
The Haggadah is an amazing textbook! Look closely inside it
and you will find the ultimate teacher's manual.
LESSON NO. 1: Teach by example. We all know that it is futile
for a parent who never ever opens a book to tell his/her
children that they should be reading. On the Seder night, we
do not TELL our children to go over and sit at the table and
learn about yetziyas Mitzrayim. We all sit down and
learn together.
LESSON NO. 2: Many years ago, I worked for the United States
Navy. In our orientation program, they told us how we should
write the reports that we were to send from time to time to
our head office in Washington, D.C. They gave the following
format: "Tell them what you are going to tell them. Tell
them. Then tell them what you told them."
The Haggadah starts right off with "Kaddesh,
urchatz..." -- a recitation of the evening's coming
events.
LESSON NO. 3: Use visual aids. On every Seder table is at
least one Seder plate upon which is arranged the bone, egg,
romaine lettuce, charosses, karpas- vegetable and
horseradish. Then there is the dish of salt water. And of
course, the matzos and the wine.
LESSON NO. 4: Involve the students. Each person gets his own
four cups of wine, his own portions of matza, bitter herbs
etc.
LESSON NO. 5: Create an atmosphere that is conducive to
questions. Early in the Seder, we wash our hands without a
blessing, and then dip a vegetable in salt water, something
we do not do at any other time in the year, dip our pinky in
the wine. This is enough to stimulate the children to ask,
"What is going on here?" In case they are not articulate
enough to state their questions clearly, the Haggadah helps
them along with the Four Questions.
LESSON NO. 6; Keep the students on their toes. Tell the
children that they will have the opportunity to steal, hide
and then barter the afikomon for a reward, and no
matter how late the hour, you will have very, very wide awake
youngsters. Of course, if it is your custom for the master of
the Seder to hide the afikomon himself and for the
children to find it, you will have the same results.
LESSON NO. 7: Reinforce what you are learning, by repetition.
The Seder is exactly the same every year. A child of eight or
ten will already know all of the tunes by heart and by the
time he is old enough to preside over his own Seder, he will
have mastered the format and all of its details.
LESSON NO. 8: End on a positive note. After the Seder is
concluded with the heartfelt refrain of "Next Year in
Yerusholayim," the guests remain around the table and sing.
Again, it is the same songs every year, in the same order.
Interspersed with the singing can be very deep insights into
the Exodus, told over from the great Sages, past and present.
This is another lesson for the children -- unlike the average
school, no one bolts from the `classroom' as soon as the bell
rings.
We can expand on these teaching tools as the Seder
progresses.
One of my sisters in the States was invited, along with her
husband and son, to attend the Seder of an old friend. One of
this friend's sons -- and his wife and family -- was visiting
his parents for Pesach.
The daughter-in-law comes from a different country and
culture, and her family has different customs. The hosts had
thoughtfully asked her in advance to clue them about some of
her minhogim so they could incorporate them into their
Seder.
My sister really liked one particular custom and told me all
about it. When they came to the table for the Seder, my
sister was surprised to see a huge platter upon which were
whole scallions. Each green onion had the bulb, minus the
hairy end. The top part, however, was sliced from the green
end, halfway down, to create strips, which were left attached
to the bulb.
"What a large amount of karpas," my sister was
thinking. "Why on earth do they need so much, and why go to
the trouble of making it so fancy?"
However, as the Seder progressed, the role of the scallions
was revealed. When they sang, "Avodim hoyinu,"
everyone got up from their seat and took one of the green
onion whips which they then used to lightly `hit' the `slave'
in front of them as they marched around the table,
singing.
There are probably more different Haggadahs in print now than
at any other time in history. If your family has its own
Seder customs, you can use a Haggadah with commentary to
expand on your own teachings.
However, many among us are latecomers to Jewish tradition.
Okay, in your baal tshuva days, you were the guest at
a couple of `real' Seders, but that was long ago and far
away. Now you have precious little memory bank to tap into.
Often, your own childhood Seder consisted of an ordinary
`company meal' with a box of matzos placed on the table, a
couple of words about it being `Passover,' and a hearty,
"Well, let's get to the soup and matza balls."
If you had either that type of Seder, or one in which the
assembled guests sat around the table reading stilted
passages about freeing Soviet Jewry, all is not lost. You and
your family can still have a fine Seder indeed.
Read up in advance. Ask questions of your Rav, your teacher
and maybe even your neighbors. Prepare all of the
ingredients. Encourage the children to be prepared with their
commentaries, perhaps from school notebooks.
Then, on Seder night, open the Haggadah, begin reading, and
follow all of the instructions. You will be delighted to find
that everything you need to know about the Seder is right
there in user-friendly format.
An added bonus will be the happy thought that with this, your
very first do-it- yourself Seder, you will be creating
lasting memories for your OWN family!
