The Model Seder – A Model of What?

A few days before Passover, in Jewish schools around the world, children sit down and participate in what has come to be called a “model seder”. The definitions of the word model include: ideal, prototype, archetype and original. While the ceremony as it is enacted in a particular school may become the prototype for future years, it cannot be said that the school seder is the ideal, the original or the archetype of the seder as it occurs in real time. The idea behind the model seder (or at least one of the ideas), is to provide a simulation of the family seder that will allow the children to participate and understand the seder at home. For children whose families do not participate in a seder, it provides an opportunity to experience this particular Jewish ceremony. It is this kind of ceremony that enables the child to sense, if not fully understand, the personal connection to the great traditions of the Jewish people.

This year, Model Seder will be celebrated on Monday, March 29th.