Pesach

Each year Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur bring Jews to synagogue in numbers unseen the rest of the year. Still, the holiday with the biggest draw is Passover, specifically, the Passover seder which is celebrated in the home (though some synagogues host sedarim. There is also a long-standing American tradition of celebrating Passover in hotels and resorts where the many details of Passover can be handed over to a Rabbinically supervised staff). 

Why does the Passover seder have such a compelling appeal across the range of Jewish observance? Unlike the High Holidays, the seder is a home ritual. The authority of the seder can be based in Jewish law, but it is always based on the webs of family, community and friendship circles. It is a playful, if sometimes contested, assertion of the particulars of Jewish identity.

The Order of the Seder is fixed. This outline offers an outline that can be observed with meticulous adherence to Jewish law or edited to augment or override Jewish law. Different traditional communities have their own particular traditions and cuisines. Ashkenazi matzo balls and Sephardic style haroset are examples of very distinctive expressions of identity that define differences in ethnicity rather than differences of observance. 

The vast array of Haggadot testify to the degree to which Jews have desired to make their seder experience individualized. This has been done through the inclusion of different commentaries and/or through the addition of illustrations. There are haggadah manuscripts with illustrations and, among Hebrew printed books, the earliest example with illustrations is the Prague Haggadah from 1516. (Versions of the illustrations from that haggadah turn up in new haggadot to this day.) 

Beginning in the 20th Century, haggadot began to appear that served the Reform and Conservative movement. Later, other Jewish movements began to create their own haggadot. Secular Jews adopted the format of the seder and the haggadah as ways to express their own relationship to their Jewish heritage. Early examples of this are the haggadot for the Third Seder that were produced by the Workmen’s Circle and the vast array of Kibbutz haggadot that were used at the secular sedarim that were a highlight of the kibbutz calendar.There are even minimalist Haggadot for those who want a seder inflected meal rather than a full seder. There are haggadot that seek to give contemporary relevance to the seder by focusing not on the exodus from Egypt but on modern issues like the Holocaust, Israel, Soviet Jewry, Social Justice or the environment. 

As a result of this abundance of variation it is easy for the traditional and Halakhic (according to Jewish Law) details of the seder and of Passover observance to be outside of many Jews’ experience. The expectations that people have of rabbis today are manifold. The rabbi should be a scholar, a teacher, a social worker, a therapist, a vocalist, a guitar player, a political leader, involved with Israel in one war or another, a charismatic public speaker, a guru, etc. etc. But in the old days there was a lot less expected by the public. Rabbis were there for marriage, divorce, conversion and burials - and two sermons a year, one between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to urge you on to atone for your since before the closing of the gates at the Neilah service on Yom Kippur afternoon, and another on the Shabbat before Passover to explain the Halakhah of Passover. 

Why was this a moment when it was so important for the Rabbi to involve himself (a reference to a time rather than a judgement about who should be a rabbi) in the life of the entire community? Because under Torah law, one who fails to observe the Halakhah about avoiding Chametz would be punished with Karet, which can mean early death. The rest of the year the rabbi was on the beach as a lifeguard. On the Shabbat before Pesach the rabbi was there to let you know there was a shark out there and you should stay out of the water. This was the role of the rabbi in a place and time where everyone believed that Torah law was binding upon them. This is not true today, and I know that many people who might be reading this feel no obligation towards Torah law and have no fear of Divine punishment. Nevertheless, this traditional understanding is the foundation for all traditional and all heterodox observances at the seder and on Passover. 

As a rabbi, I feel bound to accept certain traditional rabbinic roles. One of those is the explanation of the Halakhah related to Passover. I believe that, regardless of one's particular Jewish theology, it is important that Jews know their traditions. Our customs are bound up in our heritage as a people who have valued and struggled to follow Jewish Law. Customs and Jewish Law change over time, but the effect of the many upheavals and fundamental changes in our daily lives, languages and technologies don’t erase the entirety of our tradition. Rather they change them piecemeal and gradually. Understanding the core of our Passover traditions allows us to properly understand the way that we adapt, alter, maintain (or erase) elements from the core of the tradition.

