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Forum -> Yom Tov / Holidays -> Pesach
Why do US frummies "make Pesach"? Is this Yeshivish dialect?
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amother
OP


 

Post Mon, Apr 06 2020, 8:22 pm
Serious question -- why do frummies in the US often use the phrase "make/making Pesach"? Is this a Yeshivish dialect thing, similar to "eating by" someone? If so, is there a Yiddish translation from which this comes about?

As a BT who grew up with Pesach and Seders and around other non-ortho Jews, I'd never heard anyone say they were "making Pesach" until I became frum. People would say they're "hosting the seder."
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amother
Aqua


 

Post Mon, Apr 06 2020, 8:29 pm
Because it’s much more than hosting a Seder. It’s all the cleaning, koshering and cooking that comes along with it

FFB but NOT yeshivish or frummy
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sotired3




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Apr 06 2020, 8:31 pm
Pesach is a full week, not just the Seder. If your not hosting anyone, why would you say your hosting the Seder? “Making Pesach” encompasses all the cleaning and cooking that go into preparing for pesach.
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SuperWify




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Apr 06 2020, 8:31 pm
Question- what does Frummie mean? I thought it was someone super frum.

Answer to your question- We don’t just make a seder. We make Pesach from A through Z. Like, in a very literal way.
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amother
Royalblue


 

Post Mon, Apr 06 2020, 8:35 pm
amother [ OP ] wrote:
Serious question -- why do frummies in the US often use the phrase "make/making Pesach"? Is this a Yeshivish dialect thing, similar to "eating by" someone? If so, is there a Yiddish translation from which this comes about?

As a BT who grew up with Pesach and Seders and around other non-ortho Jews, I'd never heard anyone say they were "making Pesach" until I became frum. People would say they're "hosting the seder."


Same reason they say make Shabbos.

In Yiddish the universal verb is make. You make hair. You make a tumble. You make a play. You make challah.

The rest of the world styles hair, tumbles, acts in a play, bakes challah. It was the confusion with the thread yesterday where OP said her son made her cabinets.
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thunderstorm




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Apr 06 2020, 8:35 pm
It’s a short way of saying “We are making the house Pesachdig” which includes all the cooking and cleaning. It’s referring to the entire process.
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amother
OP


 

Post Mon, Apr 06 2020, 8:39 pm
amother [ Aqua ] wrote:
Because it’s much more than hosting a Seder. It’s all the cleaning, koshering and cooking that comes along with it

FFB but NOT yeshivish or frummy


sotired3 wrote:
Pesach is a full week, not just the Seder. If your not hosting anyone, why would you say your hosting the Seder? “Making Pesach” encompasses all the cleaning and cooking that go into preparing for pesach.


Hmm... as seen from these two responses, it seems that different people have different definitions of "making pesach." Is "making Pesach" just being home for the week of pesach and doing the kashering and cleaning? Or does it mean you host at least one Seder (I.e., plenty of people do the pesach prep but don't host a seder)?

The fact that the term is ambiguous and used by different people to mean different things makes me just not like the term. Seems easier to separate the two and say "doing the pesach prep" and "hosting a seder"
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amother
OP


 

Post Mon, Apr 06 2020, 8:42 pm
amother [ Royalblue ] wrote:
Same reason they say make Shabbos.

In Yiddish the universal verb is make. You make hair. You make a tumble. You make a play. You make challah.

The rest of the world styles hair, tumbles, acts in a play, bakes challah. It was the confusion with the thread yesterday where OP said her son made her cabinets.


This is very helpful. Exactly what I was looking for -- for a grammar perspective.
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amother
Indigo


 

Post Mon, Apr 06 2020, 8:43 pm
Serious question - why do some people not realize that the term “frummies” is somewhat pejorative and insulting?
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amother
Sapphire


 

Post Mon, Apr 06 2020, 8:43 pm
I wonder if it's regional... BT but grew up in a pretty traditional Jewish home (definitely no yeshiva-speak), and my mother called it "making Passover," but by that she meant hosting the big family seder. She also said "making Thanksgiving" and "making Chanukah" when talking about who was hosting other family gatherings. ETA some of my grandparents/great-grandparents were secular Yiddish speakers, so it makes sense that the verb choice came from Yiddish. It's what she grew up hearing.
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amother
OP


 

Post Mon, Apr 06 2020, 8:48 pm
amother [ Sapphire ] wrote:
I wonder if it's regional... BT but grew up in a pretty traditional Jewish home (definitely no yeshiva-speak), and my mother called it "making Passover," but by that she meant hosting the big family seder. She also said "making Thanksgiving" and "making Chanukah" when talking about who was hosting other family gatherings.


