By Maggie Downs
The Cincinnati Enquirer

SYCAMORE TOWNSHIP-There was a plague of cardboard frogs. A tissue paper-covered garbage can doubled as a burning bush. And Pharaoh was busy making spit bubbles.

Still, the preschoolers at Yavneh Day School understood the importance of marking the annual Passover Seder banquet during a play Thursday.

Preschool students (from left) Maya Eisler, 5 and Avery Samuels, 4, of Yavneh Day School perform a prayer in their class during their Seder performance for the upcoming Passover holiday while their parents watched Thursday. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

"We must celebrate Passover once a year to remember that once we were slaves," said a solemn Davina Noiman, 4, of Kenwood.

The Seder ceremony takes place the first two nights of the eight-day Passover. This year, Passover begins at sundown Wednesday. The Seder celebration centers on the reading of the Haggadah, which tells the biblical story of Moses and the exodus of the Hebrew slaves from ancient Egypt.

"This is a story of freedom," said Amy Rothchild, preschool teaching assistant. "It's a story about the Jews, but it's also a story for everyone."

In light of war with Iraq and increased threats to Israel, this year's Seder takes on a special significance for teacher Patti Wise.

"It's more meaningful, because it's what's happening today," she said. "It's always an important story - but this year it's more so."

According to the Passover story, God sent the prophet Moses to ask the Pharaoh to release the Jewish people from slavery. When Pharaoh refused, God sent plagues into Egypt, including cattle disease, boils and an infestation of frogs.

CELEBRATIONS

The following interfaith services for Passover Seder are scheduled: • Immanuel United Methodist Church, Lakeside Park, 6 p.m. Saturday. Celebrated and explained by Messianic Rabbi Michael Wolf of Beth Messiah congregation in Deerfield Township. $10 adults, $5 children 5-11. Information: (859) 341-5227. • Countryside Community Church of the Nazarene, 1436 Deerfield Road, Lebanon. 6:30 p.m. April 17 Led by Messianic Jews Mitch and Judy Paris. $10 adults, $5 children 5-18. Reservations required. 932-7363.

It was the last plague, the slaying of first-born sons, which finally convinced Pharaoh to allow the Jewish people to leave Egypt. The Jews were spared from this plague by spreading lamb's blood on their front doors, so that the plague would pass over their houses.

The torture and enslavement - and subsequent freedom - are discussed freely with all of Yavneh's students. Among preschoolers, however, the plagues seem to be the most popular portion of the Passover tale.

"I like it when the cows die," said Avery Samuels, 4, of Blue Ash.

Micah Bachrach, 4, who played the part of Pharaoh, enjoyed the amphibian plague most of all.

During the play, "I get to lay down with all the frogs and stuff."

The Seder acts as a learning device for children, who are encouraged to ask questions about the symbolism of the celebration. But though the Seder is spiritual and saturated with meaning, the mood is usually not somber.

"It's a day of remembrance," Wise said. "But it's also very joyful."

Some classes at Yavneh have a very detailed, elaborate ceremony for the event. In Wise's class, the children discussed their history at a younger level through a program of stories, songs and prayer.

Some children acted out the symbolic foods found on the special Seder plates:

• Maror (bitter herbs) - to show the bitterness of enslavement.

• Karpas (vegetable) - dipped in salt water to symbolize tears.

• Charoset (apple, nut and spice mixture) - symbolizes the mortar the Hebrew slaves used for bricks.

• Zeroa (shankbone) - for the paschal lamb, a Passover sacrifice.

• Beitzah (egg) - to show new life.

Foods containing yeast are not eaten during Passover. This commemorates the Israelites who fled quickly into the desert, with no time to let their breads rise and bake. Instead, the dough was baked into hard crackers (matzos) in the sun.

Many Jews also lean on comfortable pillows during the Seder as a reminder that they were once slaves, but now are free.

"Even today in many parts of the world, children and their families are treated unfairly as Jewish people have been throughout history," Wise said to the rapt crowd.

"We strive for the day when every man, woman and child can live in peace, dignity and freedom."

E-mail mdowns@enquirer.com