16 Signs It’s Almost Passover

Passover, the Jewish festival of freedom (and matzo) is coming. Passover is action-packed; there's the Seder, the hunt for the Afikoman, and of course, no bread for 8 whole days. But Passover fever comes early - to say that preparing for the holiday gets a little crazy would be an understatement. Here's how you know Passover is just around the corner!

1. Your mother transforms into a clean freak, frantically cleaning EVERY surface of your house, giving a new meaning to the phrase “Spring Cleaning”.

2. You come home to find some of your favorite foods have been thrown out.

3. And that there’s only a small corner of the house you’re still allowed to eat Chametz in.

4. You are forced to share this corner with your entire family.

5. Your local supermarket releases its Spring collection.

6. Your family stocks up on Passover food, à la the zombie apocalypse.

7. Mere mentions of the word “Chametz” makes your mother’s eye a little twitchy.

Chametz, literally meaning "leavened foods" refer to any products made from wheat, barley, oats, rye, and spelt. These foods are prohibited during Passover, and we eat matzo instead.

8. Your grandmother daily reminds you of another ingredient in her Charoset recipe, which she has apparently forgotten, because nobody in this family ever writes anything down.

9. Also, what’s Charoset?

Charoset is made by combining nuts, fruit, and wine into a chunky dip. We eat it during the Passover seder, to commemorate the mortar used when the Jews built cities while enslaved in Egypt. It's not bad, actually.

10. There’s a scavenger hunt for breadcrumbs at home, and it seems pretty normal.

11. As does a backyard bonfire the next day, destroying said breadcrumbs.

12. You can recite all The 10 Plagues in order:

:-(

Good job, though!

13. You are filled with dread when you hear the words "Ma Nishtana", because you are the youngest child.

Ma Nishtana literally means "what makes this different?" It's also referred to as The 4 Questions, because that is precisely what it is; 4 Questions about how strange Passover is. You're supposed to ask questions on Passover, and those questions are answered by the story of the Jews' slavery in Egypt, and the subsequent redemption. Through Passover, we remember our origin.

14. Getting drunk two nights in a row sounds pretty fun.

15. Until you realize that you’ll be doing it with…. your parents.

16. You’re already dreaming of all the delicious Chametz you’ll be consuming when it’s all over.

Happy Passover!

This post was brought to you by the Aish Center, running programs for young Jews living in NYC. For a list of upcoming events, including lunchtime learning (with pizza!), evening lectures, Shabbat programs, and free 1-on-1 learning opportunities, visit our site.