The story of the Exodus from Egypt is dramatic. At various points in the narrative, there are babies sent down the Nile in baskets, a plethora of frogs (here, there, jumping everywhere!), and pillars of fire raining down from the sky. At my family seders, we like to tell the Pesach story with campy props, like sunglasses to represent the plague of darkness. Among all the lovely silliness of Passover traditions, it can be easy to forget that the story of the Jewish people (B’nei Yisrael) leaving Egypt is also very scary, especially if you are hearing it for the first time as a kindergartener.
At Makom, we tell a variation of the Pesach story during tefilah before the Mi Chamocha and over the last month or so the Garinim (k-1 grade) has taken a deep dive into the details. Yesterday, we studied the text of “Dayenu”, which lists various miracles God performed for the Jewish people, and states that each one alone would have been enough. Among those miracles are joyous ones like taking B’nei Yisrael out of Egypt and splitting the Red Sea, and some ethically complex acts such as drowning the Egyptians who chased after B’nei Yisrael and killing their firstborn during the ten plagues. We went through each miracle on the list and rated how “good” each one was on a scale of zero (hand in a fist) to five (five fingers). One learner said something particularly profound: “[Our] enemies aren’t everyone’s enemies. They could be some people’s friends.” Her statement reflects some questions that have come up repeatedly during our discussions. How do we feel when bad things happen to people who have hurt us? Is there a limit to how harshly people should be punished? Is it fair for God to punish the many for the actions of a few, especially if the consequences directly affect children?
Another learner asked if the Pesach story and other stories in the Torah are true. I told her that some people believe the stories happened exactly as written, some believe they were made up entirely, and some believe that the lessons we can learn from the stories are more important than the historical accuracy of the text. The Haggadah invites each of us to imagine that we were personally redeemed from Mitzrayim. We are asked to put ourselves in the shoes of our ancestors- how would we feel if we were forced to work as slaves? What would it be like to leave the only place we have called home for the unknown? We also might take on the challenge of empathizing with the Egyptians- would we bear some responsibility for the oppressive actions of our ruler? How would it feel to have a family member affected by one of the plagues? At Makom, we teach the story of Pesach not to inspire fear in our students, but to awaken them to the complexity of human beings and to encourage them to ask difficult questions. The Garinim learners are holding space for empathy as they first encounter the Pesach story. We invite you to consider how your family can do the same and let empathy inspire critical questions at your upcoming seder.
