Wonder Days

Have you ever felt stuck somewhere you didn’t want to be — and then suddenly, finally, you got to leave?

A very long time ago, in the land of Egypt, there lived a whole people called the Israelites. They had been forced to work as slaves — building enormous buildings under the hot sun, day after day, year after year. They were tired. They were sad. And they dreamed of being free.

Among them was a man named Moses. When Moses was just a baby, his mother had hidden him in a basket in the river to keep him safe. He grew up to be brave and kind. And one day, God spoke to Moses and said: “Go to the Pharaoh — the king of Egypt — and tell him to let my people go.”

Moses was scared. The Pharaoh was powerful and stubborn. But Moses went anyway.

“Let my people go,” Moses said.

The Pharaoh said no. Again and again, he said no. Terrible things began to happen in Egypt — rivers turned red, frogs covered the land, darkness fell in the middle of the day. Still, the Pharaoh wouldn’t listen.

Finally, after the worst night of all, the Pharaoh gave in. “Go,” he said. “Go now.”

The Israelites left so fast they didn’t even have time to let their bread rise. They baked it flat and carried it on their backs as they walked — thousands of people, together, walking toward freedom.

When they reached the edge of a great sea and it seemed like there was nowhere left to go, the waters parted and they walked right through on dry ground. On the other side, they looked back and realized: they were free. Really, truly free.

How people celebrate today:

Every spring, Jewish families gather for a special dinner called a Seder. The table is set with a beautiful plate holding foods that each mean something — a bitter herb to remember the bitterness of slavery, a sweet paste to remember the mortar the slaves used to build, a green vegetable dipped in salt water to remember tears and spring.

The youngest child at the table asks four special questions, starting with: “Why is this night different from all other nights?” And then the whole family tells the story together, reading from a book called the Haggadah. They sing songs. They eat matzo — that same flat bread the Israelites carried on their backs. And they open the door for the prophet Elijah, leaving him a cup of wine, hoping he might visit.

Passover lasts seven or eight days. It’s a time for remembering that freedom isn’t free — someone had to be brave enough to ask for it.