My Favorite Holiday – Really

By Emuna Braverman

Reprinted with permission from Jewish Life LA

Every time I mention that Pesach is my favorite holiday, people look at me like I’m crazy – literally. What’s wrong with this picture? They shake their heads and whisper and assume I am the victim of an, as yet undiagnosed, obsessive-compulsive disorder.

And that’s a real shame.

Because Pesach is such a fantastic opportunity – an opportunity to root out negative qualities, an opportunity to have our children (young and old) participate, an opportunity to lean and grow as a family and yes, even an opportunity to really scrub our houses clean (perhaps there is a little OCD in me after all!)

There is plenty of work but I don’t have to do it alone. My children can help clean. My children can help cook (You should see our assembly line for matzah lasagnas!) And through this effort it becomes our yom tov, too. They have a stake, a share in it.

We all come to the seder table tired (having stayed up late to finish preparing our shiurim of maror and to make one last chocolate mousse cake) and ready.

We’ve all contributed to create space for the events of the seder evening to occur. We are all eager to begin and united in our goals and expectations.

How often do we experience such unity of focus and purpose? How often do we all work together towards the same goal and merit to see its fruition?

And if the price is a little cleaning (OK a lot), a little cooking (OK a lot) and a little exhaustion (OK a lot!), then it’s worth it. Just knowing the end goal, anticipating the seder, makes the tasks light and pleasurable. And everyone home and working together makes them also – dare I say? – fun.