Gaea's

Pesach (Passover) is filled with the ponderous joys of ancient rituals. After the initial Kiddush follows the ritual of washing our hands, cutting Matzah, having it stolen by kids, having them hold us hostage, refusing to return it until they get what they want. Somewhere in all of this is also dipping a vegetable in salt water, uncovering the matzot, re-cover the matzot, drinking the wine,
refilling the wine, and so on. Why? So our kids (and anyone curious)
should ask why. But as the four questions asked in the “Ma Nishtanah” (”what is different?”) indicate, they are not answered! Why does it seem that we’re more focused on the questions than we are on the answers?

The answer is that we are in control of answering these questions,
with no scripted answers. We can compliment the questioners and move on, or we can take the time to research the answers, and convey the answers in a way that’s meaningful to them! This Pesach, kids will be blackmailing adults, not just for toys, but also for adults to transmit their love and appreciation for what G-d has done for us, and continues to do for us. Should we fail to pass these values onto the next generation, we’ll one day have to answer much more difficult “why”s.

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