Pesach is my favorite time of year. Our homes are sparking clean, the table is set with the beautiful seder plate and kos Eliyahu that were in storage for the past year, and the landscape around us has come back to life. (Bonus: saying goodbye to another winter of 4 am snow day decisions!) In our family, we look forward to our favorite Pesach foods, including charosets from a variety of countries and cultures, which add an abundance of flavor to our seder table, and other treasured family recipes.
What makes Pesach even more memorable is the Seder, itself, designed intuitively according to educational best practices to remember and teach the central story of our people, Yitziyat Mitzrayim, to our children and grandchildren. The Torah frames the Seder around what we understand to be the core elements of effective instruction: encouragement of curiosity, permission to question, emotional connection, and active engagement. The Seder is not a lecture; it is a dialogue, even a reenactment. It anticipates the needs and levels of different learners through the Four Questions, encourages inquiry through ma nishtana, and uses the tangible experiences of dipping, leaning, tasting, laughing and crying (how hot is your maror?) to make abstract ideas concrete, fun, and memorable. Props, costumes, children’s projects, and a variety of haggadot with commentaries for discussion add even more to the experience. Every year, especially on the second night, we try to add something new to enrich our experience.
Education is about more than knowledge and skills. It is about connection: to our past, to our Torah values, to one another, and to Hashem. At its core, the Seder reflects the understanding that education is most powerful when it is experiential, differentiated, and rooted in strong, nurturing relationships. Each child is addressed according to his or her needs, with the goal is not merely the transmission of information, but the formation of identity: to see oneself as having personally left Mitzrayim.
This practice deeply aligns with our educational philosophy. As you will read in this issue of Ohr Chadashot, like at the Seder, we take pride in creating classrooms where students are active participants in their learning, where questions are celebrated, and where lessons come alive through experiences rooted in relevance and personal meaning. Just as the Seder recognizes that no two children learn the same way, our teachers meet their students where they are in order to help them grow as individuals. When learning is infused with curiosity, joy, and personal relevance, it becomes transformative. That is the premise behind the Seder.
Wishing you a beautiful and inspirational Seder, a chag kasher v’sameach, and a wonderful break! Shabbat Shalom!