Sunday April 2, 2017 – Daniel
This week, we continued to look at the Pesach story through modern narratives that link the Jewish experience of oppression to other similar stories. This week we read about children living under the rule of a dictator. In the story, Pedro’s friend Daniel watches as the police arrest Daniel’s father. Pedro wonders if this was because Daniel’s father was against the dictatorship. One day a soldier visits Daniel’s school and asks the children to write a short essay titled “What my family does at night”. Pedro senses that this essay is really important, but what should he say? Should he talk about the programs on the radio that his parents listen to quietly at night? Is it all just a trick? Will his parents be arrested too?
Read more about “The Composition”
Books like this help students understand the idea that each person is asked to try to feel as though she or he were personally redeemed from slavery in Egypt, by helping them understand what slavery might be like today.
If you are looking for another great point of connection, you can get, “As Good as Anybody” it is the story of Abraham Joshua Heschel and Martin Luther King Jr. both of whom read the biblical narratives of slavery and freedom as inspiration for addressing oppression and racism in modern days.