It’s Tuesday, Pesach is coming, and we’ve got just the #TuesdayTorahTutorsTidbit you were waiting for! #RealTorah from #realTorahTutorssessions.
A TorahTutors student learning the book of Shemot explored several repeated themes in the story of the Exodus, especially in chapter 13.
One of those themes is the idea of telling our children about what happened: telling them the story (13:8) and responding when they ask about it (13:14). This is at the root of the Pesach seder and the many things we do to keep children involved, and the tutor and student discussed an even more fundamental idea than that – that the idea of teaching our children about our heritage is actually at the root of Jewish values as a whole.
While Jewish children in Egypt would have been used for whatever work they could do, as young as possible, considered without value and certainly without a voice – with the two pesukim mentioned and others, all that changed. Some connect the Hebrew word for “tell” with the root neged, meaning opposite, so that perhaps “telling” one’s child the story is supposed to be done specifically face-to-face. We are to speak with our children, face-to-face, and answer their questions. These fundamentals are at the heart of education, a major Jewish value for all children.
The tutor also pointed out that these directives were stated even before the Jewish people left Egypt, before they received the Torah, before they had fully become a nation. The directive to educate our children is bound up with the very building of our nation, perhaps like the Exodus itself; it is the foundation of the nation we were to become.
We are so thrilled to share this tidbit that gets to the heart of what we do at TorahTutors.org!
As we prepare for and enjoy Pesach this year, we will be thinking about our brothers and sisters in Israel and around the world who need a redemption from terror and worse.
We will also be thinking about that deep-seated Jewish value of education and transmission. We hope you’ll join us in that endeavor!
Wishing a chag kasher v’sameach – a happy and kosher, and healthy and safe, holiday – to all our students, teachers, and friends.
