Staying Home for Pesach

Bat Sheva Marcus has an interesting article on staying home for Pesach.

She writes:

I worry that what is being lost by this generation will be lost for future generations as well. If you have never seen your parents making Pesach, if the lore of the holiday is that it is just too overwhelming, then no child will grow up wanting to make Pesach at home or knowing how to do it. It is sad to think of generations and generations of unopened family heirlooms and charoset recipes that will never be made again.

I couldn't agree more.

But I don't agree with her conclusions on where to pin the blame:

Much of the responsibility for this new trend, it seems to me, has to fall on the shoulders of our rabbis and leadership. If our rabbinic leaders in the last decade had spent their time working out easier, halachically acceptable solutions for the myriad tasks involved in Passover instead of engaging in the one-upmanship in stringency that has characterized the development of Pesach preparation, we might find ourselves in a very different place.

I think the trend of going away for Pesach started way before the chumrah brigades took control and has more to do with the affluence of the Jewish community than anything else. Why work hard when you don't have to?

Nevertheless, the article is worth reading and thinking about.

Hat tip: Tootin' Jordan