There are many parallels between the story of our ancestors in Egypt and the process by which a human being is born. The story takes us through the difficulty and amazing nature of pregnancy, the psychological process of preparing for a newborn, the hopeful pain of labor. It culminates in the miraculous parting and crossing of the sea: the baby coming through the birth canal. This story of slavery to freedom is also the story of our birth as a nation.

Art is also a type of birth. When we make art we are letting out into the world a snippet of the unique, free beings we are inside. We give expression to the way our imagination works and interacts with the world. We go beyond words and concepts and share our inner experience of the world. We overcome our doubts and loneliness and give birth to something new from within us, something that some might call God. 

The art that the students at the School made for this Haggadah came out of discussions about the different pieces of the Haggadah. Each group of students studied a page of the Haggadah, and responded to it with two creative acts: making a piece of art, and defining a question they have about the text. The Seder is for the kids. It is their opportunity to ask questions, and the parents opportunity to pass on the stories they received, and the knwoledge they gained on their own. We encourage you to discuss the childrens' questions, as well as their art. We hope that both the questions and the art will elicit something of the happiness that creativity and freedom can produce. Chag sameach!


haggadah Section: Introduction