The Spiritual Life Center is truly an interfaith place these days, so this week we are preparing for both Christian Holy Week events and the Passover Seder. It’s a busy place when you add in memorial services for Melissa Smith and Pete Warren. In the midst of this very special season a favorite poem came to mind: The Story and the Child, by Ann Weems.
The child comes,
and we dye eggs
and make a cake
and decorate.
“Why are we doing this?”
he asks.
“Because,” I answer,
“Life is about to happen,
and on Sunday morning
We’ll catch stars.”
He looks at me,
quizzically at first,
and then grins.
It’s then I ask him
to tell me the story.
The only way he’ll learn
is to tell it himself.
The only way we’ll learn
is to tell it again . . .
and again . . .
to the child.
Although Ann Weems is a Christian poet, the poem reminds me of the Jewish Passover tradition of the child asking the questions and looking for the afikomen (a piece of matzoh). The child repeats the four questions:
“Why is it that on all other nights during the year we eat either bread or matzoh, but on this night we eat only matzoh?”
- “Why is it that on all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs, but on this night we eat only bitter herbs?”
- “Why is it that on all other nights we do not dip our herbs even once, but on this night we dip them twice?” and
- “Why is it that on all other nights we eat either sitting or reclining, but on this night we eat in a reclining position?”
The four questions prompt the retelling of becoming a free people and help the children remember their past. Searching for the afikomen at the end of the meal not only keeps the children motivated until the end of the service, but earns them a small treat and a blessing if they find it.
If you knew Pete Warren and knew how much he valued family and mentoring, whether with students, young professionals, with Big Brothers Big Sisters, his work with the United Way, his service as mayor, his dedication to his faith and his commitment to higher education, then you have an added incentive to pass on important traditions. And so whether you are hiding Easter Eggs or afikomen this weekend, I invite you to remember your traditions and share them with those around you. In doing so you may discover your own faith anew.
Have a blessed week,
Stephanie