my favorite part of pesach?

saying the blessing where you renounce all the hametz you may have inadvertently left in your house. there's something comforting in a tradition that lets you be a little less than perfect.

Oh, absolutely. But that's a big part of Judaism - the permission to be human. Perfection is a goal, not a requirement. Good thing, too. :)

It's funny the different views of Judaism I keep running into. All I can remember about Pesach (though I said I did usually enjoy getting ready) was the insistence that even the slightest crumb was forbidden. I started over a month in advance, when I cleaned. I think it was the OCD setting in.

a few years ago I was studying the Mishna (early jewish law code, among other things)on Pesach, and we were all really struck by the effor the rabbis put in to making sure preparing for passover *didn't* become unwieldy, impossible, or crazy-making. The formula renouncing whatever crumbs you might have missed is part of that, as is the fact that you're strongly encouraged to not start preparing for passover until after purim, which means you have at most a month and not all year to obsess about things.

i think it's all kind of cool. ;-)

That's one thing I don't have, although I can see it being useful for Pesach cleaning.

I believe in being relaxed - not *lax*, you understand. My kashrut is strict, my Pesach kashrut is stricter, but I'm not going to let an overlooked empty cracker box faze me.

Just wanted to say that I agree with everything you said, and I am very much looking forward to saying said prayer too. And this year I even know where to go to burn chometz, too. :)

You may laugh, but everytime I read one of these posts, I freak out for a second. Because my house is full of chometz, and desperately needs vaccuuming.

Uh, until the fact that I'm at least nominally Episcopalian kicks in, and I remember that hey: I don't actually celebrate Passover.

What you said ... except for that thing about being Episcopalian.

:)

YOu know. If you started vacuuming, you'd still be nominally Episcopalian and you'd have a vacuumed carpet. And no big dinner anyway.