By Linda Levin, Kehillah Chadashah President
The holiday of Passover tells the ancient story of the Jewish people’s liberation from slavery in Egypt. This Passover, Kehillah Chadashah and No’Ar Hadash will tell the modern-day story of liberating American children from the hardship of hunger. No’Ar Hadash is hosting for Kehillah Chadashah a Children’s Nutrition Seder.
At this seder the broken matzah will remind us of the brokenness in our world. We will think of those who are poor and who have to put aside the ‘broken half’ for later use.
We will ask new Four Questions: What does it mean to be hungry in America and what is the main cause of hunger?How does the United States currently address issues of hunger? What will it take to end childhood hunger in America? And What can I do to end childhood hunger in America?
The Four Children we will be talking about will be: The child who receives free school
Lunch, the child who receives free school breakfast, The child who should be able to
participate in a summer feeding program and the mother and child who participate in the WIC program.
The Ten Plagues at our seder will be:
1. The single mother who gives the last bits of food in the house to her child, while she goes hungry
2. The senior citizen who must choose between paying for medicine and paying for his lunch
3. The neighbor who never invites you over, because he cannot offer you food
4. The college student who must choose between books and groceries
5. The friend who feels alienated because he can’t join in on social events at restaurants
6. The woman who brings bags to the Shabbat oneg to take home food
7. The father who does not apply for food stamps for his family because he can’t understand the application system
8. The tons of edible food that remain in warehouses or is thrown away
9. The young urban couple in whose neighborhood there is no full-service grocery store, only fast food
10. Apathy – the biggest plague of all is the failure to make ending hunger a national priority
On this Passover we urge everyone “to all who are thirsty bring water,” and “greet those who wander with food.”
