Seder - The Family Experience, Part 2

With the warm temperatures of the last few days, it feels like spring is truly in the air. I’ve visited several sedarim (plural for seder) over the last few days and have seen our students ready themselves for turning their family seder table into a learning experience for all. This truly is the purpose of the seder.

Earlier today, our middle school students with their VIP guests (more on that in a bit) studied the tenth chapter of the tractate Pesachim which explores many of the reasons why the seder is organized in the way that it is. Looking at the text, they saw both familiar and unfamiliar rituals. Analyzing the text, you can see the priorities that the rabbis of the Mishnah (a text that was developed around and after the destruction of the 2nd Temple in 70 CE and codified in 220 CE) had in creating the seder ritual. Among them were:

• Making it a portable, home-based ritual
• Remembering the sacrifices conducted in the Temple
• Reminder of God’s greatness
• Engage the next generation of Jews by asking questions
• Creating unity among Jews who would now be more separate as they spread around the world. ​

​It is these last two that I began focusing on last week in my blog. The seder is a ritual that is so rich and that can be a unique experience year after year or even from first seder to second seder. Here are a few of the family minhagim (customs) that were shared with me in the last week:

• Have each participant bring their own haggadah to the seder. Share the different commentaries, translations, and pictures that accompany them.
• Chase each other with green onions (scallions) during Dayeinu.
• Get creative with your charoset. Mix chocolate chips into a little bit of it and serve it with the Afikomen.
• Serve a vegetable based appetizer after Karpas. You have said the blessing over vegetables at that point and more could be eaten.
• Share stories of past sedarim that you have attended.
• Put out a cup for Miriam that is filled with water to represent Miriam’s well that followed the Israelites in the desert.
• Create a bag of plagues with toys that represent each plague. Put out puppets for Chad Gadya (One Little Goat) and insist that each participant use a funny voice while singing the song.
• Explore saying the Mah Nishtanah (Four Questions) in another language. Look for it in Yiddish, Arabic, German, or Ladino for example.
• Create a new custom for your family this year that is your very own.

Enrich your seder with the knowledge that your children have gained from their Schechter education.

Earlier today, our students brought smiles to the faces of their VIPs in their classrooms and then together in the gym as we joined together as a community. With our VIPs present in the morning and the opportunity to wish our 8th graders a nesiyah tovah (safe travels) in the afternoon, it has been an incredible week of learning, sharing, and growing.

On behalf of the staff and Board of Directors of Gross Schechter Day School, I wish you aZissen Pesach.

Shabbat Shalom v’Chag Kasher v’Sameach,

Dr. Ari Yares
Head of School

Seder - The Family Experience

I had an interesting treat on Thursday morning. I had stopped by the Kofim class, our two-year-olds, to sit and play with the kids. Instead, I found myself being handed an interesting project, a frog made out of an Oreo, frosting, chocolate chips, and two pretzels. Through this craft and the familiar "One morning when Pharaoh awoke in his bed"song, our youngest students were learning about the Pesach seder and discovering ways that they can be involved in celebrating the holiday.

At its heart, the Pesach seder is a family education experience. In fact, it has its roots in the text of the Mishnah where the rabbis explain just how we are to tell the story to our children. This text, in Tractate Pesachim of the Mishnah, is something that our middle school students explore as they look at the seder from a different angle than their preschool buddies.

As our students progress from preschool to lower school to middle school, they engage and learn about each of the holidays in a developing way. Our preschool students have been practicing the Mah Nishtahnah, Four Questions, in preparation for being called upon at their seders for this time honored tradition. Third graders through Giveret Sharaby's Yemenite seder discover that there is more than one way to experience a seder. Our eighth graders are engaged in a close reading of the Haggadah while other middle school students explore Hebrew stories of analogous exodus experiences.

Our sedarim are as rich as we are willing to make them and we encourage you to bring your children into the conversation. Use what they are learning at school as a starting point for them to take ownership of this incredible learning experience and make it more than just a large meal with matzah. Offer them the opportunity to take a leadership role for a portion of the seder. Send them off to find new texts, songs, or interesting minhagim, customs, that are new to your family or tell them stories about the sedarim of your youth and help them breathe new life into old family traditions.

For years, my father has been collecting e-mails, news clippings, and the occasional Pesach ad for inclusion in the Yares Family Supplementary Haggadah. This collection has grown so large that we now have not only the supplement to the Supplementary Haggadah, but have moved into the supplement for the supplement to the Supplementary Haggadah. Thankfully, we don't attempt to read everything, but instead rely on these texts as well as a variety of haggadot at the table to bring context, commentary, and the occasional joke.

This is just one of our family minhagim that have enriched our sedarim. Kehillat Schechter is made up of families from a wide variety of backgrounds, each of whom has their own rich connections to Jewish practice. To help us create a Seder experience for our children and for ourselves that help us with re-living the Exodus from Egypt, we want to hear about your family traditions and customs.

What happens around your seder table that is unique for your family? Is there an orange of the seder plate? Do you sit on the floor for the meal? Does your haggadah consist of songs and rhymes that could have been written by Dr. Seuss?

Share this with the community on our Facebook page and we'll share some highlights as we head into Pesach next week.

Shabbat Shalom,

Dr. Ari Yares