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When I was a kid, preparation for Pesach always seemed to be an all-consuming labor that drained everyone (especially the women who were tasked with much of the work) and then when yom tov arrived, it seemed like a yiddeshe version of Lent in terms of the denial of so much of the food we loved and a focus on potatoes in all possible preparations. Today, the world has changed. Those who can afford it, simply lock up and head for one of seemingly dozens of high end resorts offering glatt kosher means for the eight days and your choice of spa-like facilities, golf etc. when you are not attending on-site shiiurim and minyanim. Those of us who stay at home for the yom tov, for either financial or traditional reasons, now have the choice of just about any food that has now been concocted in in a kosher for peseach version (although its edibility may sometimes be challenging). In simple terms, has Peseach morphed from what it meant to our grandparent in then Alte Heim. Is something missing as a result of a more affluent tzibur and new food preparation technology?
Yes and no. We still do not buy many of the “new” foods that are produced for these 8 days. Do I really have to be fleishigs from breakfast on like my mother was as my grandmother fried the breakfast matza brei in shmaltz? I don’t think so. Yes, food wise, pesach is definitely easier then previous generations but many hold on to certain chumros (those who don’t eat garlic, or unpeeled fruit). While I do eat gebrokts I only use shmura matza and most gebrokts products are made from non-shmura matza.
Godolhadorah: Are you sure you aren’t an alter-ego of mine??
HAHAHAHAAHHA
OH WAIT.
Are you serious?
Oh you are….
Thousands of women put so much pressure on themselves to clean everything, even things that halachicly DO NOT NEED TO BE CLEANED. Areas which chometz does not usually enter, cleaning out the cracks between the tile, chandelier, lights, and opening and shaking thousands of books FOR NO REASON.And you say it’s easier?
The world is dumber now when it comes to Torah and halacha, so I think it equalizes out all the modern day food.Oh, and not the entire population can afford buying pesach out BTW.
easier? no way!
I’m in my mid 60s. My grandparents and great grandparents were born in the USA, not the alte heim. My paternal grandmother never made Pesach in her life. By the time my great grandmother no longer was able to make Pesach my grandparents came to my parents for the entire holiday. Mrs. CTL and I have hosted the entire clan for the past 25 years. We do not buy any prepared foods.
We taught our children they can live without the extras for a week and experience some of the deprivation those enslaved and then freed from bondage in Mitzraim endured.
We eat many simple meals during Pesach, green salads, with protein, stews, fresh fruit for dessert and almost no baked goods.My greatgrandparents in the Alte Heim had extreme poverty, pogroms and very small living quarters to clean. So, please don’t romanticize their life and Pesach.
They also didn’t have refrigerators, which makes Pesach easier so make sure you turn yours off for Pesach.
When I was in elementary school we had to write up a family history report. Part of the report was supposed to be interviews with grandparents/great-grandparents. Our teacher was telling us that we’d be surprised at how hard they worked at our age.
I asked my great-grandmother how their pesach cleaning went. She said a few days before pesach her father would hire a crew of five people to clean their house for them. She didn’t have to do any of the work.
Based on how worn out I am from my cleaning right now I’d say we are certainly not making pesach too easy. Yes, there are a lot of products on the market today but most women these days work out of the house and have less outside help since help became far more expensive. Before Pesach most cleaning ladies will charge extra since they know they’ll have people desperate enough to take them whatever they charge.
The fundamentals (mitzvos) of Pesach are matzah, marror, and recalling the story of Exodus. If the modern conveniences of 2018 allow me to perform the objects of Pesach easier and with better ability, then I’m all for it. Sadly, many struggle with those mitzvos. Am I jealous that the cleaning lady does the heavy parts of cleaning the home?– No. Am I jealous that the Jews of yesteryear had to prepare gefilte fish from scratch for many hours in the bath tub(and I can just purchase an $2.99 OU-P jar of gefilte Fish)?– No
I fail to see why convenience is a problem. How does undergoing weeks of unnecessary agmas nefesh make me a better yid? If I can come into pesach happy and well rested, instead of overworked and miserable, isn’t that better?
