April 1, 2004

For the Kids

By Abby Gilad

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Cleaning

Passover is a holiday that celebrates freedom and the coming of spring. And it is no coincidence that everyone does spring-cleaning. Life starts anew. We need to clean out the old to make room for new beginnings. On Passover, we conduct a seder to remind us of this. In Hebrew, the word seder means order. During the seder, we ask: "Why is this night different from all other nights?"

Why do we do things differently on this night? We change the way, and the order in which we do things (we eat matzah instead of bread; we recline while we eat) to remind ourselves, that this night is different and that life is about change. It is exciting and wonderful to watch spring arrive.

Passover's  Here by Michelle Moreh, of Beverly Hills. 

Passover's here,

the matzah is ready to cook,

While we wait,

I think I'll read a Passover book.

We say the blessings,

and eat the symbolic meal,

Because we want to keep

Passover for real.

For seven days we don't eat

food with yeast --

Now my choices for breakfast

will be decreased!

When this holiday is over

I will not dread

That we will once again

be able to eat bread!

Michelle wins a Baskin-Robbins gift certificate.