Elementary/Middle School Activity The Four Children

Transcription

1 Elementary/Middle School Activity The Four Children MATERIALS NEEDED: Question sheets (8)--included Pens (4) TIME: minutes (for both scenarios) TEACHER BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Blessed is the Omnipresent. Blessed is He. Blessed is the One Who has given the Torah to His people Israel, Blessed is He. Concerning four children does the Torah speak: a wise one, a wicked one, a simple one and one who does not know to ask. With these words, the Haggadah introduces the Four Children and explains how each should be taught. The Haggadah speaks of "four children" one who is wise, one who is wicked, one who is simple, and one who does not know to ask. Each of these children phrases her question about the seder in a different ways. The Haggadah recommends answering each child according to the way he asks his question so that the answer meets each child s needs (the need or approach implied by the way he asked his question). The wise child asks "What are the statutes, the testimonies, and the laws that God has commanded you to do?" One explanation for why this very detailed-oriented question is categorized as wise, is that the wise child is trying to learn how to carry out the seder, rather than asking for someone else's understanding of its meaning. She is answered fully: You should reply to her with [all] the laws of Pesach: one may not eat any dessert after the paschal sacrifice. The wicked or contrary child, who asks, "What is this service to you?" is characterized by the Haggadah as isolating himself from the Jewish people, standing by objectively and watching their behavior rather than participating. Therefore, he is rebuked by the explanation that "It is because God acted for my sake when I left Egypt." (This implies that the Seder is not for the wicked child because the wicked child would not have deserved to be freed from Egyptian slavery.) Where the four children are illustrated in the Haggadah, this child has frequently been depicted as carrying weapons or wearing stylish contemporary fashions. The simple child, who asks, "What is this?" is answered with and equally simple response: "With a strong hand the Almighty led us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage." And the one who does not know to ask is told, even though she didn t initiate with a question, "It is because of what the Almighty did for me when I left Egypt." Jewish World Watch (JWW), a leader in the fight against genocide and human-rights atrocities, believes that the portraits of the four children can be framed to speak to its social justice mission. Consider that each of the children is actually just one of the many facets that make up our

2 individual souls. Whereas the Haggadah explores how to share the Passover story over generations, JWW asks for self-reflection: how do these children, present in all of us, motivate our actions or engagement in the world? Each of these archetypal children is reimagined: the wise child becomes the Upstander, the contrary child the Bystander, the simple child the Unaware, and the child who does not know how to ask the Insulated. JWW works to educate the unaware, inspire the insulated and provide opportunities for all of us to make a difference in the lives of survivors of genocide. Excerpts taken from Wikipedia and aish.com and Jewishworldwatch.org TWO SCENARIOS SET UP: Scenario A 5-10 minutes Teacher tells the class: My friends don t know a lot about being Jewish and I told them that Passover is coming up. They were asking me all these questions about Passover and I had trouble figuring out the best way to answer them. They are each coming from a different place and each of their questions were so different: one doesn t really care about Jewish stuff, one of my friends is really curious about Judaism, my one friend just asks me to be polite I was hoping you guys could help me figure out the best way to explain Passover to each one them differently since they are so different. Can you help me? (Let s hope they aren t feeling snarky and they say yes!) Explain that you are going to break them into 4 groups and give each group one of your friend s questions. You ll come around to each group to tell them a little bit more about your friend, and then they should write their answer to that person on the same paper. Break the class into 4 groups. Give each group a pen and a piece of paper with one of the friend s question printed at the top. Sheets are included at the end of this document. Wise: So what exactly is Passover? What do you do? How do you celebrate it? Wicked: That sounds really lame. Why do you do THAT? Simple: What s Passover? OWDKHTA:??? Visit each group to start them off. Give them some background on each friend. Elaborate and have fun with it! Wise really curious, really nice, always asking me about Jewish stuff, wishes s/he could go to Hebrew School, but his/her parents don t send him/her. Wicked thinks everything is lame, has a negative attitude. Simple maybe s/he is just being polite, I don t want to bore him/her, but it s nice that s/he is asking. OWDKHTA this friend just sat there when we were all talking about Passover. S/he really looked curious and was listening to everything we were saying, but s/he didn t actually ask anything him/herself minutes Give the students time to come up with their answers. 10 minutes Ask them to share with the class a little about the friend and what they would answer him/her.

3 After each group has shared, explain that this is actually part of the Hagaddah. The Haggadah talks about The Four Children who teach us that there are all different kinds of people and everyone should have their questions answered, everyone should learn, no matter their background or where they are coming from. Connect each child back to the 4 friends that the students worked to answer. Higher level: The Four Children can also be understood as different aspects of one person s personalities. Sometimes we feel curious and want to know details and sometimes we just don t care! Set-up Scenario B The four personalities applied to social justice themes and JWW work minutes The teacher tells the class that there are people facing horrible acts of violence everyday around the world. The genocide in Darfur, Sudan is in its 9 th year. 400,000 civilians have been slaughtered and more than 3 million displaced. In Congo, over a decade of war has claimed 5.4 million lives. A brutal campaign of violence against women has destroyed the lives of hundreds of thousands. Explain that Jewish World Watch keeps an eye on mass atrocities and violence. Further explain that there is an event many of them may be participating in on April 10, the Walk to End Genocide, which is sponsored by Jewish World Watch. This event provides an opportunity to participate in saving lives through educating the community, advocating to public officials and raising funds for relief and development projects that aid survivors of these horrible crimes against humanity. These four children, the wise, contrary, simple and one who doesn t know enough to ask, can be found in each of us at different times in our lives; in a social action context, we redefine them as the Upstander, Bystander, Unaware and Insulated, respectively. When thinking about the themes of freedom and joy that come out of the suffering and hardship of the Passover story and the descriptions of the four children, what can we learn that could be helpful in our fight to end violence and suffering in Sudan and Congo and around the world? Tell the students that in the groups, we will talk about the four children using the social action terms as described. We will consider them in the context of social justice and the actions we can take that will help survivors of genocide - no matter which of the children s personalities best describes us or our friends 5-10minutes: Divide into 4 groups, as before (can be the same or different) Hand out the four social justice questions, one to each group. Once the discussion is finished, distribute the corresponding Passover bookmark to each group minutes report back Encourage students to have share with family and friends what was learned and ways that they can become upstanders. Have copies of the Passover piece to take home (or download if doing online) AND remind students about the walk. Have brochures available.

4 So what exactly is Passover? What do you do? How do you celebrate it?

5 That sounds really lame. Why do you do THAT?

6 What s Passover?

7 ?????

8 What is the Jewish response when other people are suffering in the world? What does God expect of us?

9 Why should I as a Jew care if other people far away are suffering?

10 Really, suffering? Now, in the 21 st century?

11 ????