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Is Passover Anti-Joy?

  • funnyj
  • Apr 18, 2016
  • 2 min read

In the two thousand years that Jews have been living in western society, we have developed a reputation for being contrarians; we read from right to left instead of left to right, we show respect by covering, rather than uncovering, our heads, and in late December have generally sung oy, rather than joy, to the world. I noted the latest contrarian trend when I began cleaning for Passover. The biggest thing in cleaning these day is Marie Kondo’s book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” In her book, Kondo espouses the view that when cleaning house, one should keep only those possessions that “spark joy.” The number of her devotees has grown so large she has been dubbed the “cleaning guru.” And yet, when Jews clean for Passover, we actually remove things that bring us joy – bread, pastry and a multitude of other baked goods. This seems to go directly against the Cleaning Guru’s recommendations.

What’s more, Passover itself is supposed to be celebrated with joy, as the traditional greeting, “have a kosher and happy Passover” attests. How can that be when, for the sake of the holiday, we’re asked to remove the very things that normally delight us? Setting aside for the moment our modern-day plethora of kosher-for-Passover substitutes for forbidden leavened fruit, there is an answer to this question. That answer lies in the true meaning of Passover. Passover is most commonly known as a celebration of freedom from slavery, but that is not entirely accurate. When Moses said to Pharaoh “let my people go,” it was not for the sake of the freedom to fulfill the Jewish people’s every desire. Rather, it was in order to serve G-d. Thus, Passover is not about overthrowing the yoke of servitude, but about changing the yoke under which we serve. Thus, rather than building pyramids and cities for a human Pharaoh, the Jewish people desired to serve their all-powerful G-d by following His laws. While that servitude would be more merciful than that under the Egyptians, it would still be servitude, involving rules, challenges and sacrifices. Nevertheless, this servitude would lead to joy, for it would be worthwhile.

So when we prepare for Passover, by ridding our homes of the baked goods that spark joy in us in the moment, we are paving the way for the greater joy that will result in the long term from observing G-d’s commandments.

Of course, after the Holiday, if we still find too much clutter in our homes, we can always give the Cleaning Guru’s method a try.

A happy and kosher Passover to everyone.


 
 
 

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