Passover is a jewish festival which celebrates the freedom of the jewish people from their slavery in egypt.
You would think that this would be quite a celebration. After 210 years of being slaves the jewish people were finally free. Why then is it such a dreaded holiday for many ultra orthodox Jews?
Freedom after being slaves under such harsh conditions should be celebrated. Let’s take a closer look at how Passover is celebrated.
Firstly the house needs to be cleaned from leaven bread. In most ultra orthodox households this involves strict cleaning. They go through every page of every book in their home to ensure there are no crumbs. They go through every cupboard, every pocket everywhere in their home. Now who made these stringent laws of how strict Passover cleaning should be? The Rabbis of course.
Yet the rabbis are generally not the ones who do the cleaning. The responsibility falls on the women and wives. The Rabbis dictate how careful they should be with cleaning and the women have to carry it out.
This is why it is such a dreaded holiday. The cleaning is such a strain to many ultra orthodox women. They feel obliged to clean to the most strictest law. They don’t feel like they have a choice to refuse or be lenient.
So essentially we are celebrating freedom by making women slaves.
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