Monday, April 06, 2009

(non) kosher for pesach

I was talking to a co-worker about Pesach and what the company does on
Chol Hamoed. I believe they generally order from places that are not
kosher for pasech. My co-worker is not religious and does not keep
kosher, but he was concerned that there wouldn't be anything for him to
eat. He does not eat chametz on pesach. He doesn't necessarily keep
kosher during the holiday, in fact he told me one of his favorite pesach
foods growing up was matza, cream cheese and meat.

Very odd, but in my opinion it is better to keep Pesach wrong and at
least identify with your Jewishness then not to keep it at all.

6 comments:

Rafi G. said...

that sounds like it could be an interesting debate

rockofgalilee said...

It definitely could be. Especially when I throw in that I think it is better for the secular to dress in non-tznius costumes on Purim then not to celebrate the holiday at all.

Do you disagree with either of these?

rockofgalilee said...

Don't get me wrong, I think that both of them are tragic. However when the choice is them having some sort of connection to our religion or not, I would choose the connection.

Rafi G. said...

I am on your side. I think there is something special about the mere recognition of the holiday, even if it is celebrated incorrectly. "the pintele yid" as they say...

but it would make for an interesting debate.

Michael Sedley said...

Rock, I'm with you (and Rafi G) on this one. I think that our greatest threat is not non-observance or incorrect observance of Mitzvot, but apathy.

Eating cheese and meat on Matza at least acknowledges that it is Pessach. In fact going out of your way to eat ONLY chametz on Pessach is in a way acknowledging that it is Pessach. In my humble opinion, both are better than someone who doesn't even realize or doesn’t care that it's Pessach (although here in Israel it is hard not to realize that it's Pessach).

From a Halachic standpoint, (correct me if I'm wrong) eating Basar B'chalav is "only" a "Lav", however eating Chametz on Pessach carries "Karet", so if you are going to eat Meat and Milk, you are still better off if it is not on Chametz.

BTW - I seem to remember seeing "Matza Cheeseburgers" during Pessach at the MacDonald’s in Tel Aviv Bus Station - could anyone confirm that such an animal exists (it does make sense as there is a law against selling Chametz, but no civil law against basar B'Chalav)

shaya g said...

1. If they do nothing else but remember pesach and yitzias mitzrayim, it's worth it. it shows their kids or other relatives, that there is still something important about our history and religion. even if they disagree as how to practice it.

2. meat on cream cheese, technically a dirabbanan, not bachalev emo. zechiras yetzias mitzrayim, dioraysa!