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Pesach Vacations

After eight days without Internet or e-mail access, this morning, upon returning from Florida, I read my father's Cross-Currents post questioning the trend of spending Pesach in hotels.

Having just spent the first days of the holiday in a hotel and holding the seders in a Miami Beach restaurant, I read the post with interest.

(In my personal defense, I came back to New York in time for chol hamoed and the last days of Pesach, and spent my vacation at the modest Best Western. Furthermore, my wife's position as a medical resident requires her to work a grueling schedule with vacations only during Succos and Pesach.)

I certainly agree that seders in hotels (or restaurants) are far from ideal. Even if the Magid portion of the seder is taken seriously, there is inevitably a sense of feeling rushed, especially with waiters hovering everywhere. I went to shul next to the restaurant at which I held the seders, and started immediately at a little before 9 P.M., finishing both nights around 12:20 after rushing through the meal and Nirtzah - the last part of the Hagaddah. That was far earlier than my parents finished their seders, but later than most others convening their seder at the same restaurant.

More disturbing is the sense of some that since they are on vacation, the vacation takes precedence over the religious holiday. Many arrive very late to shul, and spend most of their day at the pool. At the hotel at which I davened Sunday morning, the guy next to me read the Sunday New York Times throughout the reading of the Torah portion. A few people walked over to ask him where he was able to obtain the Times.

At the same time, I wouldn't broadly condemn those who go away, especially people who use the time to spend time with family and catch up with friends. Done right, Pesach in a hotel can enhance the joy of the holiday without compromising on its central religious aspects.
posted on 4/27/2005