Jon Stewart’s Right: Easter Is Crushing Passover!
Sigal Samuel April 5, 2015
In a Daily Show clip I revisited this weekend, Jon Stewart says that “we Jews are getting our asses kicked” when it comes to holidays. We’ve already lost the Christmas v. Hanukkah competition for kids’ attention. Now Passover v. Easter comes along, and we don’t stand a chance!
After all, Jon says, what would you choose if you were faced with the choice between:
A basket filled with candy and jellybeans — or horseradish still in root form?
Treats brought by a magical bunny — or a bone from a dead baby lamb?
An egg filled with chocolate — or an egg filled with egg (‘cause it’s an actual f—king egg!)?
Yes, that’s right. You’d choose Easter. And who could blame you?
The Daily Show
Daily Show Full Episodes, More Daily Show Videos, Comedy Central Full Episodes
If you ask me, Jon is 100% right. We Jews are missing out big-time when it comes to these April shindigs. And if we don’t do something to fix it, well, let’s just say the results won’t be pretty.
I’m living proof.
Growing up in the Orthodox Jewish world, I experienced years and years of Passover Seders, but I never got a taste of Easter until I was in grad school. My friend’s parents were visiting campus and they decided to organize an Easter egg hunt for our entire cohort. Presented with the dazzling prospect of winning untold heaps of tiny chocolate spheres, I got a little…too excited. I ripped through the area with an “I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to win!” attitude, until at last my friend’s parents called the hunt to a halt and we all counted our winnings.
Of course, I’d scored double what everyone else had. My friend hinted that it was customary, after an Easter egg hunt, to redistribute the wealth so that everyone ended up with a roughly equal amount of chocolate. I pretended not to hear her. Beaming, I exclaimed: “Who’s the skinflint who thought up Passover? Easter is amazing!”
Everyone laughed. But I was dead serious. The closest I’d come to this kind of holiday hunt was the annual Passover search for the Afikoman — which, let’s face it, is more of a punishment than a prize. A dry shard of unleavened bread v. a chocolate-filled egg? It’s like Jon says: “No contest.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
