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For many years I have felt that the yeshivas "spoil" the seder.
>From the gemara it seems to me that younger children are not supposed to
know very much about what to expect at the Seder. However, today they
come home "armed" with thick booklets, ready to say the Torah
of their teachers. They not only know what will happen, but, if
allowed to say all that they have in their booklets, there would be no
time for anything else. Now this may have been the way to go when
many parents had very limited Jewish educations, but it does not seem
appropriate for children who come from homes where the parents are well
educated Jewishly. <br><br>
I found support for my position in this week's Hamodia Magazine which
features a very well written and interesting article about Rav Yaakov
Kamenetsky, ZT"L. In the article the author writes<br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#242424">Rav Yaakov had
a novel, focused<br>
approach to the
<i>mit</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#454545">
z</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#242424">vah
</i>of
<i>v'hi</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#454545">
g</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#242424">
adeta<br>
l'vincha, </i>recounting the story of the Exodus<br>
from Egypt to
one</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#454545">
'</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#242424">s
children on Pesach<br>
night. We are all familiar with the bulging<br>
notebooks and binders that children bring<br>
to the Pesach table, hours' worth of <i>divrei<br>
Torah </i>all seemingly set to music with<br>
refrains</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#626262">
. </font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#242424">Rav
Yaakov was against this<br>
practice. He held that boys should not be<br>
prepared in advance in any significant way<br>
for the Seder.<br><br>
"There are two <i>mitzvos aseh, </i>affirmative<br>
commandments, on Pesach. One is to eat<br>
matzah, and the other is <i>v'higadeta l'vincha.<br>
</i></font>If
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#242424">the child
takes over the
table</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#454545">,
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#242424">the
father<br>
loses the
<i>mit</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#454545">
z</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#242424">vah
</i>of <i>sippur Yetzias<br>
Mitzrayim!"<br><br>
</i></font>Dare one suggest that it is time for the yeshivas to stop
preparing their talmidim for the seder and follow Reb Yaakov's
approach? <br>
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Yitzchok Levine</body>
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