With all the effort that goes into Pesach, the ideal plan is to not have to make that effort! Go away from home and let someone else do the hard work for you!
There is big business in “kosher for Pesach” resorts in Mexico, Arizona, Florida, New York, Israel, and just about everywhere else Jews vacation. There are even Pesach cruises!
No cleaning and no kashering, and you get a 5 star vacation to boot!
Sounds like a plan to me. Except…that’s not my plan for this year. But I can dream. And we can all start saving for next year!
Next year in Cancun! Ok, ok…Jerusalem.
An ironic post, given that Pesah is the only holyday for which the Torah has an explicit family connection. But it certainly can and should be simplified from what it has become.
You're right in one very important sense, though. The Passover ideal is indeed to 'go away' – pilgrimage to the Beit Mikdash, the holy Temple in Jerusalem. May we be privileged to such a thing soon.
My mom still tells the story of the one year she went away for passover, and how much she hated it – missing all the old traditions, the customary friends and relations, etc. etc. I suppose if she had done it for enough years she would have developed friends and traditions at the new place. In any event I look at the prices of those Pesach hotels and blanch – I doubt I'll ever be able to afford them.
I would totally love, love, love to do this but the cost is prohibitive and I'm not sure I'd want Passover to be my big vacation. 🙂
Okay, so I have to admit we DO go away nearly every Pesah. But we go to my wife's best friend. We have a long-standing (about 10 years?) tradition to make Passover with them wherever we/they are. Usually at home in Israel; but before that we did it together in the US. So it is still a family affair.
The Curmudgeonly Israeli Giyoret says:
Going away is nice, but you lose the option to un your own seder the way you want. I do not enjoy cleaning, and I generally enjoy getting away, but over the years our family has developed its own routines (and menus) for our seder, and we enjoy them. Losing that individuality and control is not always worth it.
This year, though, because of my husband's back injury, we are going to friends (actually, a teacher of mine) for seder.
great idea, jerusalem please :-)). and woudldnt mind a longer time…
Cancun is fun and Jerusalem is sacred.