We just began our final unit of the school year—hard to believe that summer is just around the corner! We’ll spend the coming weeks studying the narrative of getting Bnei Yisrael (the Jewish people) out of Egyptian slavery.
We opened our new unit by reflecting on how well our students already know the story of leaving Egypt from our services every afternoon. Our amazing storytellers vie for the opportunity to retell (in creative, metaphorical, and silly ways) the story of leaving Egypt each afternoon before we sing Mi Chamocha in Tfilah (prayer, music, and movement).
As we were getting ready for Passover, we asked “What do we gain by retelling the story of Passover in every generation?” Our students said:
- Knowledge about the story of our people
- Understanding of Torah
- Telling the story gives us freedom, too
- Helps us understand how we might have felt if we were slaves
We also asked, “Why do we retell the story today? It happened so long ago.”
- To keep it in our hearts and on our minds
- To remember where we came from
- So we don’t take our freedom for granted
- So we can be on the lookout for who needs our help to be free
After that last insightful comment, we had to ask, “What makes people into slaves today?”
- Feeling suck with a friend who treats you badly
- Feelings of rejection
- Feelings that you can’t shake or move on from
- A job with an unfair boss, or where you get less pay for equal work
- Hiding feelings to keep a friend or keep a job
- Being addicted to phone and work, where you can’t put them down to do something else
- Mistakes we make, especially if we make them a lot of times and they hurt someone
How can we be free of what enslaves us?
- Fight for your friends—be a good friend
- Protest bad or unfair working conditions
- Be thoughtful not to hurt people with what you say
- Get a new job
Can’t wait to hear what they have to say as we dig into the text in the weeks ahead!