Mychiel Balshine Presents… Hey Diddle Diddle

Hey diddle diddle the cat and the fiddle… and bah bah black sheep… are among the many silly rhymes parents and grandparents sing to children.

The Webster dictionary defines a nursery rhyme as ‘a short Poem or song for children.’ Amusingly, Chad Gadya, our Seder finale would appear to perfectly fit the bill! ‘A cat came and ate the goat; a dog came and bit the cat…’

Obviously we know Chad Gadya carries a deeper meaning, for it was written by saintly people steeped in the secrets of Torah; but surely the holiest night of the year should conclude with more serious statements such as ‘Shema Yisrael’ or ‘Hashem is the true G-d’ as we do on Yom Kippur. Why do we end the holy Seder with what comes across as a light-hearted rhyme?

Perhaps the Haggadah is conveying the following message ‘make Judaism fun for children’. The Seder is the passing down of the tradition, of how G-d delivered us from slavery and gave us His guide to life, the Torah. There cannot be a more fundamental lesson than that. Our sages wanted the children to stay awake and take in the entire story; they thus gave them a fun and exciting ending to look forward to – the all time favourite – Chad Gadya.

While attending a wedding a number of years ago, I shared this idea with Chief Rabbi emeritus, Lord Sacks. He liked it and advised me to add the following parable:

Imagine walking down the corridor of a large library, with books lining the room as far as the eye can see. Your heart guides you to a specific row and there to a specific bookcase where high up a red book catches your attention. You grab the ladder, climb high up until you reach the book. Something deep down compels you to open it – to see inside…

You fan the pages and are amazed to discover that it’s a book all about your family, everyone gets a page. It shows your grandparents, where they were educated and how they passed down their Jewish tradition to a new generation. It does this all the way back to the beginning, to Sinai. Then you finally turn to the very last page – you are amazed to find it has your name on it! Yes it’s all about you! But this page is very different, its blank, the arrow points to no one. The beautiful chain has stopped and the book comes to an abrupt end.

This highlights a key challenge of our times – enthusing the youth to be excited by Judaism – they are the future who will carry the truth on.

So as we sit merrily and sing Chad Gadya, we must look at the younger members of the Seder and contemplate – are they being provided with sufficient Jewish nourishment to grow to be proud and active Jews? Who are their role models… perhaps unknown figures on You Tube, is this what we really want? We must think, will they, like us, lead a Seder years from now? We must harness the Haggadah’s message and ensure to encourage their positive involvement, education and example as much as we can.

Happy Passover.