Four new questions
At Seder meal, the ritual has the youngest child ask four questions. This is just a start to get the conversation rolling so its not just an empty ritual. This discourse is traditiontal: The Seder in fact is modeled after a ritual format of the Greek Symposium...a meal with a dialog: socratic questioning, inquiry, mind experiments, etc.
Here is a start of a few questions you can ask at your seder to get the pump primed about issues of the day...
1. What is “Freedom” ? (after Isaiah Berlin’s essay on positive and negative freedom).
Is freedom only Negative—freedom from Coercion from others….independence. i.e. resisting pharaohs who pressed so hard we could not stand…. OR
Could Freedom involve others…a commitment to being part of a community with its obligation, rules and understandings? “let my people go so they may SERVE me…
2. What does it mean to live in a Free County? What are Liberty..and responsibilities it might entail?
3. Are Liberty and Unity in opposition? Is commitment to a group help or hinder freedom? When must you stand with your people/movement and quell your differences...and when must you speak up and dissent? What are limits to dissent and opting out?
4. Is being safe part of freedom…or does being kept safe and "protected" by authority/culture norms reduce our freedom?
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