Add to your Passover Seder for Children

One of the 613 mitzvot is to retell the Passover story and pass the history on to the children. I believe it is our job to make Peasch FUN! not long and boring. My children attended the Jewish Community Center Keshet Preschool in Atlanta while Ruby Goldstein was director; she spent much time sharing information with me. One of the tricks she taught me was recreating the parting of the red sea, which we do at each seder.

To do this at your seder, create a red sea in a bowl with water and food coloring. On the top spinkle a generous amount of black pepper. Add this as a centerpiece for your table. When the time comes during the seder, take the youngest child into the kitchen and put a little bit of dish soap (Shhh! Don't tell everyone what you did.) on the end of their finger. Bring them back into the "theater" and help them drag their finger through the middle of the red sea to part the waters. I am working on this as my next Mitzvah Minded plaque image. This is my first draft.

Purim's Mitzvah

Purim begins at sunset on Monday, March 9, 2009. The kids enjoy the holiday because they dress up in costume. It is also the time of year when donating to charity is officially one of the 613 Mitzvot. According to the Tanach, “This shall they give everyone who passes through the census – a half shekel…” Exodus 30:13.

Eisenberg in his book The 613 Mitzvot explains it is customary to donate three half dollars on the eve (Monday night) of the Megillah reading. In the Tanack’s footnote, it says that “the requirement for half a coin alludes to the concept that no Jew is complete unless he joins with others. Alone, he is only “half” of his full potential.”

This fits nicely with Rabbi Heller’s comment that giving in this economy may be comprised of small dollar donations from more and different people than in the past. He suggested also that businesses and non-profits will find new or old ways of surviving. On Saturday at services at B’Nai Torah he reminded us that in the past kiddish was prepared by volunteers in the synagogue kitchen.

A Personal Haggadah

One of the 613 Mitzvot is to retell the story of the Exodus from Egypt each year at Passover. In 2000 I took a class on creating a haggadah, Rabbi Debra Landsberg taught me to make my own Haggadah. She suggested consulting different Haggadot to pull materials together and make the seder unique. To me this makes Passover personal and allows me to make it age appropriate for the children.

Below is my personal Haggadah, which we revise each year. We swap out the selections to keep everyone interested. The page numbers refer to the following haggadot: Family = A Family Haggadah, 1987 by Shoshana Silverman; Child = A Children’s Haggadah, 1994 by Central Conference of American Rabbis; Night = A Different Night, 1997 by Noam Zion and David Dishon. I checked and all of these books are available on http://www.amazon.com/. We use A Children’s Haggadah as our main text because then most children can participate by reading. This copy is beautifully illustrated and includes many songs.

A Personal Haggadah (Click to download a pdf version with formatting.)

p. 10 Family “Order” of the seder
P 4 –11 Child A Children’s Haggadah
p. 12 Child THE FIRST CUP OF WINE
Song Take us out of Egypt
What other occasions do we light candles?
How does that make you feel? (p. 9 Family.)
p. 13 Child dip parsley
p. 14 Child hide afikomin
The four questions board book for the really young!
p. 41 Night Izzy did you ask a good question today?
Song Child p. 18 Mah Nishtana
p. 19 Six Children (wise, wicked, simple, curious, mischievous, does not even know enough to ask)
p. 3 Draluck The Ballad of the Four Sons
THE EXODUS
p. 30 – 38 Child A Children’s Haggadah
p. 39 – 41 Child TEN PLAGUES
p. 43 – 46 Child A Children’s Haggadah
The parting of the red sea
Song Child p. 47 Dayeinu
All Pretend that you had to leave home for good,
what 3 things would you want to take with you? (p. 35 Family)
p. 45 Night What does it mean to be a slave?
p. 99 Night Harriet Tubman (Ask a child guest to prepare)
p. 48 – 51 Child A Children’s Haggadah
p. 52 Child THE SECOND CUP OF WINE
p. 53 – 54 Child A Children’s Haggadah
DINNER IS SERVED
p. 56- 57 Child Passover Poem (read by a child)
Children hunt for Afikomin
p. 59 Child THE THIRD CUP OF WINE
p. 95 Night Giving a helping hand
p. 60 Child The cup of Elijah
Song p. 119 Night If I had a Hammer
Song Child p. 62 Eiliyahu Hanavi
THE FOURTH CUP OF WINE
Song Night p. 155 Who Knows One?

Rebbetzin's Challah

Today I am jumping in with both feet. It’s time to blog! I have always enjoyed writing, so except for the time element… this should be easy. I am releasing my challah plaque and note cards this week on http://www.mitzvahminded.com/. Then, I will begin working on a Passover image. It's a new day!

Rebbetzin's Challah
4 C water
3 T active yeast
1 T sugar

Mix above ingredients; set aside until bubbling. If mixture does not bubble, start over!

5 lbs bread flour
2 C sugar
1 1/2 C canola oil
1 1/2 T sea salt
3 eggs
Combine dry ingredients and pour into wet ingredients. Stir well. Cover and let rise 2 hours. Punch down. Separate into 8 sections (plus a small piece for Hashem). Braid into challot. Brush with egg and water mixture. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes. Freeze extra loaves. Thaw 10 minutes and bake for 25.

I recently added this item to Etsy as an ACEO 2.5" x 3.5" Art Card, Edition and Original. Mine is an original photograph that can display in your kitchen.