Passover – Yes, but Sprinkles? Really?

I have fond memories of growing up and looking forward to Passover. I am not sure why, but maybe it is because everything was different. Our house was turned upside down to clean out all traces of chumetz. Maybe that is where the concept of spring cleaning originated?

There was the annual hike up to our attic to retrieve the pots, pans, dishes, glasses and towels that only came out for Passover. Since I was the youngest and the smallest, it was up to me to climb into the attic and carry down the boxes. It was always a mine field to step only on the cross beams because the attic had no proper flooring. I often wondered if I would slip and take a shortcut to the kitchen through the ceiling, but the truth be told, I looked forward to the challenge. READ MORE

Growing up in New York City made celebrating the Passover Holiday pretty easy. Passover and Easter usually fell at around the same time, and, therefore, it was easy for the school system to schedule the Spring vacation to coincide with both holidays. It also was around the same time that baseball season started. This gave me the opportunity to go to a Mets game during Passover. So, there we went carrying our brown paper lunch bag filled with buttered matzoh, hard-boiled eggs and Passover chocolate chip cookies made by either Manischewitz or Goodmans. For some unexplainable reason, these cookies are no longer produced but have been replaced by a far inferior cookie. The internet, computers and cell phones are progress, but replacing these cookies is not.

Nothing I have just written about bares much relevance to anything important, but it did come to mind when we took a recent trip to the supermarket in preparation for Passover.

The food selection that is now available for Passover is truly mind boggling. Just about everything you would buy during the rest of the year is now available for Passover. Essential products, such as seven layer cake, as well as a huge selection of candy, ice cream and cookies, line the shelves of the supermarket. Where once there was a small portion of aisle, you now can find aisles of fresh food, frozen food and prepared foods available. I even saw mustard, Kosher for Passover. Ketchup, although it didn’t taste the same as it did during the rest of the year, was always available for Passover, but you could never find mustard.

The first time we saw mustard, we had to buy it even though we hardly used mustard during the rest of the year. Parenthetically, we still have not opened the Kosher for Passover mustard and Passover had come and gone. There is a certain “Buying Fever” that one gets when shopping for Passover food. Items that you never crave all year long seem to be necessary during Passover. Do we really need every product just because it is now available for Passover? I understand that emotion takes over your otherwise logical ability to reason. The adrenaline begins to flow, and you react like a kid in a candy store. However, I finally think I have found the one item that truly crosses the line, the item that clearly we can live without for eight days. Who needs Kosher for Passover sprinkles?

After seeing the sprinkles in the store, I hastily ran home to open the Haggadah to see if I missed something. Was not having sprinkles a major sacrifice of our ancestors when leaving Egypt? Was their departure delayed because they had to return home when they forgot it in the first place? Did they take with them the rainbow colored sprinkles or only the chocolate ones? I realize their journey was a rocky road, but I don’t think it was rocky road ice cream that they had in mind.

That all being said, maybe I am dwelling on dessert and not enough time on the desert. My real question is whether the real purpose of celebrating Passover and remembering the struggle and sacrifices of our ancestors may be lost or forgotten. As each generation is further removed from history, the sacrifices made by our ancestors are less relevant to our younger generations. Unfortunately, even the more current events such as the Holocaust are sometimes difficult to understand and remember for the younger generations. I grew up knowing survivors of the Holocaust. The generation of today does not have that experience, but maybe there are other reasons to celebrate Passover and keep the spirit of Judaism and family alive.

In our crazy world of scheduling, obligations and hard work, it is important to take some private time with your family and friends and appreciate what we have and the sacrifices recent and distant generations of Jews have made. What could be more important and fulfilling than to stop the fast pace treadmill of daily living and be grateful for the people in your life.

I have come to realize that the importance of Passover is not only the religious observance that is required, but with whom you spend this valuable time. If sprinkles make you smile and enjoy that time a little more, why not?

Sprinkles represent the little extra treat you get when observing Passover traditions. So, as unlikely as it may be that you ever open that jar of sprinkles during Passover, just put it next to the leftover mustard and enjoy it the rest of the year. Hopefully, it will remind you how lucky you are to have family and friends and how you can look forward to spending more time sharing our traditions with them. Consider this to be the icing on the cake, which, by the way, is now also available Kosher for Passover.