Rabbi Konigsburg's Blog

What is it about Passover that inspires those who don’t observe the dietary laws of Kashrut year-round to eat matzah for a week? And what is it about Passover that makes it more visible and celebrated than Shavuot, another one of the Shalosh Reglaim, the three pilgrimage festivals?
 
Part of the answer was explained by Marshall Sklare and Joseph Greenblum in the 1960s. Based on their research they concluded that in order for ritual to be successful and widespread, it must meet five criteria. It must have a modern and universal message, be community oriented, reflect generally accepted religious norms of the larger society, be infrequent, and child-centered. Passover meets all five of those criteria. With its universal message about Freedom, Passover is easily explained in modern and universalistic terms. Similarly, it is socially acceptable to come together for a religious meal. We celebrate with our friends and families thus reinforcing the communal nature of the holiday, and we encourage our children to participate and ask questions and search for the afikomen. Additionally, it is also easier to keep the dietary laws of Passover for 8 days out of the year, than to keep kosher year-round.
 
However, what we learn from Sklare and Greenblum is limiting. While it does explain why modern American Jews partake in Jewish ritual, it also highlights the needs to translate this child-centered, infrequent, and universal holiday into something more special and spiritually nourishing. By labeling Passover as a children’s holiday, we dismiss the complexity of taking freedom for granted. By only committing ourselves to religious questions a few days a year, we devalue our responsibilities the rest of the year. Similarly, by focusing only on the universalistic nature of the holiday, it undermines the particularistic nature of the Jewish people’s redemption theology.
 
Passover is a time of beginnings. As the Spring Holiday, in what the Torah counts as the First Month, it is a time to reflect on our own religious questions and assumptions. Let us build on Passover’s high participation rate and translate our own participation to a more meaningful level. We should celebrate Passover not only because it is infrequent, child-centered, and universal, but because it provides an opportunity to have deep conversations with our friends and families, challenges us to take on added responsibilities, and reminds us of the core values we hold as Jewish people.
 
Wishing everyone a meaningful “tail-end of Passover!”