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Someone called me recently with a very serious question.

“Rabbi,” she said, “is there any chance we can move Passover this year to a different day?” I told her, “It’s a set holiday. You can’t really move it.”

She begged me. “Please, there must be a way.”

I said, “What am I, the Pope? I can’t change the date.”

But lately I’ve been thinking a lot about timing.

I’ve been on a lot of early-morning flights traveling to different campuses for The Jewish Grad Organization (JGO), and one thing I’ve been noticing more & more is people eating major meals at very odd hours of the day.

Two weeks ago someone was eating a double burger right next to me on a 5:30am flight. The week before that it was spaghetti with meat sauce at 6am. And I’m writing this to you right now sitting next to someone eating a massive turkey sandwich at 5am.

A few minutes ago the woman next to me turned to me while eating her sandwich (she is now sleeping soundly) and said, “You’re probably wondering why I’m eating this massive sandwich at this hour?”

I responded, “No.”

I was lying.

She said, “I eat whatever I see whenever I want. If there’s something in front of me, I just grab it. I don’t like having set meals.”

Now mind you, I’m not opposed to eating at all hours. Travel schedules can get strange & sometimes you take food when you can get it. But I do appreciate the idea that there are times for things like breakfast, lunch, dinner. It sort of adds a rhythm to the day.

People often ask me why Jewish holidays have to be observed on the exact day they occur. Why not just move them to a more convenient time?

But that’s precisely what makes them meaningful.

Jewish holidays are not random commemorations. We celebrate them on the very days the events actually happened and every year we return to those same moments in time.

My birthday is August 2. I’m not a big birthday person, but I’d still be a little confused if my family showed up with a Carvel cake on August 1 or 3 and said, “Close enough.”

The Torah itself teaches us that time is sacred. When the Jewish people are first given control over their calendar, the Torah begins with the mitzvah of “This month shall be for you, the beginning of months.” The Jewish people were entrusted with sanctifying time itself. Moments, days & seasons matter.

Passover arrives exactly when it is supposed to. Not when it’s convenient or when we feel like celebrating. But when history tells us this is the moment we were redeemed.

In many ways, JGO is also about timing.

Grad school is one of the most formative windows in a young adult’s life. It’s when people are making decisions about careers, relationships, identity, & community. If Jewish community is not present during that window, it often becomes much harder to build later.

That’s why JGO exists, to be there at the right moment. Because just like holidays, some opportunities in life are tied to very specific moments in time.

When you miss the moment, it’s not quite the same if you try to celebrate it later.

Happy Passover!

P. S. She slept the entire flight! Maybe it was the turkey?