Vanquish the stress and get rid of the mess 

Book: How to Make Pesach in Five Days

Author: Meira Spivak

Publisher: Mosaica Press

The birth of the book

As NCSY director in Portland, Oregon, I’ve been giving classes for a few years on How to Make Pesach in Five Days. Once COVID hit, I realized that with so many first-time Pesach-makers, there was a need to spread the word. I did a video class for a Jewish women’s Facebook group, which got almost 3,000 views, and that made me realize that this should be written down and available. Yes, people managed to make Pesach last year, but they scrambled. With this method, the fear and stress are removed.

Chopping and changing

In my classes, I speak about preliminary organization first, then the five days of actual Pesach work. But in the book, we put the instructions for the five days first, then followed it up with the organizational phase, when you put things like shopping, cleaning help, and babysitters in place. The last section of the book contains Pesach menus and recipes and guidance for women about Pesach from Rav Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg ztz”l.

The best investment I made as a writer

Taking Dovid Bashevkin’s writing course through NCSY’s leadership development series.

Goal of the book

To remove people’s dread of Yom Tov. To vanquish the stress and overwhelm and keep things simple, but nice. This isn’t a gourmet Pesach cookbook; it’s a quick and solid way to make a nice Yom Tov. Of course, everyone can take the idea and get a little fancier if they want to. Personally, I’d rather be rested for the Seder than up until 2 a.m. making three-layer ice cream.