Community Corner
Passing Along the Story of Passover at Temple Tikvah
Temple Tikvah and PJ Library join together to run a reading program for Passover.
Passover is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the story of the Exodus in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. Two young boys were able to learn about this Jewish festival in an interactive book reading given by Sebastiana Hernan, organizer of early childhood education at .
“[The goal] is to teach them to stand up for what they believe and to never forget how precious it is,” Hernan said of the program.
With the help of Rabbi Randy Sheinberg, Hernan read three books Friday morning in the children’s department of Barnes and Noble in Manhasset.
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“The children will be participating in songs, the story and learn about the Seder and why we tell the story of Passover every year,” Hernan said. “They will be doing it through the story and props and a little bit of movement and music.”
The two boys were able to do just that as they sat with their mothers and listened while Hernan flipped through colorful pages that portrayed the Jewish faith.
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Hernan also made an almost-life-size moveable book herself that told the story of Passover through drawings, words and songs. Sheinberg got involved by integrating props into the story to keep the audience engaged and enthused.
The PJ Library, which is sponsored by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation in New York, is in partnership with Temple Tikvah and helped make the event happen.
“The PJ Library is a national program and we send over 71,000 books a month to families all over American and we are the largest distributor of Jewish children’s books,” said Jordanna Birnbaum, director of community development for The PJ Library. “Temple Tikvah has done amazing things and their first year goal was to get 90 families; now they have over 150 families and 55 families on a waiting list. Every single month a family gets a Jewish content book in the home; 11 books and one CD per year and then this programming and all the support from Temple Tikvah is a companion to that. This is just one of the many programs that they’ve run.”
Although not many families attended this particular reading program, Hernan said, “We started with very few and we’ve really grown and it’s something that families with young children look forward to coming to and attending. It’s an easy way for them to re-learn and to re-enter the Jewish background.”
