Since my two daughters were born I have been trying to
figure out how to teach the Bible (Tanak) to them. Not only do I have to teach
them age appropriate information but it has to be from Jewish perspective since
there are many biblical children books but very few are Jewish. One visual aid
is the amazing film called " The Prince of Egypt."
Some humanist would say that everything in the Bible is
violent and it teaches children retribution through physical conflict. This
became apparent when my daughter started cheering for G-d to destroy the
Egyptians with the waters of the Sea of Reeds. I saw that as an opportunity to
teacher about the Midrash which teaches that we should not to rejoice on the
death of our enemies since G-d told the angels they should not sing at sight of
the death of the Egyptian soldiers since even evil people are G-d's
children in Jewish thought (Talmud, Megillah 10b
and Sanhedrin 39b).
I spoke to her about justice since the bad guys died because
of their sins and the good people survived so they can enjoy freedom from
slavery and abuse.
When the first born was killed by the angel of death I told
her how there are different types of angels ones who bring you to life and ones
that take you to heaven. Not sure if this is discussed in Jewish literature but
it sounds like an appropriate thing to say to a child.
The blood of the lamb on the lintel of the door was a little
harder to explain, but it pointed to the concept of G-d’s protection.
What was very difficult to discuss with a child was the corporate
punishment for the sins of a leader of a nation.
The movie humanizes Moses and shows him grieving for the
impact of the last plague. This is important to consider since God suffers too
when human beings suffer in Jewish thought.
The burning bush is a strange symbol or theophany since G-d
is non- corporeal. To me the bush represents G-d being among his people versus
Egyptian hierarchical system and the majesty of their temples. I taught my
daughter about how the miracle of the staff turning into a serpent is a symbol
of power. Just like the head decoration on Pharoh's crown is a
cobra, the staff turns into a serpent as a challenge to Egyptian symbols of
power. Moses speaks the language of the Egyptians through the miracle showing greater
power from G-d over creation as compared to the Magicians, Jannes and Jambres, and their tricks.
One can tell that Jews wrote the
movie when you see Pharaoh not dying at the end of the film. According to the
Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer ( Exodus 14:28) he survives and eventually became the
king of Nineveh repenting at a later time.
The DreamWorks film, which came
out in 1998, had a great impact on me. I hope it is as significant to my
children’s religious education.
