10 Steps to Your Successful Passover
Ah Passover! The delightful holiday that has spawned thousands of years of holy traditions, more questions than answers, entire cookbooks and of course more family disputes than you could ever record.
It seems that everyone has their own idea of what Passover should look like, so lets get back to the basics so you can spend your Passover singing and laughing, instead of bickering over who gets to recite the Ma Nishtana.
1. Spring Cleaning
“Dust isn’t Chametz (leaven) and your kids aren’t the Paschal sacrifice.” - exhausted dads
While a good cleaning is great for the home, Passover isn’t about having a clean house, in fact after all your preparations, you’ll be forgiven for thinking your house just went through a tornado.
Passover is about no leaven products. AKA, no bread, biscuits or danishes.
Leaven reminds us of arrogance, and when we’re busy trying to escape an evil Pharaoh, it’s probably best not to beat your chest and strut.
Before Passover it’s a custom to sell any leaven products you own. You can do that by clicking here.
Instead of a bagel, let’s eat…
2. Matzah
The food that sometimes reminds us of cardboard.
The Jews didn’t have enough time to let the dough rise, thus that fluffy Challah stayed decidedly flat and just like that, you’re eating crackers for 8 days.
Matzah is flat, which reminds us of humility.
The best Matzah to eat is handmade Shmurah Matzah. This Matzah is watched from the time the wheat is threshed to ensure it doesn’t come in contact with water.
You can contact us here to get your free box of Shmurah Matzah, on us!
3. Wine
Wine is a sign of freedom, of riches and extravagance.
On Passover we remind ourselves that besides for physically going free from slavery, we also went free mentally.
We all have that ability to rise above our constraints and limitations, the naysayers that claim it’s just not possible
We drink 4 full cups of wine on Passover night, and recline to the left while doing so!
4. Questions
Passover is all about questions.
“Why do we lean?”
“Why do we sit straight?”
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
You get the idea.
Questions help the mind explore and discover.
Ask questions, and don’t mind if we don’t have the answers.
5. The Passover Seder
Seder means order.
Funny when talk about Passover having an order, when being at a Passover Seder is just about the most chaotic thing I could think of.
And that’s precisely the message here:
There’s 15 steps in the Passover Seder. There’s an order. And then the chaos begins.
It’s the perfect reminder that when you plan out your life, your week, and then everything goes bonkers, don’t fret.
It’s all part of the order.
Click here to see more on the Seder.
6. Bitter Herbs
Here’s something you’ll never see on a lollipop: horseradish!
The root of a horseradish is extremely sharp and bitter.
We eat to remind us of the difficult years of slavery we as a nation spent in…
7. Egypt
The Hebrew word for Egypt is Mitzrayim, which also means limitations.
King Pharaoh wasn’t just a narcissistic dictator, he also believed in taking away the most basic human need: free choice.
The Jews were restricted to doing exactly what he wanted of them, never given a moment to relax.
For 210 years.
And that’s why, on Passover, we celebrate…
8. Freedom
Freedom to live exactly how we want.
It’s an amazing thing free choice.
It’s empowering, it’s intoxicating.
And when used in the right way, we can truly create a garden out of this jungle we live in.
But what is the right way? For that, let’s take a peek at…
9. The Haggadah
Haggadah in Hebrew means to tell. Tell the story of our slavery and freedom.
But more than that, the Haggadah, an ancient, yet relevant book, explains to us the process of living a truly free life.
It’s a long book so let me give it to you in a nutshell:
Remember your past, from where you came from. Stay humble.
Live with anticipation for what the future holds. Take every day like another gift from G-D, another day to change the world, one step at a time.
Stay connected. To G-D. Be grateful for the little you have and thank G-D for it every day.
Click here to see more on the Hagaddah.
10. Next Year in Jerusalem
The beautiful closing sentiments that we end the Haggadah with.
Yes, today we may not be living in Israel, with our entire extended Jewish family.
But next year we will.
Amen.
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