Comments on: Don't Passover the Cocktails

By: Robert Polk

Robert Polk — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 04:20:29 +0000

The sacreligious folks of LandoverBaptist.com are parodying Leviticus, Chapter 15, with the “shack.”

Leviticus has many extraordinary rules. Who upholds these laws today? I choose to question them. Many simply ignore them.

I apologize if I have made you uncomfortable.

By: rickismom

rickismom — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:38:23 +0000

One, Mr. Polk, I don’t know where these people got an idea of their “shack”, but it has NOTHING to do with Judaism. Wanted to be sure any readers here knew that.
Passover is fun! (Don’t think I am typing this on the holiday, in Israel we keep only one day). Last night I sat like a queen at the table, surrounded by family. My granddaughter recited “Mah Nishtanah”, and we ignored the mistakes and enjoyed her efforts. The food was good (of course, I made it….), and the singing lively. We say the entire haggadah, but don’t drag it out TOO long. Two sons peppered the proceedings with nice stories, and another threw in a bad joke here and there. OK, one grandaughter snuck into the kitchen and broke a few eggs, but all in all, things were nice. No marshmellows on fans… traditions are built from year to year, and eventually you have family fun about them. (We even have a song we sing whenever my grown sons see an old baby bottle stashed away with the Passover dishes! And we laugh and laugh over it!)
Passover has so much meaning. If you think about the importance of the issues of freedom.. both freedom as a people, and freedom from our own self-imposed limitations, there is a ton of material for thought and teaching.
And maybe you should use wine for the four cups, and not grape juice. (’cause I find it hard to believe you didn’t have fun with a few cups of GOOD wine….LOL)
No, I don’t think you are sacriligious… just missing out somehow on the beauty of the holiday. What a shame!

By: Robert Polk

Robert Polk — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:29:51 +0000

If you were something else, say, Episcopalian, you’d be exempt from all these technicalities in the Law.

Here, this should help keep things in compliance:

http://www.landoverbaptist.org/2009/march/menstrualshacks.html

Hey, don’t shoot the messenger.

By: elewinnek

elewinnek — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:11:03 +0000

I always thought passover was fun. Bitter herbs to make faces at, that sweet apple-raisin thing to enjoy, drunken adults pretty quickly, a reallllly long meal, songs that you have to laugh at, the hide-the-matzoh-thing in some houses, some gross gefilte fish to make more faces at, otherwise fairly tasty food, a really bizarre story, and a ceremony that encourages kids to ask questions. And sometimes people sit tilted on their chairs, and that’s just weird.

Clearly, this is the perspective of a goy child who felt privileged to go to other people’s seders. It’s also the perspective of someone who finds fun in odd places, and thinks it’s fun to tell history with food. I’m not sure a fan flinging marshmallows would have delighted me quite as much as just watching deep and odd traditions.

In college, my friends and I even convinced the Mitzvah-Van people to give us their passover-in-a-box kit. It was a Jewish charity for college kids, so it contained grapejuice instead of passover wine, but it was still fun.

Now I live only among other goys, there are no Mitzvah-Van-people accosting us every Friday afternoon, and I miss passover, but I don’t have the energy to pull it together for myself.

By: deborah

deborah — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:38:41 +0000

for the record, i firmly believe that i am allowed to say sacrilegious things about both christianity and judaism, because i am a product of both traditions, but i am no doubt going to hell in an easter basket regardless.