“The core pedagogies of the Haggadah are asking questions and telling stories”

The core pedagogies of the Haggadah are asking questions and telling stories. Real questions – those that are open-ending and that invite people to think – exhibit the humility of curiosity and create space for multiple voices. Storytelling, in turn, enables people to speak personally from their experience rather than posturing. Both of these pedagogies are more effective – not to mention more authentic – than the toxic combination of rote readings, pointless arguments, or political pontification. In preparing for Seder, consider building more of these pedagogies in and perhaps replacing the inferior questions and stories of the Seder with your own. In our house we also do short programmed “debates” with two sides of a big issue, and I think that this actually “ventilates” the differences of opinion that are in the room by making space for them and puts a time limit on the discussion. … I think the central idea I am trying to suggest is that by paying attention to pedagogy – that which is already in the Haggadah, and then amplified in structured educational activity – can signal and created a sophistication in conversation that transcends the usual bickering and could help provide structure to the discussion.

Yehuda Kurtzer, Facebook post (4 April 2017) [https://www.facebook.com/yehuda.kurtzer/posts/10155240824907174]