A GOOD PESACH TO YOU!

The one thing you can do to deepen your experience of Passover - and it's not that hard - not hard at all - but it's very meaningful - when you actually do it...

- Well, let me backtrack for a second.  Many Jews think that Passover is a one-night holiday.  You have the Seder - which just about everyone loves - and then, when it's over, that's it - 'til next year.

Actually, that's not how it goes.  Passover is, believe it or not, a (seven or) eight-day holiday (depends on which branch and whether you're in Israel or not). 

And guess what? - you can really, really deepen your experience of Judaism by actually doing a simple form of observance for Passover - for the whole seven or eight-day period. 

Just get rid of the bread in your house - and the cookies and cakes and pasta and cereal and taco chips - and "keep Pesach" by eating only pretty-much-Passover-ok foods - that don't have leaven in them - like foods made with matzoh meal.  Also perfectly good are fruits and general veggies and green salads.  Carrots and cucumbers and scallions are fine.  Broccoli, potatoes and spinach and asparagas are fine.  And the usual meats and fishes and dairy products - all fine.  Even potato chips are ok!  But the one thing you you're not going to eat - not going to bring into your home - for just seven or eight short little days - is leavened products - bread, crackers, cakes, cookies, pasta, pancakes, cereals.

We are sooooo spoiled in this country.  We eat so well, so lavishly, so deliciously and so much! - every day!  This is the one week a year when we are told that every Jew must consider himself as having been a slave in Egypt.  It's actually a wonderful thing to join in the observance of this holiday by "depriving" yourself for a week (and a day) of the things you take for granted the rest of the year. 

Now it's not as though you're going to starve - or suffer - or be miserable - in the slightest!  You'll eat great! - because there are loads of fresh, good foods that are perfectly ok for Passover - and there are loads of truly delicious products out there just made for Passover consumption. 

I usually find that Passover ends too soon! - before I've had a chance to eat all the goodies I planned on - was looking forward to - because the week goes by so fast.  

I started doing this years ago - before I was familiar with other religious practices - when I ran into a friend of a friend on the street.  It was springtime and somehow we got onto the subject of Passover - and she happened to mention that she always gets rid of the bread in her house for that week and never eats any bread-type products for the week.  And I thought, That's not so hard - I could actually do that.  And so I started doing it.  And I was amazed at how meaningful it made the holiday.  It changed everything.  Suddenly the holiday took on a new depth and meaning I hadn't anticipated.  And it gave me a sense of being at one with the Jewish People who were also "depriving" themselves during the week.  And I liked that - in fact I loved truly being part of the Jewish People and their - our - observance of Pesach.  So I got into it a bit more the next year.  

Now I have my routine all set up.  I make a batch of chopped liver - fabulous on matzoh - to start.  With a tomato and a slice of fresh green pepper, perfect for lunch - lasts several days.  And I make poached chicken breasts with matzoh balls and carrots and fresh zucchini and dill - that's for dinner - lasts for several nights.  And of course there's matzoh brie in the mornings - or just plain buttered matzoh - which is actually delicious. 

There you go - the week's almost taken care of with those three or four dishes!  And yet there's so much more to enjoy. 

This is deprivation?!  It's so great!  It's fun! - and just a bit challenging. Try it - you'll like it I'll bet and you'll probably want to do even more next year - I'll betcha anything. 

Let us know!... 

Shimon Apisdorf - an excellent writer of really helpful books about Jewish practices and Jewish basics - sent us this lovely piece for Pesach: 

An American Dayenu

© Shimon Apisdorf    

Had He spared us from the flames of European death

   camps, but not brought us to America—

   Dayenu—this would have been enough.

Had He brought us to America, but not granted us

   freedom of speech—

   Dayenu—this would have been enough.

Had He granted us freedom of speech,

   but not granted us freedom of religion—

   Dayenu—this would have been enough.

Had He granted us freedom of religion,

   but not granted us the freedom to study our Torah—

   Dayenu—this would have been enough.

Had He granted us the freedom to study our Torah,

   but not granted us the freedom of to build

   synagogues, day schools, and yeshivot—

   Dayenu—this would have been enough.

Had He granted us the freedom to build synagogues,

   day schools, and yeshivot, but not granted us the

   freedom to attend Harvard and Yale —  

   Dayenu—this would have been enough.

Had He granted us the freedom to attend Harvard and

   Yale, but not granted us the freedom to create AIPAC,

   the UJC, and birthright Israel—

   Dayenu—this would have been enough.

Had He granted us the freedom to create AIPAC,

   the UJC, and birthright Israel,

   but not granted us the freedom to run for President--

   Dayenu—this would have been enough.

Had He granted us the freedom to run for President,

   but not granted us the freedom to enjoy a kosher

   milkshake at Baskin-Robbins—

   Dayenu—this would have been enough.

Had He granted us the freedom to enjoy a kosher

   milkshake at Baskin-Robbins, but not granted us

   the freedom to have kosher hot dog stands at

   baseball stadiums—

   Dayenu—this would have been enough.

Had He granted us the freedom to have kosher hot dog

   stands at baseball stadiums, but not granted us the

   freedom to gather in our homes for the Passover Seder—

   Dayenu—this would have been enough.

Had He granted us the freedom to gather in our homes

   for the Passover Seder, but not granted us the freedom

   to teach our children how fortunate they are to be Jews,

   and Americans—

   Dayenu— this would have been enough.

Had He granted us the freedom to teach our children how

   fortunate they are to be Jews, and Americans,

   but not granted us the freedom to send packages of

   matzah and macaroons to Jewish soldiers serving in Iraq—

   Dayenu—this would have been enough.

Had He granted us the freedom to send packages of

   matzah and macaroons to Jewish soldiers serving in Iraq,

   but not granted my daughter the opportunity to include

   a personal note in five hundred of those packages—

   Dayenu—this would have been enough.

But He did grant us all of those freedoms, and this is what

   my daughter’s note said—

“To our troops fighting in Iraq: At Passover, when we

celebrate our ancestors’ freedom from slavery in Egypt,

we feel we must thank you, with our whole hearts,

for fighting to secure our freedom here in the United

States.”

Dayenu.

Shimon Apisdorf is the Educational Director of the Jewish Literacy Foundation. His newest book is Judaism In A Nutshell: Passover.

Shimon@jewishliteracy.org