The illumination of Passover extends to the thirty days preceding it, so the preparations these days should also be in the same style of enlightenment, joy and freedom that we will encounter on the days of the holiday itself ...
On the other hand, the commissioner from Volozhin would describe in a kind of sarcastic joke the preparations in the house of one great wise student, who had a different style. Purim is supremely and sublimely, "obliges Inish to Basumi"). But immediately after the evening prayer of Purim, begins Fear of chametz.
The horror of chametz falls on him and his home. Day by day the nervousness increases, lest chametz be found in some hole or crack. And when you arrive on the eve of Passover to bake a matzah mitzvah, you are already in great tension and anxiety and look with seven eyes that God forbid that chametz crumbs enter the oven.
On the night the holiday was consecrated they were spun like a taut spring, and the question discussed there was what is the lesson as an olive? There are mitigating methods and there are aggravating methods, and perhaps it can be made worse. Bitterness is also irritating: is this bitterness good? For there is bitterness that is not bitter enough and there is bitterness that is not fit for eating.
Although all these are halakhic words that deserve to be clarified, and of course the commissioner did not criticize the very halakhic meticulousness, his criticism was on the style and atmosphere.
From "Canned Night"
Passover conversation, Rabbi Eli Horowitz
Seder night in our house was an exciting and significant event, the excitement intensified throughout the day. On the eve of Passover we would get up early to burn the chametz, and Dad would excitedly and reverently say the wording of the eradication and remind us that he also burns the chametz in the heart, and we with childish excitement would throw away the chametz flakes we had hidden the night before and Dad found. We would then run home running. The table was already set, and during the morning Dad would add different and weird items,
We would follow with curious glances at his actions, how he leaves the house with a pair of scissors and returns with a large branch, how he gently pulls a stuffed bird of sparrows out of newspaper covers. On his face one could see a look of mystery and creativity.
Sometimes we would go out together, sit outside and Dad would tell us about Saadia and Ruth - the family story that would appear on every holiday in a different version, and through it he explained to us the whole course of the Passover sacrifice in the Temple, and also about the Exodus and the redemption of Israel today. Sometimes he actually illustrated to us the sacrifice of the roast by making: on the fire: in the yard and roasting a lamb shank.
Mom did not like the idea so much, for her on this day we also had to be as clean as the house, and she would rub and brush us in the bath vigorously, combing and making sure we had new and special clothes, so that when Passover came we felt ready too.
Photographed on the first holiday of Passover
The table would now look like a display of strange objects, some things Dad collected at home, and some objects Dad bought specially, the collection of objects was on the table, we knew everything had a deep meaning, even the order in which things were placed, we were blown away by questions but kept them for time arrangement.
A large box of etrog was at the top of the table, in Dad's place, with lots of chocolate cubes of various kinds. For every question a child (or adult) asks he gets a cube, it's the matter of Seder night - to ask, Dad was not interested in us demonstrating knowledge or singing beautifully, or listening carefully, the main thing - being asked, interested to be intrigued to understand that there are things we do not understand and worth asking
Every year there were many guests, from different countries of different types, religious secular, young and old, new and old immigrants. Dad would re-prepare the order each year and adapt the content to the many guests, their age, their interests, their intellectual level and current events in Israel and around the world.
Every year he would sit down with the Haggadah, and in the days before Seder he would summarize and write ideas from the Haggadah. Sometimes these are basic ideas that he learned from his rabbi, the late Rabbi Zvi Yehuda, which he memorized and deepened, and sometimes these were innovations that were renewed in preparation for the Battle of Seder night and refinements suitable for guests and matters that are becoming clear at this time.
He wrote it all over and over again, many pages of ideas and thoughts, some in a language that might sound like he was actually speaking at the head of the Seder table right now and some in abbreviated codes, acronyms and clues that only he understood.
It seems that Dad also wanted to tidy up the binder, and one year he prepared a table of contents: set titles and topics, number the pages of the binder, and prepare a key for reference in the thick notebook.
Batsheva (Horowitz) Sadan
