Today in Gan, the children made matza in the playground courtyard.  When I came to pick up Raphaela this afternoon, she handed me a wrapped piece of matza made by her own hand. One of her teachers explained to me that the rest of the class had long ago finished eating their handiwork, but my daughter had only eaten half of it, explaining that she wanted to share it with her Mommy.

Then her teachers relayed the following conversation that Raphaela had initiated, complementing the staff of the Gan:  "It must be very hard to be a teacher of all of us kids.  Helping us, teaching us, picking us up when we fall down.  It's just like the Jewish slaves in Egypt, 'Avodat Parech!'"*

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* Avodat Parech = the term in Hebrew from the text of the Hagaddah for Pessach, which attempts to describe the physical and mental suffering of the Jewish slaves in Egypt