Passover or Practice makes Imperfect (Updated slightly)

Yesterday I went shopping for Kosher for Passover stuff. It seemed the perfect day because the supermarkets have their Passover aisles in order, everything's not all gone like it is during Passover itself, and on Saturday most observant Jews (which generally does not include me) wouldn't be shopping.

This all proved to be correct. What really struck me is the immense variety of foods that are now available. When I was a kid, it was matzo brei or eggs for breakfast, matzo and tuna for lunch, and roast something with potatoes for dinner. And that was about it. This year I find myself owning blueberry muffin mix, ravioli, pizza, chocolate covered ice cream pops and I forget what else. Today I was informed that one of the large conservative synagogues around here told their congregation that rice and legumes were now okay, bringing the Ashkenazi guidelines more in line with the more relaxed Sefardic rules, so now we can add peanut butter and risotto to the mix.

So here's what I'm thinking. Passover treads a fine line here between the spirit and letter of the laws. It's not a holiday built around suffering and deprivation per se, but I always felt the soul of the holiday was to feel a oneness with our ancestors who escaped from Egypt and endured serious hardships on their way to freedom. So then because the Children of Israel didn't have baking powder back in the day it's okay to make stuff that rises with baking powder? Even though one of the most famous passages from the story involves not having time to let their dough rise, giving birth to the wonder that is matzo? I guess baking powder rises faster than yeast, but really.

I have a good friend who, explaining why he was having a beer during passover, said, "I don't remember reading anything about the CoI (my new abbreviation) not having the time to brew beer." Well, that may be so, and though I'm perfectly happy to stick with wine for 8 days, I can't say I'm completely unmoved by this. But the bible doesn't say anthing about not watching television or driving SUVs on Shabbos either, but many people draw that inference from other laws.

I guess the problem is that the observance of Passover is a metaphor, and it's difficult to make strict metaphorical rules. Symbolism is by it's very nature an individual thing. A friend of mine once sent me this long joke about a conversation between a man writing the rules of kashrut and God (and I apologize if this is either familiar or told incorrectly- it's a metaphor). The man starts with the prohibition of boiling a calf in its mother's milk. He then goes on to derive all of the basic rules, from cloven hoof to shellfish, and stops to get God's assent as he goes through. For each rule, God says okay and the man eventually finishes. As he walks way from the shrine, God calls out to him and says, "Oh, and one more thing- make sure you don't boil a calf in its mother's milk."

I don't have any answers for this, but I do think the questions are interesting.