...but doesn't it feel stressful when the ads on your blog are for PASTA!?
No, seriously, it does seem like the whole world is not with us during Pesach. Everywhere I go, everything I see, I am aware more than ever during the year that I am separate. We can't just stop for a snack...keeping Passover doesn't bother me. Eating chametz-free isn't the difficult part. It's figuring out how to keep it together in a world that isn't on break, doesn't remember or think about what we are thinking about.
This is when I miss living in Israel, when it really felt like the whole world was Jewish, the whole world revolved around me and my Pesadik needs...like my friend FrumeSarah, I too feel a bit of discontent at this time of the year.
I love Pesach. I love Jewish life.
I sometimes just wish it wasn't quite so hard.
And you know it must be when even the rabbi-mom says so.
What's your torah this week?
6 comments:
Ugh, I sympathize completely! My roommates spent two hours today watching Rachel Ray explain how to cook pasta on Food Network, and somebody in my theater class offered to buy me a bagel. (Granted, that's not nearly as bad as the year my friends ate Chinese food in my room on Yom Kippur, but it was still a little annoying.) Nonetheless, Pesach is my favorite holiday, so I'm just taking it all in a good humor. After all, we get the last laugh with regards to food: matzah balls.
At the risk of sounding simplistic: come home! Here in Israel it starts to feel like Pesach is coming weeks before. Suddenly there are sales of dishes, pots and pans, tablecloths. The supermarkets put up their displays. And today, in the supermarkets (with the exception of the one non-kosher supermarket chain that has few stores), all chametz is covered by paper and/or cloth so that even the foreign workers are not buying things that are not kosher for Passover. Throughout the country there is free admission to museums and national parks and activities everywhere for children. Come home!
i have two young daughters with celiac disease, which means no gluten - think passover without matzoh! for us it's much more than a week.
i actually find pesach a delight, because it means we can eat more safely, easier, than we do all the rest of the year.
here it can feel isolating too. I send hubby to store for passover stuff(even more interesting as he is *NOT* jewish :) ) and he can find matzoh and some of the basic staples. But the ENTIRE passover section is a little 4 sided free standing display stand. that's it. My mom said "did you get any egg matzoh?" and i said - umm.. you actually think there was that option??? :) (it's times like these, and ONLY these that make me miss NY)
What must have been hard was the exodus from Egypt. The hardships in the desert. Learning to rely on God to provide... This is easy and it gives us a chance to imagine what difficult is... I love everything about Pesach except that popcorn is not allowed. So I just skip movies for a week...
to kat -- yes, i agree, maztah balls make it all worthwhile:-)
to rona - yes, i know...i know...i knew i was opening myself up to this comment and on some levels YOU'RE RIGHT! maybe someday....
to kyrie - you know, i've seen spelt matzah...
to ilana - it's funny that you miss new york...for the egg matzah!
and dad...very wise answer. you should be the dad of a rabbi!
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