There
is an obligation as stated in the haggadah, "B'chol dor vador
chayav adam lirot et atzmo k'ilu hu yatzah miMitzrayim" "In
every generation, a person is obligated to see himself as if he left
Egypt." (Pesachim 116b). As it says in Shemot 13:8 “And,
you shall explain to your son on that day that it is because of what
the Lord did for me when I went free from Egypt.”
One must imagine oneself as experiencing the Exodus. This
brought to mind an article I recently read in Time Magazine by
Joel Stein "Inside the Box" on the world of virtual reality
that is upon us.
Stein
spent some months going to virtual reality conferences and
interviewing scientists involved in virtual reality techonologies.
Yes, one can experience climbing a mountain in virtual reality, or
one fly a plane. One can even feel motion sickness. Google has
set up a virtual-reality program called Expeditions where classes can
go on a virtual field trip and never leave the building. As a
psychologist, the work of Xavier Palomer Ripoll interested me. He
created animated situations that allow therapists to use with
immersion therapy to treat anxiety disorders. "'They
currently use imagination. They hold a picture of a plane and
they say, 'Imagine you're in a plane.'" Using Ripoll's work a
person can actually feel like he is on a plane. But, as a
psychologist, I'm not exactly sure I like the use of virtual reality
for therapy. What happened to good old fashioned imagination?
Jeremy
Bailenson founded Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab in 2003.
"He runs psychological experiments where people become
aged versions of themselves to help them save for retirement; in a
video how to deal with harassment, the user can become a young black
woman being interviewed by an old white guy. After people fly like a
superhero and deliver medicine to a sick child, they are more helpful
when an assistant pretends to accidentally drop her stuff in the
hallway...VR, he believes, is an empathy machine and should be saved
for that purpose." I'm not sure about this one either.
Why do we need an empathy machine? Why can't we simply
imagine the pain and feelings of the other without a “machine”?
Virtual
reality technology is incredible, but I worry when we depend on it to
relay social/emotional skills. I feel that the increasing use
of such technology takes the place of encouraging the development of
imagination in our children.
Imagination
is the key to success, as one can see that most successful people in
life have vivid imaginations. The greatest inventions of all
time are the result of imagination. Imagination is also the key to
finding creative solutions to problems. It is fundamental to
many aspects of cognitive development- creativity, cooperation,
leadership, problem solving and even developing a good memory.
According to Dr. Rosa Aekler and Janet Stanford, in their article
“Imagination: The Gift That Keeps On Giving,” imagination allows
us
- To envision what doesn't yet exist, but could become possible.
- To come close to experiencing alternative realities without risk.
- To rehearse goals we will attempt to achieve.
- To visualize solutions to problems.
- To test a hypothesis in our mind.
- To fulfill wishes and obtain gratification.”
Children
need to learn the ability to "creating pictures in their mind's
eye that help them learn how to reach a desired goal," says Dr.
Charlotte Reznick, author of The Power of Your Child's
Imagination: How To Transform Stress And Anxiety Into Joy And
Success. We all know of the healing power of play for
children where they enact scenarios from their real lives. It also
helps them with empathy, as they can play the roles of others.
Research on preschoolers indicated that the more TV they
watched, the less imaginative they were. Television, for teens
as well, needs to be paired with discussion, reading and critical
thinking.
One
example of the importance of imagination to success is Dr. Reznick's
view of the importance of imagination for success in sports. To
combat thoughts like "I'll never be perfect" or "I'm
afraid I'll let my teammates down" positive visualization
techniques are essential. Some basic steps the involve one's
imagination are: 1. Concentrate on the feeling that gives
you confidence. Imagine what it looks like. Which is bigger- fear or
confidence? 2. Then imagine filling one's whole body with
confidence. 3. Have a chat with whatever fear is
left. Ask him what he is afraid of and what it needs form
confidence. 4. Imagine a calming place. Invite an "imaginary
friend" to encourage you. 5. Imagine in one's head
each part of the action you want to accomplish. 6. Imagine
being a spectator and what it looks like to see oneself succeed. 7.
Visualize success using as many senses as possible- For example, when
making a foul shot, what does the ball feel like? What sounds do you
hear? What is the taste in your mouth? Smells in the gym? 8. Make
sure to see success. When going up to bat, see yourself hitting that
ball. 9. Use positive language when visualizing, “I can do it!”
In
this world of technology, children spend most of their days paying
attention to outside stimulation and little time paying attention to
what is “inside,” which is essential for development of
self-soothing, intuition and deep inner trust. Dr. Reznick said that
it is imperative that parents make a "time to go 'inside' rather
than 'outside' for information, stimulation, entertainment and
knowledge for their children. “I often tell kids that as much
as there is on the outside, when they shut their eyes, relax, breathe
slowly and deeply, connect to their 'inner computer' and let their
imagination fly, they can go places they never before imagined."
