Keeping Passover Is More Than What We Do Not Eat

People ask me if I am keeping Passover. What they really want to know is if I am eating any bread products. My usual response is, as an ethical-moral vegetarian, my eating habits are always foremost on my mind and connected to my values every day. I don’t need a holiday to remind me of the power of my food choices. But is keeping Passover just about food? Is Passover a holiday about diet? 

Passover can be a personal holiday in which people reflect on what it would have been like to be freed from slavery in Egypt. Freedom and slavery sit at the center of this holiday. The rights of an oppressed population, the costs to the oppressor, and the sacrifices and struggles that the fight for freedom requires are key themes of Passover. Yet, when we celebrate, we focus on food. They are the main symbols and the focus of the seder, but Passover is far more than what we eat or don’t eat.

The holiday is not without its problems. It is a holiday that seems to celebrate the pain of innocents and the deaths of children. Its literal historicity has been the subject of debate as well. At least one west coast rabbi created a “furor” when he openly stated that the story was not factual. What does it mean to “keep” traditions that are associated with this kind of story?  

The holiday has changed throughout the centuries. Jews from different parts of the world celebrate in their own ways and even disagree about what foods are permitted.  Given the diversity of Jewish thought, experience, and practice, it should come as no surprise that there are many ways to approach Passover. There is no one correct way to keep the holiday.

My wonderful little Humanistic congregation, Kol Hadash, has a food donation drive prior to the start of Passover. While removing certain foods from our diets is one way to keep the holiday, another is to help those for whom every day is a fast day.

Unfortunately, slavery is still with us. CNN recently reported about how the Attorney General of Missouri is fighting for freedom. Each year, I look for organizations that strive to end slavery and human trafficking. This year, I am contributing to Polaris. Fighting the plague of slavery is another way to keep Passover.

The Passover tradition is to keep the front door open, and include a glass of wine for the prophet Elijah. It is also customary to invite guests to our seder and welcome those who have no place to celebrate. In a time when national walls are rising, Passover’s story of a refugee people runs contrary to the current political mood. Do we want to lock Elijah out? Working to keep our national doors open is another way to keep the holiday.

Let us not slip into the easy answer that all Passover asks of us is the elimination of dietary fiber (which may be why the main phrase of this holiday is, “let my people GO!”).

Passover asks us for empathy. Passover asks us to repair the world. Passover asks us to include the stranger at our table. It is a powerful holiday that celebrates far more than what we do or do not eat.