The Passover Haggadah says:"Let all who are hungry come eat."

Today we read, "The Little Red Hen and The Passover Matzah". Most of the children remembered when we read "The Little Read Hen", a few weeks ago. I asked the children, "Do you remember what the story was about?" Aaron raised his hand and said,"It was about the Hen doing all the work to make bread and her friends did not help her." Then I asked the children, "What do you think this story was about?" After a brief discussion, I opened up the book and started reading.

"This Yiddish-inflected retelling of "The Little Red Hen" features a balabusta(good homemaker) who Kvetches about her lazy no-goodnik friends who will not help her make the matzah from wheat... A must for Judaica collections."
-School Library Journal (starred review)

"Such a clever idea...Watch a familiar tale become exponentially funnier and yes, more meaningful."
-Publishers Weekly(starred review)

The children really enjoyed the story and the timing of the story could not have been better!

Earlier that morning The Matzah Factory came to school for a visit. We just experienced making our own matzah from scratch(breaking up the wheat,grinding it into flour,adding water to make dough,rolling it out and last but not least we handed the dough to the Rabbi to bake it in the oven)! The children could see first hand how much work goes into preparing matzah.

Like in the original story of the "Little Red Hen" the Hen does all the work and her friends do nothing! But this time when the Hen is about to sit down to eat at the Seder dinner and her friends knock on her door and ask the Hen "What's for dinner?", she gives then a piece of her mind! "You've got to be kidding!" scolded the Little Red Hen. "What chutzpah! You didn't help me plant the grains when I asked you. You didn't help me harvest the wheat, or carry it to the mill, or take it back home again. You didn't even help me bake the matzah. So tell me, why should I share my Seder with the likes of you?" The Horse, Sheep and Dog hung their heads in shame.

The Little Red Hen was quiet too. "Now I should invite them to my Seder?" she thought. Then she remembered the words written in the Passover Haggadah: "Let all who are hungry come and eat." She looked at her friends and the Little Red Hen being the mensch that she is forgave them and invited them to come on in! So together the friends celebrated the holiday! Together they noshed on tasty matzah. And when the Seder was over who do you think had to wash all the dishes? If you don't know the answer to that question, ask your children they will tell you! This book is a must have! I love it!