Why are Scrabble tiles on our Second Seder Plate?

Children in refugee camps need to be educated, yet schools in the camps are often limited by a host country’s rules. In Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, Rohingya children are forces to learn in English, even though often neither they nor their teachers speak the language. The Scrabble tiles on our Seder Plate symbolize the English language, radically different in alphabet and vocabulary from the Rohingya dialect.

Jewish World Watch is underwriting digital education programs in 75 Rohingya schools in the refugee camps, which use technology and innovative programming to teach 7,500 children in their native dialect, reinforcing their identity and inspiring them to learn more.

FACT: Since the genocide perpetrated by the Myanmar military began in August 2017, nearly 800,000 Rohingya have fled to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Almost 60 percent of the refugees are children.

ACT: Support projects like this at jww.org/Passover

DISCUSS: What barriers are created by being forced to learn in a foreign language?


haggadah Section: Introduction