Four-year-old Diego Romero eyed the food of the Passover Seder in his classroom at Beth El Nursery School, made faces and signaled for his mother to join him.

It's not easy for a preschooler to embrace roasted eggs, or haroset, a brownish mixture of apples, nuts, grape juice and cinnamon. It's not easy for a 4-year-old to dip parsley into salt water and eat it.

"Everything on the table stands for something," teacher Fran Landay told a long table of nursery-age children Friday. She led them through a modified model Seder, which highlighted the songs, food and religious traditions of Passover, the celebration of the liberation of Israel from Egyptian slavery.

A favorite treat was unleavened bread, or matzo, dipped in dark chocolate and universally adopted by the 4-year-olds and adults.

Diego, who was born into a Catholic family but is learning Jewish faith traditions at a young age, wore a yarmulke, or skullcap, as he led an abbreviated traditional blessing of the candles and Kiddush cup to open the Passover Seder celebration for his nursery class.

He shared the responsibility with Poorvi Saxena, 4, of Green Tree, whose family comes from India and follows Hindu religious practices.

Both children symbolize the diversity, which is a hallmark of Beth El Nursery School, now in its 36th year of operation in Scott, just off Cochran Road.

"She is learning the traditions and I am learning them from her," said Poorvi's mother, Bhavna Saxena, who said the school invites parents to share their cultural differences. The school even produced a cookbook which is a cultural potpourri of kosher, Indian and standard American fare.

Beth El Nursery held its Passover events last week because it is closed from Monday until April 21, for the Passover break, said Linda E. Hewitt, nursery school director.

The Beth El Nursery is part of the Beth El Congregation of the South Hills, which has about 400 families.

About 25 percent of the children who attend the nursery school are Jewish, said Steve Hecht, executive director of Beth El Congregation of the South Hills.

He said the nursery school had developed a reputation as a welcoming place for people from many cultures and religious traditions.

Diego's mother, Stephanie Romero, said she and his father, Juan Romero, chose the school because they liked both the educational program, as well the new level of understanding it is bringing to Diego.

She said her husband's family is from Peru and her son is "bilingual already and he is learning Hebrew here."

"And I work in a Chinese restaurant," she joked, before turning serious about her thoughts regarding cultural diversity.

"If you expose children [to many cultures] at a young age, then you do not breed ignorance," Mrs. Romero said.

Many families who settled here from India are sending their children to the Beth El school because of its educational programs and cultural diversity, Asha Charan said. Mrs. Charan, of Green Tree, said she heard about the program from her neighbors at Carriage Park apartments in Scott and enrolled her daughter, Tanya, 4.

Mrs. Charan said she went to a Catholic convent school in India, where she learned about Christian traditions. She is happy to see her daughter learn about Jewish traditions because she wants her daughter to have "a broad outlook" as well.

"It suits us very well, "Mrs. Charan said.

Mrs. Hewitt said the nursery invited the parents to visit and participate in the modified Seder, where they had a chance to try traditional foods, including matzo ball soup.

The parents also learned about the traditions.

Teachers such as Mrs. Landay explained the concepts simply for the children:

The matzo is the bread that the Jews didn't have time to let rise.

The parsley is a sign of spring. It is dipped in salt water, which stands for the tears shed by the Jewish people.

Shailesh and Sangeeta Bokil, of Scott, who emigrated from India but are quick to say they are American citizens, have sent all three of their children to Beth El. Their youngest son, Suraj, is enrolled now. He said Christian and Jewish friends are amazed at their children's knowledge base.

"Our kids knew all the Jewish holidays and some of the songs," he said.

Janie Taraszewski, of Upper St. Clair, was especially pleased with how her son, Ryan, 6, fit in well there, even with his diagnosis of autism.

"This is an accepting community, tolerant of everyone's differences," Mrs. Taraszewski said. Her daughter, Shannon, 4, is in the school.

As a Catholic, she said, "it is neat learning about different faiths."

"And what is really neat is that everyone is accepted.''