Four uestions,
One final Answer
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer
Mr
song, which many
times includes the
word "hail," they sang
words rewritten to
refer to the plague of
the same name. Such
lyrics as "Hail to the
victor's valiant"
became "Hail fell on
Egypt land ... "
"This year, I decid-
ed to take advantage
of the popularity of
the Millionaire show
and use it, in part, to
fulfill the command-
ment of telling the
Judge Stephen Cooper
story of the Exodus
from Egypt."
Guests at his seder may be requested to
answer multiple-choice queries on subjects
ranging from the Ten Plagues to seder ques-
tions to general areas such as: "Which of
the following groups of people will not be
celebrating a seder tonight?" Choices will
include celebrity names and Arabic leaders.
"I tried to include enough questions to
make it fun and educational for everyone,"
hen Stephen C. Cooper aban-
dons the robe of a Southfield
46th District Court judge for a
solid-colored matching shirt
and tie, guests at his Passover seder will
know what's coming next.
He'll launch into a Passover version of
Regis Philbin's hit TV show, Who Wants To
Be A Millionaire? With a series of questions
and answers geared to various ages and edu-
cation levels, he hopes his "Who Wants to
Go From Slave to Millionaire?" will include
everyone in an entertaining manner.
"The whole purpose of the seder is to tell
about the Exodus from Egypt," says Rabbi
Joshua Bennett of Temple Israel, where
Cooper is a member.
"Over the centuries, the rabbis developed
many teaching techniques," Rabbi Bennett
says. For example, the Four Questions put
children in the spotlight, and the search for
the afikomen (piece of matzah eaten as
dessert) includes everyone.
"When the MTV generation's attention
spans are reduced, the parents and grand-
he said. The format can be changed depend-
parents must look for additional teaching
ing on the crowd.
techniques to maintain their interest and
Cooper says if you have the courage, add
convey the material."
your own questions, such as "Who makes
Cooper, who lives in Southfield, tries
the best matzah ball soup?" or "Who slept
new ideas each Passover, including pre-
through last year's seder?"
assigning musical "parts" to his children by
While the game is meant to elicit
sending them tapes to practice and telling
thought and to .
the Passover story to
educate, some
young guests with
humor is thrown
the help of a hand-
in to supplement
puppet.
Judge Stephen Cooper's instructions for play-
the seder as a
One year, he says,
ing "Millionaire":
jumping-off point
"We had a dozen
• No actual prizes or money is awarded for
for discussion.
kids join us from
anything other than finding the afikomen.
"One of the
the University of
• Call upon various people around the table to
most cherished
Michigan and, in
answer one question each.
compliments I
the midst of dis-
Remember,
we
are
all
family
and
friends
•
have ever received
cussing the plagues,
here
and
we
all
will
work
together.
was
when one of
everyone was asked
• Lifelines:
my adult nieces
to stand and sing
50150: You can eliminate two answers.
told me she could-
about the seventh
Ask
a Friend: Pick any person at your seder to
n't understand
plague." To the tune
ask.
why her friends
of the U-M fight
Rules Of The Game
Poll the Seder: Ask for a show of hands of
those at the seder.
• If the game drags on, limit lifelines.
• Whatever amount is won must be converted
into good wishes
for all to share this year.
For a copy of Judge Stephen
Cooper's "Who Wants to Go
From Slave to Millionaire?" access
the Jewish News Web site at:
wvvw. detro itjewishnews. corn
Judge Cooper also suggests access-
ing the following Passover Web
sites for further holiday ideas:
http://www.holidays.net/passover
passover.net
pesach.com
http://www.jewish.com/passover
Sample Questions
1. Mel, in the days of the great
Temple in Israel, designed the original
"sandwich" to fulfill the commandment
in the Torah to eat certain things togeth-
er. Which of the following are not
included in the "Hillel" we eat in our
seder:
A. matzah
B. bitter herbs
C. honey
D. charoset
2. The name of the person who led
the Jews out of bondage and into the
Promised Land was:
A. Lieberman
B. Dubya
C. Moses
D. lzzo
3. Joseph was the 'Alan Greenspan" of
his time. He became an important advis-
er to the pharoah:
A. To save Social Security by putting it
in a lock-box
B. To win the wat on drugs
C. To break up Egypt's largest pyra-
mid monopoly into separate stock offer-
ings
D. To store food in case of famine