While this sort of question often pops up regarding Pesach, one could arguably ask similarly about many mitzvot.
Ready tied tzitzit is a convenience as are pre-checked vegetables, kosher slaughtered fowl/meat, having one’s own lulav/esrog, a short distance to walk to shul on Shabbos/Yom Tov, library of seforim for learning at home, etc.
I think the bottom line is deciding what effect greater effort or inconvenience would have on one’s experience. For some, when things are too easy they feel that something is lacking, while others may either not share that feeling or worry that those very conveniences mitigate against the not fulfilling the mitzvah properly.
It’s not so easy for everyone. There are many different minhagim and Chumros. For example, in Lubavitch, we don’t eat Gebrokts, only use hand made shmurah matza (obviously) don’t use many spices and herbs, only eat peeled fruit and vegetables, anything that can’t be peeled isn’t used, and we don’t buy any processed foods, with the exception of Matzah, Wine, Salt, Sugar (some boil it) and some use out, while others only use Shmaltz.
So anything we eat was 100% prepared by us, all out of raw ingredients. We don’t even buy potato starch.
(Preempting the questions, of course there are some Lubavitchers who aren’t careful with these Minhagim, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is Lubavitch minhag, and kept by the vast majority. Also, any Pesach hotel that advertises “All Chabad Chumros” is an oxymoron.
Being a single person who lost his wife around 8 years ago, I don’t think we made Pesach too easy. I think that we made Chanukah too easy. We have the the oil containers ready made. We get a reward on this world for the preparation for a mitzvah.
The assumption here is that if something is too easy people will forget, however people forget if something is too hard many people will give up in desperation
People who don’t know I will describe what it took in Europe to get a chicken to the table. First we went to the market to buy a live chicken. Then we went to the shochat. Afterwards we had to pluck it and get the hairs off with hot water. Next we kashered it and cooked it.
laskern, unless I am mistaken does one receive a bigger mitzvah because he spent more time and effort preparing for it? Because, if that’s the case with the channuka menorah- you should be planting the olive trees, picking them, squeezing them into oil, and pouring it in menorah cups with cotton wicks which you also planted and picked. With matzah, you’ll be in the fields for months preparing the harvest, then making the dough, and baking them yourselves.
@Gadol,
I’m not sure I understand the question.Where in hilchos pesach is it taught that we are supposed to deprive ourselves? These “conveniences” may actually increase simchas yom tov.
It depends. I make a much easier Pesach now…my kids aren’t anywhere near us, they are not coming for Pesach, so my husband & I do all the cleaning. Spring cleaning is not necessary. Dust is unpleasant but it isn’t chometz. If I find a bread roll in my sweater drawer, then I have a problem. I think it is much harder for mothers of young children to keep a more chometz-free environment.
That said, I make EVERYTHING from scratch – even a basic tomato sauce that I can use with fish , meat or chicken; mayonnaise; ice cream etc. But we do not use anything processed except kosher salt, potato starch, cocoa & oil. No milchigs. Only peeled fruits and vegetables. No spices. So for me, it is still hard work.
Wishing everyone a wonderful Yom Tov, chag kosher v’sameach & ladies… don’t stress & work yourselves so hard you can’t enjoy the seder/sedarim.
TGIShabbos, you know the expression לא נתן תורה למלאכי השרת the Torah was not given to angels. We are required to do only what we can.
TGIShabbos, I currently set up the Menorah with wicks and oil. We are not expected to do what we cannot. Maybe we should make our own Tefilin and plant our own lulav?
I remember to get milk for Pesach, we took a pale to the farmer to milk the cow in front of us.
Fantastic news!
I am offering service to make your Pesach more difficult!
I have three different packages:
the basic package we will hide 10 pieces of chametz for you making it very difficult to findwith our mehadrin package we will send someone to your house every day until Pesach to spread chametz in all the rooms you have already cleaned.
For the Mehadrin min hamehadrin package, t ensure nobody accuses you of chas vesholam having had an easy Pesach we will come by daily Make all your Pesach dishes chametz throw at any food you may have prepared.
Lets make Pesach hard again!the sad think is, I’m afraid I might get some customers
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