Thoughts on Judaism

Monday, March 27, 2006

Pesach in the desert

As I go through the annual ritual of Pesach cleaning, I begin to wonder about some things:

1) How much aluminum foil did the Yidden use in the desert?
2) Did they all carry along a Pesach kitchen, along with their regular kitchen?
3) Did anyone eat together with anyone else, or did they only trust their own kashrus?
4) How much plastic did they carry with them for every exposed surface, double covered?
5) How many utensils did they carry with them in the desert, so that when one fell to the ground, they always had enough to replace it? Did it hover in the air, a miracle perhaps?
6) How much per pound did they pay for shmurah matza?
7) Did they open the door for Eliyahu Hanavi, even though he hadn't been born yet?
8) Did they peel everything, seeing as in my house, a team of three is working almost constantly to maintain this standard for far fewer people than they had?
9) Did anyone's matza or matza crumbs ever get wet, and what happened to them if it did?
10) How many stores did the average person in the desert have to visit on Pesach?

posted by Rebeljew at 1:56 PM

17 Comments:

  • One thing I'm sure of: they didn't use machine matza.

    By Blogger Ben, at 6:25 PM  

  • And how many POUNDS of matza is it that equals a kezayit? And how quicly did the Jews in the desert eat it? Within 3 minutes?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:13 AM  

  • Did they only boil the sugar in the desert, or did they not use any at all?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:16 AM  

  • They used gold or silver foil. After all, they brought out great riches, did they not? After Pesach it was donated to the Mishkan for recycling. Our use of aluminium foil serves as a remembrance, since some still call it "silver foil".

    By Blogger The Observer, at 12:53 PM  

  • Didn't you guys hear? Archaeologists have found shards of ancient wrappers from mahn (with a very reliable hechsher, I'm told), painstakingly pieced them together, and found them to be inscribed "Kosher for Pesach and year-round". Wow!- Didn't those B'nei Yisroel think of everything?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:03 PM  

  • did they bottle all the water they were going to use from the beir Shel Miriyam? (It's not a very common minhag, but I thought I'd throw it in.)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:45 PM  

  • I also wonder if they were reqauired to ask the Fir Kashos in Yiddish.

    By Blogger Shlomo Leib Aronovitz, at 5:26 AM  

  • What difference does it make?

    We have the halachas and minhagim that we have now. If you want to protect your frumkeit and your children's, you keep them. If you want to be an amalakhite, try to limit it to the bathroom.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:21 PM  

  • Most importantly, RJ, did they have the essential option of a Pesach get away cruise ? For the very affordable price of half a month's salary per person ? Perhaps to Hawaii ?

    And "truth" person- somehow our bubbies and zeidies managed to keep frum without rolls and rolls of Reynold's aluminum foil. D'ja ever wonder about that ?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:20 AM  

  • It is not an obligation that you use aluminum foil. It is a convenience.

    Our bubbies and zeidies worked very hard to be frum and in many instances they risked their lives for it.

    You are in the lap of luxury because of their efforts, not yours.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:06 AM  

  • Our bubbies and zeidies worked very hard to be frum and in many instances they risked their lives for it.

    My Zaide worked very hard at being frum back in Lithuania. And he riasked his life to escape and come to America. After which he joined the U.S. Army (to get a fast track on his citizenship) and started eating treif (outside the house only, though) and davening at a Conservative synagoge.

    You can't guilt-trip me!!!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:26 PM  

  • I am sorry about your Zeidie. The army here and over there did it to many of them, some in my family also.

    The point is not that you feel guilty h"v, rather that we not make fun of frumkeit as a vehicle for leaving it h"v.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:31 AM  

  • I am sorry about your Zeidie.

    Why should you feel sorry about my zayde? He lived to a ripe old age and died content.


    The army here and over there did it to many of them, some in my family also.

    If it were the Army, given the qaulity of US Army rations of the time, he should have sworn off treif food for all eterminty.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:11 PM  

  • Didn'y tou read the hadtara on the first day of Yom Tov?

    They didn't actually celebrate Pesach untill after they crossed the Jordan and got circumcised. (The mean at least.) So for 40 years in the desert all they ate was manna. No hekhsher needed, given the source, although maybe there were some black-hatters who only ate the fruit salad.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:14 PM  

  • True but they were really frum in the desert. They did not want to eat the manna. There was a chumra that it might have gotten wet since it was covered with dew. And even though it had the hecksher of HKBH, nonetheless, they would only eat from their own homes. It was Pesach after all.

    By Blogger Rebeljew, at 7:46 PM  

  • I wonder since may have the custom to not aquire anything new on Yom-Tov, did all tha Manna fall before Pesach? :)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:21 AM  

  • So the manna was gebrokts because it had a dew layer to it. And they ate it? Clearly they weren't Chasidim. But was it yoshon?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:35 AM  

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