Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Passover and Human Rights

Passover brings to minds certain global themes that have great relevance to our time, such as slavery, migration and children's rights. Some excellent websites to make your seder more meaningful through the exploration of those themes:


From the Big Green Jewish site's Jewish Global Citizenship Project:


Pesach and the Four Cups of Freedom - this lesson takes the articles detailed in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (see them all listed here) and applies it to the Four Children and Four Cups of the Seder. Beautifully done. That same Big Green Site is great on environmental matters too. From the American Jewish World Service, some nice materials:


The Four Children: A Passover Reading - At Passover, we are confronted with the stories of our ancestors’ pursuit of liberation from oppression. Facing this mirror of history, how do we answer their challenge? How do we answer our children when they ask us how to pursue justice in our time?


Why is This Year Different from All Other Years?: A reading for the Four Questions - Designed to be incorporated during the Four Questions section of the Seder, this reading encourages us to infuse the rituals of the Seder with action for a just world.


From the Sources: Pesach - Exploring slavery, freedom and migration during Pesach


Exodus, Freedom and Responsibility - A text-based lesson plan that explores how the Exodus narrative can serve as a model for our own pursuit of justice.

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