Friday, April 6, 2012

Happy Passover

Posted by Jed Shugerman

Passover begins tonight, so my guest blogging will be spotty over the next week.  But I thought I'd note that Passover is a great holiday for historians and story-tellers, but perhaps less so for the guests who have to sit through long debates about, let's say, Freud's theories in Moses and Monotheism or Nahum Sarna's historical theories about the plagues and the Exodus.  (I guess I am warning our hosts and guests for the next two nights).  But having three young kids has been a good corrective for me and my seder table pontificating.  We are now planning out a play with the kids to act out the Passover story.  In light of my turn toward the concise, I would like to recommend Michael Rubiner's "Two-Minute Haggadah" for Slate. Priceless. The best part: the four sons explained in about fifteen words.

I should also note that my ten-year-old taught me this week that the "Four Questions" is really just one question with four answers, and the first two answers highlight slavery, while the last two answers focus on freedom.  Isn't parenthood amazing?