Happy Pesach!

I’ve been observing Passover (Pesach) for about the last four years, and while there is a lot about the related traditions that I don’t know, each year I have the chance to learn a little more. Shai and I celebrated last night at a local shul, the same one we attended last year.

What particularly stood out to me this year is the emphasis that the haggadah puts on children and their active participation in learning about and recreating the Pesach seder traditions. Last night there were a significant number of children at the seder, and they took an active role. Of course, there was the asking of the four questions, in which children recite the four ritual questions about the observance of Pesach. This part of the seder is standard; I’ve been to seders with adults where there were no children to read the questions, but they were still asked (by adults) as part of the ceremony.

But I also noticed last night how at various points in the ceremony, the rabbi would stop and ask all of us participants different questions about Pesach and related Jewish traditions. And the children participated just as actively as adults. At one point the rabbi asked us, “If you were a slave in Egypt, what would it take for you to risk everything and venture into the unknown? What if you were told you would lose your children, would that be enough to make you take the risk?” and a child piped up “But some of us are children!” The rabbi responded with “Well, what if you were told you would lose your parents?”

The children also answered questions such as “Why is the charoset (which represents the brick-making of slavery days) so sweet?” Rather than direct specific questions to children and others to adults, the rabbi kept all of us in the same conversation, challenging children as well as adults to grapple with the difficult issues inherent in Pesach.

It seems to be that there is a lesson here that is relevant to Unitarian Universalism (UU) as well. As a practicing UU, I’ve been to many worship services where the children’s only role in worship is to come forward for “A Time for All Ages,” which is often awkwardly delivered, and during which the children’s contributions are frequently chuckled at. It was refreshing to hear at a conference on children’s worship several years ago from religious educators who disagree with this practice because it puts children on display, and fails to lift up their gifts as worship participants and leaders.

Children’s potential for theological insight and worship leadership is often underestimated. The result is that children and adults in intergenerational religious communities miss out on opportunities to more deeply learn from one another.