The sources for Passover observance come from the Torah itself.There are three things that we are supposed to do on Passover:

1. Get rid of all leavened products by the 14th of the month of Nissan.
2. Eat Matzo on the first night of Passover
3. Tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt on the first night.

There is a certain rabbi who called in a journalist to report on a sermon that he gave telling his congregation that there was no proof of the Exodus from Egypt. He was right, there is no evidence beyond the Torah of the Exodus. However, we do not even need to discuss this issue. The Exodus is our story as a people. Whether it is the word of God word for word or just our mythology, it is the foundation of our identity as a people. We can never omit it from the Haggadah, because if we do we unmoor any aspect of the Haggadah and the seder as a moment where we make meaning of our identity as Jews. 

There are five things that we are NOT supposed to do on Passover:

1. Not eat Chametz after noon on the 14th day of Nissan
2. Not eat Chametz all seven (or eight) days of Passover
3. Not to eat mixed dishes including Chametz on seven (or eight) days of Passover
4. Not to see Chametz (in our houses) for the entirety of Passover,
5. Not to have any Chametz (in our houses) for the entirety of Passover

Each of these five points follow specific Torah verses. When Torah comes back to a point five times in different ways we know that Torah means business. 

If we compare Torah’s concern with Chametz (and the commentators' explanation of that concern) with Kashrut, we see that avoiding Chametz on Passover has even higher standards than Kashrut observance. If you are able to attend any seder you should be able to do what you are required to do on Passover outside of the requirements related to getting rid of and avoiding Chametz. The Orthodox Union and other orthodox organizations will have web resources that will explain in detail how to deal with all of the prohibitions related to Chametz and how to clean one’s house (domain). There may also be some resources prepared by the Conservative movement. There is no real difference in regard to the Halakhah between the Conservative movement and Orthodox Halakhah. 

Chametz can be only the products of the grains wheat, spelt, barley, oats and rye. It is the custom of Ashkenazi Jews not to eat rice and beans. Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews eat rice and beans on Passover. The Conservative movement has ruled that it is acceptable to follow the Sephardi/Mizrahi custom particularly in homes with mixed marriages of Ashkenazi and Sephardi/Mizrahi couples (in the interest of Shalom Bayis - good relations between married couples). One should follow the custom that one grew up with if there is no conflict. If you are invited to the house of someone who follows a custom other than your own, I hold that one should follow the custom of your host at the seder without critical comment. Rice and beans (Kitniyot) are forbidden only by custom and not by any Torah law. 

To completely rid oneself of Chametz is very challenging and can be burdensome. To go without Chametz for a week or more is a dietary challenge. Like Kashrut observance, the awareness of what you eat as a discipline has a value beyond the observance of Torah law. I see merit in just doing more than you have done in previous years. One simple way to do this is by eating your meals at home or preparing the meals you eat outside of your home at home. The easiest way to get rid of Chametz is to just pull out everything and put it in some boxes. (Look at the ingredients on prepared foods). You can give the Chametzadik foods to a food kitchen or sell them symbolically. (Contact one of the larger synagogues in your area or find someone online who buys Chametz). If you sell Chametz just set aside and cover it so that it can’t be seen. On the morning before the Seder you can do the ceremony of Bedikat Chametz, searching for Chametz. You find whatever small pieces of Chametz that you have missed and burn that Chametz. By doing this you nullify the existence of whatever you have missed. These ways of dealing with Chametz should alleviate your anxiety that you might be “doing it wrong.”

However, as I mentioned above, just trying a little harder to observe the Mitzvot related to Passover is a worthwhile practice. Regardless of your theology or relationship to observance, Passover should be a time of heightened awareness and understanding of your relationship to your Jewishness and your role as a member of the Jewish people. Passover is the festival of our freedom. (By freedom, I always mean liberation, not license.) Following all of the restrictions around Chametz can seem burdensome rather than liberating. Particularly if you have not tried to be observant in the past, making the holiday unpleasant for yourself is not helpful. Do what you can. Passover, and specifically the evening of the seder is a time when we are said to be under God’s watchful eye, passed over from all harm. May you find meaning in joy in your celebration of Passover this year.  


Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameyakh,
 

Rabbi Henry Hollander