[HANASHIR:8661] A dilemma teaching Chad Gadya

[LSalvay <LSalvay...>]

Hevrei,
I encountered an interesting situation earlier this week as I was teaching 
Chad Gadya (in English) to the children at the JCC preschool (I teach music 
there 2 mornings a week to toddlers through pre-K). 

While the song is rather long, this particular version is "kid-friendly" 
because it includes noises that the kids can chime in for each animal/object 
in the song (i.e., "then came the dog -- WOOF WOOF -- that bit the cat -- 
MEEEEOW -- that ate up all the kid -- ME-E-E-EH.....) 

After I had finished singing the song with a group of 4- and 5-year-olds, one 
of the teachers (I don't think she's Jewish) said in front of the whole 
group, "I don't think we should sing that song again. It's too violent."

My immediate response to her (in complete surprise, never having encountered 
any negative reaction to Chad Gadya in my12 years of teaching music) was, 
"The song is in the Passover Seder, and it had been sung by children for 
centuries." She rather adamantly insisted that it should not be sung again 
with "this age group."

Has anyone else encountered a similar situation -- and how have you dealt 
with it? Sure, I can find plenty of other songs to teach instead of Chad 
Gadya, but I feel a bit of an obligation to instill some element of 
traditional Pesach music in these kids, and not stick merely with some of the 
more insipid pre-school Pesach music that's been written in recent decades. 
(Interesting how this teacher feels the need to "protect" children from any 
mention of "the Angel of Death" and the butcher who slew the ox -- the same 
children who witness the gratuitous violence that is so commonplace in the 
evening news, TV shows and video games, etc.)

I'll be interested in your responses and suggestions. Thanks for providing 
such a wonderful forum to discuss such issues. 

Wishing a "non-violent" Pesach to all!

Linda Salvay

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