Definitely could be regional and generational. Non-orthos in heavily jewish areas might have picked up on more yeshivish speak, and it got lost as non-orthos moved to less jewish areas. Also, older non-orthos with parents/grandparents who knew at least some Yiddish might have picked up on some of it.
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amother
Aqua


 

Post Mon, Apr 06 2020, 8:51 pm
amother [ OP ] wrote:
Hmm... as seen from these two responses, it seems that different people have different definitions of "making pesach." Is "making Pesach" just being home for the week of pesach and doing the kashering and cleaning? Or does it mean you host at least one Seder (I.e., plenty of people do the pesach prep but don't host a seder)?

The fact that the term is ambiguous and used by different people to mean different things makes me just not like the term. Seems easier to separate the two and say "doing the pesach prep" and "hosting a seder"


Well no One is ‘hosting seder’ this year (meaning having guests) however we are most definitely making Pesach
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amother
OP


 

Post Mon, Apr 06 2020, 9:01 pm
amother [ Aqua ] wrote:
Well no One is ‘hosting seder’ this year (meaning having guests) however we are most definitely making Pesach


This is splitting hairs and only applies to this year and is getting away from my question, but one could say that a woman is hosting a seder for her family -- even if they don't have outside guests. But that's not the point of this thread.

In any event, is it universally understood that "making pesach" means doing the pesach prep -- and has nothing to do with whether you 1) go out to eat for the seders, 2) have outside guests for the seders, 3) do the seders at home with immediate family only, or 4) some combination of 1 through 3 for the two seders?
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amother
Aqua


 

Post Mon, Apr 06 2020, 9:08 pm
amother [ OP ] wrote:
This is splitting hairs and only applies to this year and is getting away from my question, but one could say that a woman is hosting a seder for her family -- even if they don't have outside guests. But that's not the point of this thread.

In any event, is it universally understood that "making pesach" means doing the pesach prep -- and has nothing to do with whether you 1) go out to eat for the seders, 2) have outside guests for the seders, 3) do the seders at home with immediate family only, or 4) some combination of 1 through 3 for the two seders?


It’s not splitting hairs. I’m telling you that hosting Seders has nothing to do with mamma Pesach. Making Pesach is everything in the lead up to the holiday.
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turca




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Apr 06 2020, 9:08 pm
amother [ Royalblue ] wrote:
Same reason they say make Shabbos.

In Yiddish the universal verb is make. You make hair. You make a tumble. You make a play. You make challah.

The rest of the world styles hair, tumbles, acts in a play, bakes challah. It was the confusion with the thread yesterday where OP said her son made her cabinets.

Make Shabbos? I have never heard of this one.
Ok, I’m not part of an Yiddish speaking community, but I live in Brooklyn and I do understand/ use a lot of the yeshivish slang
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amother
Ivory


 

Post Mon, Apr 06 2020, 9:08 pm
Side point don't use the word frummy it's a put down. It's only used in certain contexts and it's highly offensive. Describing someone as yeshivish is enough.
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mommy3b2c




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Apr 06 2020, 9:09 pm
amother [ OP ] wrote:
This is splitting hairs and only applies to this year and is getting away from my question, but one could say that a woman is hosting a seder for her family -- even if they don't have outside guests. But that's not the point of this thread.

In any event, is it universally understood that "making pesach" means doing the pesach prep -- and has nothing to do with whether you 1) go out to eat for the seders, 2) have outside guests for the seders, 3) do the seders at home with immediate family only, or 4) some combination of 1 through 3 for the two seders?


That’s the way I understand it. Making Pesach means that you are cleaning your house and turning over your kitchen which likely means you are making at least a meal or two. Nothing to do with hosting or making seders.
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Simple1




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Apr 06 2020, 9:09 pm
Pesach is unique to frum people, so what's wrong with using a unique term? I agree making Pesach is not necessarily about hosting. It's a whole process of cleaning, getting rid of chametz, kashering and cooking KLP foods.
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amother
OP


 

Post Mon, Apr 06 2020, 9:25 pm
Simple1 wrote:
Pesach is unique to frum people, so what's wrong with using a unique term? I agree making Pesach is not necessarily about hosting. It's a whole process of cleaning, getting rid of chametz, kashering and cooking KLP foods.


For one, I highly doubt "making pesach" is a universal term and I presume frum Sephardim/Mizrachim in the US who don't have much of a connection to "Yeshivish" dialect don't use the term. I just personally think it's a weird term and that it sounds funny, grammatically.

Second, I wouldn't say pesach prep is *unique* to frum people. Probably *much* less so now 20-30 years ago, but still plenty of affiliated non-orthos do some sort of pesach prep. They could be going through their fridges and freezers and throwing away actual bread, and eating off a set of pesach dishes they have in their garages -- without doing all of the hard work that frum ppl do.
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daagahminayin




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Apr 06 2020, 9:30 pm
It’s very beautiful. All of our hard work and effort really does create the holiday in a sense, and if we didn’t do it, it wouldn’t be the same. It’s our partnership with Hashem, our way of creating a space for holiness in the world.
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