DY – I realized afterwards that I might not have been clear about what I meant.
My point was that cleaning for Pesach is gehinom for people with OCD, and for some of them it is probably just completely impossible so they have no choice but to go away.
Was your point that they could go away without going to a high end program? I thought the discussion was about going away for Pesach in general, not about the specifics of where people go. I figured that going to any hotel for Pesach is going to be a fortune, and that’s what the discussion was about.
I have no idea what these things usually cost, but maybe the reason it was $80,000 was because they have a large family, and there were reasons why it was super-important that they all be together for Pesach. Maybe they knew that someone in the family was dying and it was going to be their last Pesach together. Maybe someone had a severe case of depression and it was pikuach nefesh. Maybe there were a lot of expenses because of the care that was needed for someone’s physical or emotional problmes. Maybe some of the people going were kids at risk and it was the only way to keep them on the Derech. Maybe some of them were tinok shenishba and it was the only way to be mekarev them. Maybe they lived somewhere that was very far away from any kosher hotels so a lot of the money was going for the flights. Maybe there was some reason that they had to go to this particular hotel.
The point is that there can be so many reasons and factors that we know nothing about. These things are all relative. I’m sure there are people who can look at the way that I spend money and find what to criticize too, since I also spend money on things that others may not view as necessities and might not understand why I do. And so does EVERYONE!!! It might be a different quantity, but so what?
The 100 shekalim that I spend on something that seems unnecessary might not seem comparable to $80,000, but maybe $80,000 to that person (relative to both their income and the standard of living they are surrounded by and/or used to) is like 100 shekalim to me (relative to my income and the standard of living I am surrounded by and used to).
There are reasons why people do things. If people are borrowing money for something like that, obviously there is some reason they feel they need to.