Jews have always hoped that telling the stories of the past would shape the lives of our children; we have always insisted on the immediacy of our national experiences in the lives of the individual

It is certainly more convenient to post a quick sentence or two of condolence on the mourner's Facebook Wall, but that shouldn't preclude us from performing the tradition acts of comforting the mourners.

The Pilgrims, a band of Protestant outcasts, saw themselves as fulfilling this biblical story. In coming to the New World, they, too, had to cross a tumultuous sea, arrive in an untested wilderness and create a new "Promised Land."

What lessons of faith would I pass on to my three-year-old twin daughters? My new book, The Council of Dads, includes a Father's Four Lessons of Faith for my daughters.

You, too, can be a seder know-it-all. Herewith are selected seder talking points to help you steer your Passover conversation away from the same tired jokes about matzah and constipation.