There’s a fairly new tradition in New York for the transition from one year to the next. It’s called Good Riddance Day, and we just witnessed its seventh annual observance.
Tim Tompkins, head of the Times Square Alliance, explained “It’s a great idea for all of those who treasure an opportunity to physically destroy reminders of negative events of the past year and to symbolically move forward to better days ahead.” And sure enough, New Yorkers turned out in droves to Midtown Manhattan just before New Year’s with their own individual and highly unique ways of commemorating a day dedicated to removing the trash from their lives and for expressing their contempt for the most harmful items of the past.
Some used the moment to [destroy] the letters from unfaithful spouses. There were the parents who shredded the-year-old medical diagnosis of their son’s kidney cancer which has now thankfully gone into total remission. Then there were those who brought documents they wanted to destroy, like medical bills, and objects they wanted to smash with a mallet, as a way to vengefully say goodbye to the troubles of the past year. What all of them shared was a cry of good riddance to those aspects of their lives they visibly wanted to discard, a commitment to keeping bad memories from interfering with the future.
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Author: Benjamin Blech
Keywords: Unleavened bread, Leaven, Yeast, Yeast bread, Leavened bread, Matzo, Matzoh, Bread, Chamatz, Chametz, Chometz, Bedikat chametz, Bread burning, Bread on fire, Purge of leaven, Purging leaven, Leaven free, Good riddance, Good riddance day
Bible reference(s): Exodus 12:8, Exodus 12:15, Exodus 12:17-20, Exodus 12:39, Exodus 13:3, Exodus 13:6-7, Exodus 23:15, Exodus 34:25, Deuteronomy 16:3-4, Deuteronomy 16:16, 2 Chronicles 30:13, 2 Chronicles 30:21, 2 Chronicles 35:17, Ezra 6:22, Ezekiel 45:21, Matthew 16:6, Matthew 16:11, Matthew 13:33, Matthew 26:17, Mark 8:15, Mark 14:1, Mark 14:12, Luke 12:1, Luke 22:1, Luke 22:7, Acts 12:3, Acts 20:6, 1 Corinthians 5:6-8, Galatians 5:9, 1 Esdras 1:19, 1 Esdras 7:14
Source: “Good Riddance Day,” chabad.org.
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