2003-04-24 - 3:58 p.m.
THE END OF PASSOVER
Passover is over. Passover, which begins with such feeling of community and of hope, ends in profound weariness from the need to cook and the inconvenience of trying to feed everyone here, including the vegetarians, without benefit of grains. Passover, the holiday which celebrates redemption and coming into freedom, always seems to end with a vague sense of irritation and disappointment. Maybe it happens because I�m weak and just not up to constantly sustained joy. Or maybe it happens to remind us that what feels worth celebrating initially can fade away in life�s flotsam and jetsam if we�re not careful.
My love for the seder, the ritual meal that begins Passover, is profound. True, the seder is more fun if, as occurred in my childhood, someone else does the elaborate cooking, table setting, and other chores, but even with the work, I love the holiday. We gather in large group (the first night) or small group (the second night) and talk of freedom, fighting for freedom, and hopes for freedom. We talk about history and the human condition�and we sing. I particularly love the part where we sing songs that have been sung for centuries.
But then come the rest of the days. No bread. No wheat bread and no corn bread. No cookies and no cake. No beans (because they swell). No rice (if your ancestors come from much of Europe although rice is allowed if your ancestors come from Spain or Greece or other such countries.) No Cheerios. In a family of vegetarians, eggplant becomes central as do eggs themselves.
Restaurants are out. Cook, that vile four-letter word, is in. Snacks at taekwondo or dance require careful thought and bringing from home. All those restrictions make you think�at least for a while. But somewhere near the end, it becomes easy to forget why you like the holiday. It becomes very easy in the hassles of the moment to forget freedom and God and history.
But I never stop thinking for long and, as I put away the matzah (the unleavened bread), I understood in a way that those who just come to the table for the seder, those who don�t prepare the Easter meal or Christmas dinner, never will. I understood why we better spend less time securing the oil fields of Iraq and spend more time worrying about the water and electricity.
Thought of freedom are exhilarating at first and anything is possible in the initial rush but day-in-and-day-out inconvenience can kill. And eventually we�ll accept a lot if only the trains will run on time.
LAST YEAR: Confiding About Confidence
Driving Lessons
Door Number Three
Operator Error
Playing Hooky
A Man With Good Tools
previous - next
|
Copyright 2006 by Ellen |
