What Does Passover Mean to Children?

ALEZA KULP EDUCATIONAL DIRECTOR & PROGRAM COORDINATOR

Passover is coming up soon! For many of us, it is about cleaning and preparing for the holiday. We look forward to spending time with family and friends at the Seder. We may begin asking ourselves “Do I have enough food for the Seder? Did I buy enough eggs this year for the matzah balls?” Those are questions we may ask ourselves, but what do our children ask?

In my house right now, there are lots of questions about Passover. For example, a big question Leor seems to be asking at least once a day, “Why am I so worried about pretzel crumbs on the couch?”

We know that the Passover Seder allows children to ask questions, but those questions are written for them. The youngest at the Seder will ask, “Why is this night so different from all other nights?” But, what would happen if we allowed the children at the Seder to ask their own questions. What would that look like?

This month’s PJ Library book, “The Best Four Questions,” does just that! The youngest daughter, Marcy, at her family Seder is told to ask the four questions, but she decides to ask her very own, for example “Is horseradish made from horses?” Each question in the story shows that children are curious and we need to allow them to ask what is important to them. I hope this year at your family Seder we can look at the children at our table and allow them to ask their own questions.