The fever of preparations for the approaching Passover is already in full swing. Cleaning and scrubbing are in full swing in homes. Matzo bakeries are open from morning until evening. Shopping is underway in stores for the holiday, and soon the cooking and other preparations for the great holiday will begin.
But amidst the great preparations, attention also needs to be paid to the spiritual aspects of the holiday.
The main challenge facing us on this holiday is to implement the commandment "And you shall tell it to your son" - to pass on to the younger generation the story of the birth of the people of Israel and to pass on to them the tradition and heritage.
This is actually the essence of the Seder.
On this night, children have a central place. They ask the four questions, they star in the Haggadah as the four boys, and the Haggadah is actually an answer to their questions.
Personalized story
Will the children get answers after they ask the four questions? Think about it, do we really answer the children for the questions they asked, or are we content with clapping for their beautiful singing of "What Will Change?" And perhaps, quietly, we wonder if we ourselves know the answers (why, for example, "On all nights we don't baptize even once, this night twice"?).
For Seder night to fulfill its purpose, preparation is required that is no less important than the hustle and bustle of shopping and cooking.
Parents need to give thought to the spiritual content of the event. Prepare ideas and stories. Think of interesting ways to capture the children's attention and make them experience the content of the holiday.
It is likely that children already know the basic story of the Exodus from Egypt from kindergarten and school. This is our opportunity to enrich the story with the teachings of the Sages and the eternal meanings of the Exodus from Egypt. In many families, the story of the family 'Exodus from Egypt' is told, which is also part of the great story of the Jewish people.
The Torah also commands us to speak to each child in his own language and at his own level. We are required to give the 'wise' the in-depth answer he deserves, and to stimulate the curiosity of those 'who do not know how to ask.'.
To succeed in this task, we need to prepare for it with the appropriate seriousness, and then we will truly succeed in passing on this special experience and Jewish tradition to our children.
The secret of survival
It is impossible not to be moved by the very thought that when we turn to the Seder table on Passover night, we are in fact continuing – for the 3,329th time – the wonderful tradition of hundreds of generations.
This is exactly how our ancestors sat hundreds and thousands of years ago. This is exactly how Jews celebrated the Seder in Morocco and Persia, in Russia and France, in Turkey and Yemen, in the Netherlands and Australia, in America and Spain. This is the thread that connects the millions of cells of the Jewish people with the fountain of life of tradition.
The secret of the miraculous survival of the Jewish people – who wandered to all corners of the world and suffered humiliation, persecution, and attempts at extermination – is also largely attributed to this night.
Thanks to him, we remember how our people arose and became a people, and what is the eternal message that we carry with us and pass on from generation to generation. It is the firm faith in redemption that granted us redemption from Egypt, and thanks to it, we will be saved in complete redemption.
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