The entire culture surrounding Pesach is broken - The Jewish Chronicle

Analysis and views from the JC reporters While writing last week's front-page feature on Pesach prices and the way religious folk are being priced out of celebrating their own festival, I heard a lot of blame being thrown around. From the KLBD to the shops, to the rabbis, to peer pressure, to general poverty, to anyone else you can throw an afikomen at, practically no-one was spared. But though there is validity to all of these claims, what I found was that like most complex phenomena, no one source was wholly responsible. In fact I think the entire culture surrounding Pesach is broken. It’s about a culture of overspending to increase your religious standing which has pervaded homes across the community and the country - the idea that if everything from your washing-up liquid to your tea is Pesachdich, you are doing it right; you are acceptable to your neighbours, your shul and your friends. Pesach, as many of the rabbis I spoke to this week said in no uncertain terms, is about remembering hardship, not imposing it upon ourselves (apart from depriving ourselves of challah and proper pizza for a week, of course). You can’t blame people who spend up to or over £1,000 over the eight days of the festival, in the same way that you can’t blame people who think that pink is for girls and blue is for boys. It’s embedded in our culture. You can certainly blame companies who take advantage of people’s religiosity, but as some - including the Chief Rabbi - have pointed out, it’s completely possible to have a cheap festival. So buy fruit. Buy vegetables. Buy fish and meat and potatoes, and focus on the story of our escape rather than keeping up with the Goldschmidts. Some in our community seem to be labouring, understandably, under the impression that they didn’t choose the chag life - it chose them. Don’t forget the message of the festival. We were in bondage. Now we are free. Acknowledge that freedom. Use it to celebrate our Exodus in a way which doesn’t make you a financial slave to some unattainable level of righteousness. Josh Jackman is a reporter at the JC