Happy Rumpelnacht!
This Shabbat, my daughter taught me something I never knew before. The night after Passover when we rush to put away all the Passover dishes and get out the Chametz dishes isn’t only a special night for Moroccan Jews who celebrate Mimouna. We Ashkenazi Jews have a traditional name for this pressured and hectic night as well: Rumpelnacht. The night of balagan, of transition and disorderliness in contrast with seder night, the night of order. In German-Jewish communities the end of this night was traditionally celebrated with glasses of beer.
Finding out that this night has a name (it’s even in Wikipedia!) that encapsulates the dramatic, deeply satisfying as well as challenging transition between Passover and post-Passover feels extremely validating to me.
Passover is over, and I have so many things on my “After Pesach” list that I want and need to get to. And my house is still in limbo between Pesach and Post. But Pesach wore me out. Physically and psychologically. And, like every year, I feel like the road runner running in place before darting away from Wile E. Coyote.
Rabbi Nivin calls the week after major holidays the “7 Days of Tashlumim.” During these transitions we will necessarily underperform. Our homework for this week is to transition slowly and gently back to regular life.
I would therefore like to humbly propose a new name for the week after Passover: Rumpelvach. An entire week of disorder. When not only our homes are upside down, we are upside down. And we need to take it as easy as possible.
Happy Rumpelvach!
Yes! I’ve been saying this for years, like over 40 of them! Thank you for the validation and giving it a name! My yearly wish is to find everything I packed away in time for Shavuot!