She suggests that children need to take 3-5 minute breaks during
technology use.
In
today's world, there is no need to be creative or use one's
imagination as one can simply google solutions to any issue. Sitting
around playing video games, watching television all day, does not do
much for one's imagination.
How
often do our children say, "I'm bored?" Boredom can be
constructive or destructive, as an opportunity to get into trouble.
Sergio
Diazgranados in his article on teenagers and
boredom states, "Boredom
plays such an imperative role in the growth of your teenager as it
allows them to solidify their relationship with their imagination."
When one is bored, if one is able to take initiative and come
up with something that is considered a sought after skill when it
comes to careers. But, when feeling bored, our teens often run
to technology, not allowing themselves to feel boredom. “Boredom
is recognized as a gateway to creativity, so if we can't be alone
with ourselves and are unable to tolerate a lack of stimuli then we
actually block out the opportunity to feel boredom and the possible
creative thinking that comes out of that.”
The
mitzvah of reliving the Exodus, is different from the daily mitzvah
of remembering the Exodus (Devarim 15:15) as it requires that
empathy component and the ability to imagine oneself in a
circumstance without virtual reality. The Rambam in the Laws of
Chametz and Matzah 7:6 describes that he must act as a slave who is
now experiencing the Exodus by engaging in actual behaviors that
symbolize slavery and freedom. Laws like reclining, eating
matzah are meant for that purpose. And, as Rabbi Naftali Hoff,
in his article, "Reliving The Exodus" he notes that the
Maharal adds in Gevurot Hashem 61, that one must view his generation
as if it was the one leaving Egypt. And, as the Rambam
additionally states in his version of what we read in the haggadah,
"In each and every generation a person is obligated to display
himself (l'harot et atzmo) as though he just now left the
slavery of Egypt." He says, "to display himself”-
"L'harot et atzmo" instead of "lirot et atzmo" to
see himself, and adds the word "now."
We
know that there are certain communities where they actually wrap
matzah in a sack, and toss it over their shoulders. They may
even have seder participants call out "Where are you from?"
"Mitzrayim," they answer. "Where are you going?"
"Yerushalayim." The actual enacting of the
event is one way to trigger the imagination so that one can see
oneself as leaving.
I
am often grateful for the opportunity to take my teens to a shiur on
Shabbat- when there are no smartboards, videos or interactive
technologies. They must simply listen, imagine, contemplate and
create with their minds. It is quite a challenge for many young
people, and adults in today's world, but an essential skill.
Rabbi
Dr. Tzvi Hirsch Weinreb in his article, “Imagine That!” points
out the difficulty that some have in fulfilling the mitzvah of seeing
oneself as leaving Egypt. In fact, he told the story of a young rabbi
he heard state that he sees this mitzvah as impossible to do. He
then quoted the words he once heard from the Klausenberger rebbe,
Rabbi Halberstam, who was a Holocaust survivor. Rabbi Halberstam said
that before the war his mentor, (whose name Rabbi Weinreb could not
recall), told him that he had no difficulty imagining himself being
a slave in Egypt. In fact, he could clearly remember being there- the
“burdensome work...the sighs and groans of his companions. He could
even still see, in his mind's eye, the cruel face of his tormentors
as they sadistically whipped him for not producing his daily quota of
bricks.” The rebbe said there are two psychological processes
needed for fulfillment of the mitzvah seder night- koach hadimyon-
imagination and empathy. But, what the rebbe added was, “we
are often restricted by our own tendencies to rely upon our reason,
rationality and intellectuality. We underplay the powers we have to
fantasize, to imagine, to dream freely. In a sense, we are slaves to
reason and need to learn to allow ourselves to go beyond reason and
to give our imagination free rein.” Rabbi Weinreb shared these
words of the rebbe with the young rabbi, who responded, “But, the
Klausenberger rebbe didn't say that learning to imagine and to
empathize were easy.”
The
Pesach seder is replete with parenting and education pointers. One of
which is the importance of fostering one's imagination. This is a
parenting task that we can work on all throughout the year- although
not an easy one. On seder night, parents and children must work at
it, as for now, virtual reality is still muktza on Yom Tov and we
must still use our old-fashioned, yet rewarding imagination.
Advisory
Update:
Sixth
Grade- Sixth graders set
goals for the third trimester of the year. They also began a unit on
cell phone safety.
Seventh
Grade- Students were
introduced to the BDS movement and how Israel is presented unfairly
and unjustly.
Eighth
Grade- Students discussed
their experience with the Holocaust play.
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