PASSING PESSACH TRADITIONS TO THE NEXT GENERATION
As originally appeared in The Jerusalem Post on March 30, 2018.
“What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest
consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and
see Coca-Cola, and you can know that the President drinks Coke. Liz Taylor drinks
Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. ” – Andy Warhol
The Pessach holiday is about to begin and we need to put away the cleaning agents and pull out the Matza. One of the central commands on Seder night is to teach our children about the Jewish nation’s exodus from their slavery in Egypt. Passover is all about passing on our history and tradition from one generation to the next. Keep in mind that
the children of Israel left Egypt with great wealth. While we have our children’s attention now may be a good time to try and teach them about the value of money, and I don’t mean how much that Afikomen present is going to cost! I am not saying to spend time at the Seder and speak about money but maybe a good time to have the conversation is
during preparations for the holiday as we spend huge amounts of money. It might benefit us as well and help limit what we spend.
I know that I have written this before but I remember when I first arrived in New York for university. Here I was never having been on an airplane or having left the friendly confines of the Pacific Northwest. Shortly after my arrival I was talking to a New Yorker and mentioned something about the large vegetable garden that we had in Seattle. I will never forget the look he gave me, and his comment, “You actually grow vegetables? What do you live on a farm or something?” At least he was aware that vegetables don’t grow in a supermarket. Ask a young city child where milk comes from and he will answer you “from a store.”
Same thing holds true about money. Some kids think that money comes out of a wall at a local bank. It’s like magic. You put in a card, type in a code and presto- out comes cash!
Especially at this time of year, when there are radio ads saying why bother cleaning your car for Pessach when you can just buy a new one, we are all confronted with some very negative messages regarding money. Earlier this week I looked online at my bank account, and as soon as I logged in I was hit with an advertisement to take a loan for
Pessach. We are bombarded at this time of year that the more money you spend and the more you buy, the happier you will be. It’s for this reason, it is even more important for us to teach our children and remind ourselves about financial responsibility.
Hard work
True the Israelites left Egypt with great wealth but they worked as slaves for a very long time and earned that money as their wages. We need to stress to our kids that nothing comes for free. In our home over the last few days as we are in the no man’s land situation of having a kitchen that is Kosher for Pessach but no food to eat, we keep being
asked by our children if we can go out to a restaurant for dinner. To which our response is that if you help clean we will go out, if not, well there are always some bananas left to eat. Children, therefore, need to understand that our money is earned, not infinite, and should be used for positive purposes and to provide for our needs.
For this reason, the first thing to tell our children to do when they receive a gift is to give some of it (10%) to charity. This will help instill in them the need to help out those less fortunate and at an early age become active in their local community. Then, we should talk to them about saving. Nothing teaches a youngster about the value of money more
than making them pay for something. When it’s their money they tend to think twice about buying the latest cool gadget.
This holiday is centered on our children. Take a few minutes to teach them proper money habits.
Chag Sameach.
The information contained in this article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of Portfolio Resources Group, Inc. or its affiliates. Aaron Katsman is author of the book Retirement GPS: How to Navigate Your Way to A Secure Financial Future with Global Investing (McGraw-Hill), and is a licensed financial
professional both in the United States and Israel, and helps people who open investment accounts in the United States. Securities are offered through Portfolio Resources Group, Inc. (www.prginc.net). Member FINRA, SIPC, MSRB, FSI. For more information, call (02) 624-0995 visit www.aaronkatsman.com or email aaron@lighthousecapital.co.il.
