Thursday, April 1, 2010

The Plagues: Rated G

While not a religious woman, my mother felt that the time was right to host a Passover Seder dinner for our family. It's appropriate, thought she, to give my children an understanding of some important Jewish traditions, whether we "believed" them or not. I agreed.

To give the event a bit of verisimilitude -- separating it from the standard-issue gorge fest that is most family meals -- she and my father lit candles, told the story of the holiday, served a huge meal sans hog or leavened bread, hid the matzah and asked the four questions (in short: why is this night different, why no bread, why bitter herbs, what's up with the double-dip?)

Of course, what would a celebration of Jewish heritage be without some discomfort? That came, with some level of intensity, in the form of the "Bag of Passover Enrichment Toys For Kids," which until that point had been unopened. What spilled out when the drawstring was pulled? Among other things:

  • The ten plagues finger puppets, one miniaturized catastrophe for every little finger

  • The "death of the first born" jigsaw puzzle, featuring a grieving Egyptian mother standing over her prone child

I don't know what's worse, the Old Testament barbarity or its Disneyfication.

1 comment:

H. Brandt said...

so now to you strike at god? if for not to live here, heaven or hell. pupets will be only friend soon