My break from speaking about Walking on Eggshells includes Passover. I am the person in the family who loves this holiday and does all the work. My kids and husband attend, but they focus on the food, not the message. But this year there were two little boys in attendance, old enough to know the story and young enough to be enthusiastic about the Seder. This was an opportunity, but I wasn’t sure what to do. My grandson gave me the hint: he knew the story of the Exodus, and the day we spent together we read and reread the Hagaddah. Benji wanted to play Pharaoh. Again and again I (Moses) approached him, asking for my people’s freedom. No, No, NO, he would reply, Work harder. Work faster!
So, at the Seder Moses (our 7 year-old great nephew) came to Pharaoh asking him to “Let my people go.” “No, no, no,” was the reply. They then acted out the plagues (we downplayed the last one—both boys are firstborn males). They made a river of blood out of red books; they sang a song about Pharaoh waking up with frogs on his head and frogs in his bed; and you should have seen the boys on all fours, acting the part of the pitiful, sick cows. They raced across the Sea of Reeds, back to their places at the table.
Thus begins another holiday tradition, The Passover Players. Next year there will be two new ones, a little girl who is three weeks old, and little boy still to come. I hope they will crawl after the big boys. I think they will make very wonderful slaves (I’ll dress them in striped kitchen towels).
I believe that the point of the Seder is to pass on to the children the miraculous story of the deliverance from slavery to freedom. I think the little boys understood it. Next year we’ll add more to the play, and deepen the meaning of the story.