Observe: The ethical role models of the Torah take at least an entire book to portray — Genesis. While one might ponder them one’s whole life, they demand no specific chunk of one’s life.
Observe: One short line. “Neither eat nor possess leaven.” The result? A big chunk of one’s life. Turmoil or tumult for weeks. “Making the Seder” . . . “Cleaning for Pesach.” Different dishes. Different foods. Different recipes. Keeping the kids occupied while cleaning — then keeping the kids away from the cleaned spots. Deciding: relatively mild romaine lettuce or burning hot horseradish root? If the root, buying it, or grinding it oneself? Redividing the house into zones based on their relative distance from the kitchen — then let the cleaning begin. Where to store the matzah in the meantime? Where to eat once the kitchen is ready for Pesach?
Oh yes, who to invite for the seder? How to engage the kids? Will it be nuts as the treat? chocolate? toy frogs? Which Haggadah to use? Did the kids make their own Haggadah? How much Hebrew? How much English? How late can the seder go and still retain the kids’ interest? Who gets to lean on the chair? For that matter, who leads the seder — father, grandfather, guest . . . no one? a free-for-all?
Back to the recipes. Are they handed down from generations past? Based on the latest Passover cook book? What substitutions are there, anyway, for leaven? Ooh! — what a boon for the gluten-free diet — all those wheat-free Passover products automatically lack gluten.
What’s with the macaroons, anyway? Nowhere in the Torah nor, for that matter, in the Ashkenazi or Sephardi tradition, are macaroons demanded for Pesach. Yet, here they are, year in and year out. Probably not because of what they are, but because of what they aren’t: leaven. Speaking of which, the newest addition to the Passover palate is quinoa, determined to be neither leaven nor those rapscallious legumes (kitniot). And matzah? Once, there was plain old matzah. No more. We have regular matzah, whole wheat matzah, spelt matzah, handmade matzah (made at Chanukah time, by the way), 18-minute matzah.
All to make one basic, exalted point: freedom under the sovereinty of G-d, the Liberator.
Actually, another point: family. This goes back to another short line that demanded the owners and offerers of the Pascal sacrifice be denominated in families. We wish you and your family a Happy Passover.
Copyright © 2016 by the Intermountain Jewish News
