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TEN WAYS to help you and YOUR CHILDREN
have a more Meaningful and Inspiring PESACH SEDER

Use these suggestions to infuse new meaning and excitement into your seder and create a lasting
experience for you and your family.

  1. Make the most of your Seder and best fulfill the mitzvah of V’higadita L’vincha by staying focused on telling the actual story of Yetzias Mitzrayim; concentrate on the events and their lessons.
  1. Transform Yetzias Mitzrayim from a story into a reality by celebrating the Seder just as you would celebrate a Simcha in your own family. Speak about it vividly, personally and enthusiastically… you’ll inspire yourself and your children.
  1. Prepare for the Seder! Spend time studying books and Midrashim that elaborate specifically on the details of each miracle to help your children appreciate the extent of Hashem’s kindness.
  1. Make Pesach personal and relevant to your children. Use your discussion about the amazing miracles of Yetzias Mitzrayim as a means of opening their eyes to the miracles Hashem performs for us every day.
  1. Show your children how so much of the Pesach Seder revolves around them, demonstrating how much Hashem cares about every child and values each one as an essential member of Klal Yisroel.
  1. Involve your children in the Pesach Seder. Prepare stimulating and challenging questions that will guide them to understand the lessons of the Haggadah and be an active participant in the Seder.
  1. Practice the lesson of the Four Sons during your Seder by making a particular effort to involve each child (and adult!) in a way that best suits his or her unique personality, style and level.
  1. Take the time to patiently answer your children’s questions. If you don’t know the answer, create a powerful Chinuch experience by asking a rabbi and exploring the issue…  together with your child.
  1. Reinforce their Emunah through the Pesach Seder by explaining that the miracles of Yetzias Mitzrayim irrefutably demonstrated Hashem’s complete control over the world to millions of eyewitnesses. We attest to this truth every year on the Seder night.
  1. Inspire yourself by remembering that tonight Jewish parents around the world are passing on a glorious 3,320 year old legacy to their children as their parents and ancestors have done before them. Realize that the Seder that you create for your children will inspire them for the rest of their lives and shape the future Seder that they will make for their children.

MATZA, MARROR, AND FEAR OF G-D
An opportunity for inspiration at the Pesach Seder
 
When the Matza and Marror are in front of us at the Seder, it is a very effective time - more than any other time - to impart Yiras Shomayim (Fear of Heaven).
 
Parent, be aware that by simply explaining the Haggadah or the Chumash to your child at this time is not enough, your obligation will not be fulfilled. You must explain to him the depth and extent of the miracles of Yetzias Mitzrayim (the Exodus from Egypt), how much Hashem loves His people and His assurance of kindness to those whom He loves. Discuss these topics as much as possible.
 
You should also try to explain why the righteous suffer and the wicked succeed, and that we are in exile only for Him to bestow good upon us at the end.

Adapted from Rabbi Yisroel Isser from Ponevezh,the author of "Menucha v'Kedusha", a talmid of Rav Chaim of Volozhin

 

COURTESY OF THE COMMUNITY TRAINING INITIATIVE OF PRIORITY-1
Under the auspices of Harav Reuven Feinstein, Shlita

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