[Avodah] The Yeshivas and the Seder

[Ira Tick]

On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 1:15 PM, Yosef Skolnick <yskolnick at gmail.com> wrote:

> *
>>
>> *Dare one suggest that it is time for the yeshivas to stop preparing
>> their talmidim for the seder and follow Reb Yaakov's approach?
>>
>
> I would be happy to say that I agree with you.  I have a big concern
> though.  There are students in the schools that don't have parents that know
> enough to be able to teach their children.  Either the parents never got to
> go to yeshiva for one reason or another, or there was a divorce in the
> family etc.  If the kids don't know some of the story from school, when will
> they learn it to teach to their children.
>
> Yosef Skolnick
>

Divorce might affect the issue of the father's responsibility, bringing the
communal responsibility of teachers to the scene.  But is v'higadta similar
to v'dibarta in this manner?  Is the community responsible, or is the mother
responsible?

As to the general issue, children are inevitably--as they should
be--educated in school about the story of the Exodus and about the laws and
customs of the holiday, simply because of the role that schools occupy in
our society, where parents have neither the time nor the expertise to
be completely responsible for directing educating their children.  So the
issue seems to be whether or not young children need to be poised to learn
all the tidbits of the seder itself--such as the many vignettes of the
Haggadah, which barely touches upon the Chumash's account and focuses on
specific lessons of Jewish history, survival, and cultural
narrative. Perhaps children should be "misdirected" to focus on aspects of
the story that leave room for parents to discuss the significance of freedom
and Hashem's hand in the world. A big part of V'Higadta is to make the story
very personal--"This is what Hashem did for me," which only parents and
caregivers can really impart to children.  Parents should discuss with their
kids what it means to them to be free and part of Am Yisrael.

Another important idea is to simply ask children questions.  Don't let them
read off packets and sing song after song from class about plagues and such,
but ask them specifically about what they've learned about specific parts of
the story.  And ask them experiential questions, like what they think it
would be like to be on scene when the events took place.
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