Lessons Passover teaches our children

Among the many things that Passover illuminates is the essential role that children play in Judaism. We are told within the Torah, on numerous occasions, to teach our children the story of our Exodus from Egypt.

It is our responsibility to encourage our children to ask questions of all kinds, and to make sure they are properly celebrating the joy of being free.

When we sit at our seder tables on the first two nights of Passover we explicitly tell our children that we are "here, and observing this ritual, because of them."

Our children are our builders, and we are trying always to give them the spiritual tools by which they will build a strong and solid foundation for themselves and our people.

The Mishnah, from 1800 years ago, instructs every Jewish parent to give the children appropriate food and toys before our seders begin, in order to maintain their interest.

The highlight of every seder is the custom of having the youngest child recite the Mah Nishtana and answer the four questions as to "why is this night different from all other nights."

The ultimate "trick" of the rabbis to keep children engaged throughout the Seder was to hide the afikomen, the piece of matzah broken off at the beginning of the seder. The children search after dinner, return it for a prize and transition with joy into the final portion of the seder ritual. Every Jew who participated in a Passover Seder as a youth recalls the joy of the afikomen search.

At our seders we teach our children the lesson of "Avadim Hayyinu," "once we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt." We recall that it was our children who Pharaoh ordered to be cast into the Nile River and condemned to death.

Rabbinic legend teaches that Pharaoh's cities were cemented by the blood of Jewish infants between each brick that the Israelite slaves were forced to lay in Egypt.

God redeemed us from slavery, not just because our people were suffering physically, but because our children were at risk of losing both their body and soul in the house of bondage.

We recall our slavery, with an emphasis on our children, because we want our children to internalize the lessons of love. It is because we were slaves in Egypt that we are commanded by God to recall our bondage and always ensure that we love the "strangers within our midst."

Judaism teaches us to see beyond our historical experiences of oppression, and to make sure we are affirming life at all times. Our responsibility is to sensitize our children to know how love is the most powerful response to hate. Even when our enemies perish, we take no joy in it.

When we recall the ten plagues, we utilize red wine and place drops on our plates for each plague recited. Each drop symbolizes the blood that was sadly shed. Our full cups of wine are diminished with each drop removed from the cup because Pharaoh tragically would not relent to God's moral will. We tell our children that we diminish our celebration of Passover because it came with the suffering of the Egyptians, our oppressors.

With our Passover observance, our children ritually come to realize the necessity of living a life of morality and love.

They become inundated with the Divine imperatives to live their lives never forgetting the history of our oppressions, and the demands that we never do the same and relieve the sufferings of others.

With this year's celebration of Passover we should ask ourselves: "What are the lessons that we really want our children to learn?" With our Holiday celebration we have the opportunity to not just celebrate our Jewish heritage, but to teach our children their "way of life."

We can teach them the mitzvahs of love, goodness, kindness and reconciliation. We can teach them that the choice of how to live their lives is their own, but our 3,800-year history should guide them with each step that they take on life's journey.