Pesach is personal

RABBI YOSSY GOLDMAN

 SYDENHAM HIGHLANDS NORTH SHUL

 Pesach is such an interesting Yomtov. While the basic observances are pretty much universal, everybody seems to have their own unique way of celebrating.

Each family has its own distinct traditions and customs handed down from generation to generation. Whether it’s how to do lose or find the Afikoman, or which are our favourite seder songs, we all seem to have very definite views of how things ought to be done.  

And sometimes our personal Pesach practices can be pretty outlandish too. Take the woman who does not actually keep kosher all year round but come Pesach and she “changes over”. Does that make sense, or is it absurd? Is it logical? Not really.

But who am I to be dismissive of a Jew’s desire to connect to Hashem and keep a mitzvah? I can only hope she will change over permanently and keep kosher the rest of the year too.

The fact is that, historically, most families were stricter on Pesach than the rest of the year. The most religiously observant people had stringencies on Pesach that they never kept during the year.

When I was growing up in Brookly, we never ate out on Pesach; even at our most frum friends, even people we ate at throughout the year on Shabbos or Yomtov. But never on Pesach.

Why not? Well, I suppose it was because every family has its own hidurim, stringencies they observe on Pesach. This one does this and the other does that. This fellow won’t eat this product and the other doesn’t touch that vegetable and we all respected each other’s right to be “meshugga frum” on Pesach.

But why?

There are two basic reasons behind this special scrupulousness on Pesach. One is practical and the other is halachic and somewhat technical.  

Practically speaking we need to be stricter and take additional precautions on Pesach because foods that are perfectly kosher a whole year, are for this one week strictly forbidden. Bread and biscuits, chocolate cake and kitka, pizza and pasta, wafers and whisky may be 100 per cent kosher and deliciously edible every week of the year, but during the one week of Pesach these very same foods become absolutely treif!  

We could easily make an innocent mistake and take a bite of any of these foods were they available and within easy reach. So we make sure the house is thoroughly cleaned up and all chametz is locked away so that no innocent errors can be made, even inadvertently.

Then there is the halachic reason. You may have heard of the concept of “botul b’shishim”. This a principle of kashrut which means that there are times when, for example, a small amount of milk becomes mixed into a larger amount of meat and the milk will be overwhelmed and “nullified” by the meat and the usually forbidden mixture may still be kosher. I hasten to add that these questions must be answered by a qualified rabbi only!

So, say you are preparing Shabbos and your domestic chef slips on a banana peel and accidentally spills her milk tea into your pot of chicken soup… Do not throw out the soup! Call your rabbi. Depending on the circumstances he may be able to help and save your Friday night dinner from disaster.

You know the story of Tevye der Milchiger? He was the milkman in the shtetl. Well, one day, the unthinkable happened and the caterer was preparing a wedding feast and one of his workers indeed slipped on the proverbial banana peel and his milk tea went flying into the vat of meat on the fire.

Can you imagine the calamity if there would be no dinner for the hundreds of hungry wedding guests? So the rav of the shtetl was called in to deal with this most serious halachic question, a very grave shaaloh indeed.

The wise old rav called in Tevye the Milkman to his private study. He closed the door tightly and whispered into the milkman’s ear.

“Tevye, tell me the truth, how much water do you pour into your milk?”

“Rebbe, you would accuse me of cheating my customers?!”

“Tevye, it’s just me and you here behind closed doors. Please, it’s very important that I know. How much water?”

“Rebbe, efsher ah bissel” (“Maybe only a little”).

“Tevye, I beg of you, your secret is safe with me. Please tell me the truth. How much water do you add in to your milk?”

What should I tell you? By the time the rav extracted the whole truth from Tevye he was satisfied that the meat for the wedding was not only strictly kosher but that Tevye’s milk was probably parev!

But on Pesach, you see, the kashrut concept of Bittul- nullification – does not apply. Chametz is such a strict prohibition that it can never be overwhelmed; no matter how big the pot may be. Even an infinitesimal iota of chametz will render the biggest pot of Pesachdik food absolutely forbidden.

So we must be as stringent as possible to keep even the smallest piece of chametz far and away from us and our families. Hence, our extreme strictness on Pesach.

Some people ask why we need so many “kosher for Passover” products today when in the good old days we never had all those options on our menu and it was just fine.

Other people insist on every convenience over Pesach to make it more enjoyable. Still others will go to a beautiful hotel, here or in Israel, where every luxury is laid on and it is truly their “Festival of Freedom”.

To each our own. Whether it is our unique childhood memories of fathers or zaides conducting a traditional seder, or the seder songs of our youth that still ignite our neshamas, the dedication to Pesach is alive in Jewish hearts.

Indeed, so should it be for the festival that celebrates the very birth of our nation.

So while it may be our national birthday and the very beginning of Jewish peoplehood, Pesach is also a very personal Yomtov, and we each celebrate it in our own unique ways and styles, with our own special memories and even our own curious idiosyncrasies as well.

Chag Kosher vSameach.