Why Teenagers Are Important to Passover

The Passover Seder is the ultimate educational experience. It is an interactive method of story-telling, a learning (and re-learning) of our people’s ancient memory, and navigating through text and time and tradition to make that story our own.

Teenagers are an integral part of the Passover experience, bridging the children and the adults who can bring a unique perspective to any Seder. While they may be too old to be participating for the first time with fresh eyes, they are still questioning, struggling, and wrestling with the themes that we experience during Passover as they contemplate their own journey towards adulthood. Just as the Jews were redeemed from slavery and led into freedom, so too do we have an obligation to guide our teens towards their ultimate understanding of the journey towards adulthood. Teens have an obligation to make the Passover story their own, so they too can tell it for generations to come. We urge you to begin to see your teens as leaders capable of great understanding and even greater potential to embrace their Judaism and find new and innovative ways to make it relevant for us and for everyone at your Passover Seder.

Reprinted from ReformJudaism.org