[HANASHIR:8663] Re: A dilemma teaching Chad Gadya

[Eric Simon <erics...>]

>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."

First off, if I understand your story correctly, it was entirely
inappropriate to make such a statement in front of the whole group.

My quick thoughts are these:

1.  Any kid who watches cartoons had already dealt with fictional
characters blowing up other characters, and are able to tell the difference
between fiction and real life.  (Even "light" children's fare might
include, say, that "violent song": "There was an old lady who swallowed a
fly . . . ")

2.  The entire story of Pesach is violent!  How would you explain why Moses
was put in a basket on the Nile?  Moses killing the taskmaster who was
trying to kill a Jew?  The oppression of slavery?  As for plagues: Would
you teach kids only the first nine plagues becaues the 10th plague is too
violent?  Should we skip the part about all the Egyptians drowning in the
Sea after it closed back up?  When my kids were aged 4 and 6, they had no
problems watching various Passover movies which alluded to all of this.

Gosh, I really hate to say: "it must be good because that's how it's always
been done", but I can't help but feel that because most of us come from a
long tradition of including this violent stuff in the Seder even when
children are around, and children seem to able to handle it, that it must
be OK.

I hope this is worth the two cents I've put into it!

-- Eric


+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Eric Simon     | erics (at) radix(dot)net                      |
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| proud daddy to Joshua Ari  4/18/93 - 27 Nissan 5753   |
|        and Eliana Rebekah  3/12/95 - 11 Adar-2 5755   |
+-------------------------------------------------------+

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