The Pesach Time Tunnel

We reviewed what we had learned last Sunday about the 15 steps (rituals) of the Pesach seder, and how Talmudic era Rabbis described how our bodies as well as our minds and souls will travel back in time to Egypt if we follow each ritual in order (seder) and with kavana (intention). In that sense, the rituals become "dials" which we turn in a time machine, directing the machine to take us back to the final moments of slavery in Egypt (feeling the sting of the taskmaster's lash on our backs and the bitterness of slavery), and allowing us to experience the very first moments of freedom and the birth of our nation.

We then sang the "Kadesh U'r'chatz" song that we had learned on Sunday (the lyrics to which are the names of each of the steps) a couple of times over. As a final activity, each student decorated a "Pesach Time Tunnel" sheet by coloring in the letters of the names of each ritual and making a simple drawing to remind them what was involved in each ritual. The children brought these home at the end of the session, hopefully to have on hand during your own seders.

As the students focused on the activity, I played a recording of the Sephardi version of  the "Kadesh U'r'chatz" song on Tuesday...

and on Wednesday...

On Wednesday, we had a surprise visit from the third and fourth graders in the Bonim (Builders) track while we were working on the Pesach Time Tunnels. Tamar's students entered the room carrying crates, and then shared with us that they had made one crate for each 3rd-6th grade classroom. Here's what they told us the crates were for:

We finished each session in the Shira classroom, singing Pesach songs with the Shira and Y'tzira students, led by Eric. As it happens, one of the songs he taught us was the "Kadesh U'r'chatz" song, and he even taught us hand signals to use for each ritual. What a perfect review for our own Edot class activities over the past couple of sessions!

Remember that this coming Sunday JQuest will hold just one session, from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m., and then we'll be on Spring/Pesach break until classes begin again on Tuesday, April 18th and Wednesday, April 19th.

Let me take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Pesach holiday, which begins the evening of Monday, April 10th.

CHAG PESACH SAMEACH