With Joshua nearly four years of age, I thought it was important to introduce him to the Passover Seder, a ritual feast held on any one of the eight nights of the Jewish holiday of Passover. Families and friends usually gather around the table to read from the Haggadah, the story of the Israelite exodus from Egypt, and eat special foods full of symbolism and significance to the retelling of the Hebrews’ escape from slavery in Pharaoh’s Egypt. 

We celebrated Passover last night in our home with Nicki’s parents, Don and Janie Tackett. First, I talked about the significance of some of the foods we would be eating. The foods of Passover that you are required to eat are actually quite healthy. The first is matzo, which is the unleavened bread that is said to remind us that the Israelites left Egypt in such haste that they couldn’t wait for their bread to rise.

The next is lamb, which symbolizes the offering of a lamb for sacrifice to God. We had a cooked lamb shank on the table, but because we aren’t that proficient in cooking lamb, we also had roast chicken for everyone to eat. Bitter herbs are part of the Passover ceremony, so we each ate a little horseradish. The bitter herbs symbolize the bitterness and harshness of the slavery that the Hebrews endured in Egypt.

Joshua loved taking part in his first Seder. The youngest child who can speak gets to ask the four questions in Hebrew and in English, and it was so cute how he repeated them after me. The most famous question he asked is “Why is this night different from all other nights?” I did my best to explain the story of the Exodus in language that he could understand.

He was cute as a button wearing a multicolored kepah, which is a small beanie-type head covering that’s also known as a yarmulke. At any rate, I was proud of my son, especially in the way he repeated the four questions in Hebrew following my prompting.