The Passover: A Torah Study for Kids

A long, long time ago, there was a family that loved Yah — the Creator of everything. This family was called Israel, and their ancestor Abraham had received a special promise from Yah: "Your family will become a great nation, and I will always be with you."

But something happened. A terrible famine came to the land — that means there was no food anywhere. Abraham's great-grandson Joseph was living in Egypt at the time. Yah had given Joseph an amazing gift: he could understand dreams. Because of this gift, Joseph helped the king of Egypt prepare for the famine, and he saved everyone.

Joseph invited his whole family to come live in Egypt where there was food. They settled in a beautiful area called Goshen, and they were safe and happy for a long time.

But then... a new king came to power. A Pharaoh who didn't know anything about Joseph or how he had saved Egypt. This new Pharaoh looked at the Israelites — there were so many of them now! — and he got scared.

"What if they become more powerful than us?" Pharaoh said to his people. "What if they fight against us?"

So Pharaoh did something terrible. He made all the Israelites slaves. He forced them to make bricks out of mud and straw. He forced them to build cities for him. The work was so hard and so cruel. The people of Israel (Yasharal) cried out because of their suffering.

But the more Pharaoh hurt them, the more Yah's people grew in number. And that made Pharaoh even more angry and afraid.

Then Pharaoh made the cruelest command of all: "Every baby boy born to the Hebrew people must be thrown into the river."

Can you imagine how scared the mothers and fathers were?

But Yah had not forgotten His people. He had not forgotten the promise He made to Abraham. And He was about to do something that no one — not even the most powerful king on earth — could stop.

Can you think of a time when something seemed really scary, but someone came to help you?