It’s funny how Passover hits you in different ways. When I was a kid, I would absolutely dread the holiday. I just hated eating matzah.
But the idea of eating matzah for eight days is actually much worse than the actual eating of it. It’s like going to the dentist. You think they will be sticking needles and sharp objects into your gums for five hours, but when you actually go, it really isn’t a big deal.
Recently, I’ve gotten pretty used to Passover. Eating matzah isn’t too bad and I really don’t eat that much bread during the year in the first place. Besides my hatred for seders, the eight days of unleavened bread don’t really bother me.
But it is weird to not be able to have beer. It’s not like I need beer. I’m not dependent on it or anything. Nor am I shaking in the middle of the night, crying over my sobriety. But it is weird to realize how much of my socializing usually involves alcohol.
I’m back in Montreal right now, and I’m seeing a lot of my non-Jewish friends from college. And it really is crazy how many times I’ve had to tell people that if we are going to be hanging out, it’ll have to be sober.
I don’t want to say I miss beer because, again, I’m not dependent on it and if you told me it was illegal, I wouldn’t need to have a drink for the rest of my life. But it sure is forcing me to be much more creative in my social planning. And when I say creative, I mean, I’ve been watching a lot of television with my friends. Because I’m definitely dependent on TV.
