PESACH HOTELS

2 points.

1) According to many, many rabbonim, (I know personally my rav screams against it every year)it is so difficult to not be oiver any issur chometz in a hotel with goyim staff/workers. I’ve heard from mashgeechim too, it is possible, but many areas where there can be problems you would like to avoid. Look into it.

2) It is so important for children to see parents pesach cleaning and getting involve in preperations for Yom Tov. One kid I know thought goyim were supposed to build sukkos FOR us because a goy builds it FOR them EVERY year! Imagine a kid doesn’t know what it means to clean the house from all chometz because throughout his childhood he never saw his parents clean and get involved in cleaning or Biyur chometz, -instead it’s close up shop, and fly to a hotel for Yom Tov. Where’s the spirit? where’s the joy of ‘shvitzing’ for a mitzvah? baking your own matza? It’s all part of the beautiful Yom Tov. Going to a hotel is cheating yourself from all the ‘fun’! Save your vacation for a different time of the year. Just my 2 cents.

Baking your own Matza?

I dont know anyone who does that, everyone buys that in the store

I dont know anyone who does that, everyone buys that in the store

Actually, I *do* know people who do it.

But apparently, the OP seems to feel that I have no appreciation of Pesach because I don’t trust myself to be able to make completely chometz-free matzah.

Oh well, that’s just another reason why I’m a menuval.

The Wolf

zahavadad-

It is a minhag tov, and many people do it. Perhaps most don’t, but many do.

popa-

cute story….but i can’t tell if you were trying to make a point with it.

hockster613 –

Consider this: Stay home for Pesach itself, and go away for 10 days AFTER Pesach, when you can actually enjoy the food you are paying for. I mean, how many eggs, matzos and potatoes can a person eat?

Plus, you won’t have 2.5 of the days restricted by Yom Tov.

Carlos, solamente un pendejo piense que Pesaj esta un partido. Callate!

zahavasdad; There are numerous “chaburos” that do private runs in bakeries for the value of having personal involvement with the hechsher mitzvah. Then there are the basement and backyard bakers that take it to the next level. I, personally have been a backyard baker for 20 years or so, and having toured the micro-community as well as the commercial bakeries, there is no question that to do your own is a hiddur mitzvah. For example, a 100% whole grain fresh flour matzah is sweet and nutty tasting. On a leil pesach that is not Shabbos, you can take a 6 or 7 minute break in the seder before motzi matza to make some hot out of the oven matzos for the mitzvah. When pesach is motzai shabbos, it is the only way to have true erev pesachdik matzos.

In the tochecha after a cascade of increasingly harsh curses, it warns “v’hayu chayecha teluyim lech mineged” (devarim 28:66) meaning utter helplessness. In the gemara (munachot) it is quoted to mean, “this is one who sources his grain from the market”. The message is that we should ideally be agrarians in our land, and that a person should be in direct control of his sustenance. Al achas kama v’kama, one should ideally be in direct control of his spiritual sustenance.

My rov, who is a respected rov throughout the country, is against the ready-to-use, store bought menorahs, and thats because part of the mitzvah is the work and the dedication you put into it. something you really value you put your kishkes into it and do it yourself. Avraham Avinu saddled his donkey on his own by the Akeidah because of his love for the Mitzvah. someone who loves his car will never go to a drive thru car wash, he’llspend an entire saturday morning washing and waxing his car to perfection.

If pesach for you is all about the chazti lachem, go to a hotel, maybe you’ll forget about the fact that its even a yom tov – isnt that the point of trying to imitate every chometzdik food under the sun? but if pesach is about having hakaras hatov to Hashem for Yetzias Mitzraim and trying to build on out relationship with Him and starting the journey to Kabbolas haTorah, then put your heart and soul into it and show that you care.

in yeshivas in europe, the bochurim would fight over who got to clean the Bais Medrash. Cleaning for pesach isnt demeaning or inhumane, its an opportunity to show that we’re willing to do anything for Hashem and tha we’re not just in it for ourselves

BPT, I eat less when I am at a hotel than if I am home. At home I am always in the kitchen (and nibbling at this and that). At a hotel I have time to exercise and take care of myself and go to shiurim and daven. I come down for the meals and noone forces you to eat cake.

dullradiance,

good chap,

however why do we mention the people going to the hotels first?

i am looking for a good pesach program, does anyone have any info on pesach in the cove? or any other good ideas?

To coffee addict –

C”V perhaps it follows along with “on every night of the year we eat chametz u’matzah”.

I gave birth a week before Pesach and was too weak to cook. We went to a heimeishe hotel Pesach program-now infamous-where there was electricity problems and issues with the food-and the cooking staff all left. The women banded together, cooked and baked whatever they could, and we enjoyed a heimishe home cooked Pesach in a perfectly cleaned hotel. I got the rest and attention I needed, and my new born daughter was well taken care of by a relaxed Ema. Not everyone enjoyed, however, I fully recovered from the birth and went home refreshed and able to be a Mommy to the rest of the family.

toi you are very right the taruves at the shmorgas tabels and the salad bar i hated it. i will never go again and expose my kids to such a untznies environment where woman just push themselves in between the men, and at your yom tov tish sitting between other people with no michtzos. where is the mah toive ohelich yakkov that your doors shouldnt be facing someone elses door. i was so angry when i found out that there is no privacy.i still regret that years vehegadtu lbinchu which was gashmus only

Not ALL Pesach programs are pritzusdik! My extended family goes to one every year. We’ve been to two so far and they’re really great. We don’t go to Florida or California or Greece or anyplace, just around here, and it’s a lot of fun to hang out with my cousins, have a family seder (which we don’t have room to do at home), to be with my grandparents (my grandmother’s disabled making it difficult to get together fully all the time, and most hotels hare wheelchair enabled) and just to chill and play board games and chat without worrying about having to warm up the food and set the table!

And BTW, we only go half of Pesach. The other half is at home with my other grandparents and cousins. So I clean the kitchen every year, cook Pesachdig food ( I have the BEST chocolate cake recipe on the face of the planet!) and have the best of both worlds.

Don’t just knock it before you know how it can really be, not just how it’s painted.

And as far as kashrut is concerned, one year in the hotel we used to go to they threw out their ENTIRE stock of Romaine lettuce because it was badly infested and used iceberg instead. Some people complained (who didn’t know what had happened) but the staff knew what the priorities were.