AFTER PASSOVER, MOVING ON

I find the last day of Passover bittersweet. Passover, undeniably, is my favorite holiday. I look forward to seder with family and friends and to the foods that we only eat once a year. I find the theme of freedom and equity to be particularly significant. And, Passover reminds me of relatives long gone who I celebrated many Passover seders with. Finally, Passover reminds me of Israel and it is the most glorious time of the year there and everybody is on vacation. In Israel, the end of Passover means returning to the daily grind, like the end of summer vacation or winter break here in the States.

Strangely enough, I don’t miss bread or pasta or any sort of chametz (leavened products) during Passover. I attribute it to a few things. First, I don’t consider the Pesach restrictions to be a burden. Ideology goes a long way to making restrictions palatable, no pun intended. Secondly, I enjoy some of the Passover-specific foods in particular, perhaps, because I know that I’ll only be eating them for a limited time and I find it a challenge to make creative meals during the holiday.

Lastly, I like the idea of the Jewish community, worldwide, celebrating the holiday together. This year, the confluence of Passover, Easter and Ramadan gave a unique sense of community and emphasized how much our traditions really have in common. We had two Muslim friends to our second-night seder and I rather enjoyed having to wait until after their fast to eat. It reminded me how large the community really is.

Thankfully, this Passover, we don’t need to fully say good-bye to the holiday quite yet. The Beth Chai seder is Sunday night and it is always a highlight of the year. I hope that you will come – it is going be so nice to be together as a community after two years of Zoom seders. It is not too late to Register!

And, in fact, Passover never really had a definitive “stop.” Being on the second night of Passover, traditional Jewish practice teaches to begin counting towards Shavuot, the next major holiday. It is called “counting the omer” and lasts for 50 days. Whereas Passover relives the legend of the Biblical Exodus, Shavuot celebrates the Sinai experience. By counting, though, we connect the two holidays and emphasize that Judaism focuses on cycles and continual Jewish identity and living. We might say goodbye to Passover, but we don’t enter a void. We just move forward in Jewish life.

I hope that you can have a wonderful Passover and that I see you on Sunday night. I’m going to include a suggestion list for Earth Day below to share with kids at home.