Seder--shfoch Chamatcha

To show that there are mixed messages in the haggada, the overall message being that we must have compassion for everyone in the world, even those who do not have compassion for us.

For Shabbat

3^rd-6^th grade

Noseh: The Seder

Topic: Sh’foch Chamatcha

Written By: Natan Kapustin

Goal: To show that there are mixed messages in the haggada, the overall message being that we must have compassion for everyone in the world, even those who do not have compassion for us.

Materials: As needed for the games you choose

Games:

In general today is open to a variety of games. The only restriction is that they have two be two-team games, and the teams have to stay the same. Give the two teams private instructions. Team #1 is the nice team – they apologize when they beat the other team, and encourage the team that they will do better next time. Team #2 is the mean team – they make fun of team #1 every time they beat them, laugh at them , and are generally unpleasant. (You do not necessarily have to verbally give them instructions. If madrichim are playing, they can set the tone for each team, and tell their teammates to act nicely or to make fun.)

Keep these teams but switch around games as needed. At the end, ask them which team they would have cheered for if they were watching the game. If they are sports fans, ask them if they would like a player or team who won a lot but was known to be really mean.

Possible Games which will work:

Steal the Bacon

Relay Race(s)

Dodge ball

Capture the Flag

Cops and Robbers

Red Rover makes things complicated, because teams switch. Perhaps this should be saved until the last game if you want to use it.

And obviously there are many other games that could fit in. This should be a fun snif, as these are mostly games that the kids like a lot.

Discussion: So, what does this all have to do with the Month’s theme of the Seder? In the seder we teach about the Jews leaving Egypt, and the Egyptians who were enslaving them. We talk a lot about Hashem saving us and punishing the Egyptians. This is what we discuss in the paragraph “Sh’foch Chamatcha.” But at the same time, we spill out wine from our cups when discussing the Eser Makot, to feel the pain of the Egyptians. In the midrash, Hashem even tells the angels not to celebrate at Kriat Yam Suf, because the Eyptians are His creations too.

Of these two possibilities, which do you agree with more?

“Pour out your wrath upon the nations that do not acknowledge you, upon realms that do not invoke your name. For they have devoured Yakov and laid waste his habitation. Pursue them in anger, destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord.”