Pesach is the birthday of the Jewish nation! (So feel free to give birthday presents to all your Jewish friends.) It all started with Yakov, his 12 sons, and some 70 family members who had to move to Egypt because of a severe food shortage in Israel. In Egypt this family grew and prospered to such an extent that they eventually came to be seen as a threat by their Egyptian hosts. Respect and admiration turned to contempt, and finally to an organized program of enslavement and oppression. After 210 years, and a series of unheeded warnings by Moshe to Paroh which resulted in the 10 Macos, God liberated a nation which had grown from the original family of 70 people. Seven weeks later this newly conceived nation received the Torah at Har Sinai.
On Pesach, it is a mitzvah to retell – and even relive! – this story. Luckily, we have the Haggadah to help us with this mitzvah. The Haggadah is the story of the birth of the Jews as a people. It deals primarily with the events in Egypt which led from slavery to liberation, though it also spans the entire period from Avraham to Matan Torah. One could say that the Haggadah is our national birth certificate as well as our Declaration of Independence. More than just a historical document, it also speaks of the ideals and values which constitute the essence of our national consciousness and identity. The word haggadah means to tell, or to relate. The Haggadah is a vivid narrative which is set in the context of a parent-child dialogue. Pesach, with the Haggadah as its focus, tells every Jew three things: who you are, where you came from, and what you stand for. The message inherent in the Haggadah is that Jewish identity and continuity hinge on encouraging children to ask questions -- and being prepared as parents to provide sensitive and substantive answers. In Judaism, being learned, knowledgeable, and wise is not only a goal, it's a prerequisite.
APRIL 12 - APRIL 20, 2006
Latest time for annuling chametz: 11:39 AM
Candle lighting for the 1st night: 7:14 PM
God took us out of Egypt in the springtime. The Talmud notes that God was very thoughtful. Not only was He interested in redeeming the nation, He wanted to do so at a time when the weather was just right. Everything about the Pesach season is beautiful, even the idea of redoing your house – your environment – for the holiday… the idea, you say, but not the act of scrubbing. The good news? Many people scrub their ceiling, walls, and car engines because they combine Pesach cleaning with Spring cleaning. The actual obligation to get rid of chametz is less stringent than you may have thought!
In cleaning for Passover, we are first and foremost fulfilling the mitzvah of biur chametz -- getting rid of chametz. Biur chametz is actually quite an easy mitzvah in terms of physical exertion. The Torah says: "tashbisu se'or mibateichem" -- make all your sour dough rest. The Torah commandment is that you can possess all the chametz you want, but in your mind it must be dust -- ownerless and valueless. However, since what goes on inside your mind is subtle and somewhat vague, the Sages have instituted a requirement to physically destroy chametz. This mitzvah is known as bedikat chametz. The Sages say it is not enough to emotionally write the chametz off as "dust"; you must actually search out any chametz you can find -- and physically destroy it. The mitzvah of bedikat chametz is to be done on the night of the 14th of Nissan, the evening prior to the Seder. Why at night? Because in your home there are crevices and corners that have to be illuminated by artificial light -- and artificial light works best at night. Of course, since our homes have grown bigger, they’ve become impossible to clean in one night. It’s certainly permissible and very much suggested that you start cleaning early on. Just make sure to do a little cleaning the night before. Many people first clean the whole house then lay out a few pieces of bread so they will be easy to find the night before Pesach.
What is "chametz" anyway? The Torah says: Lo yera'eh lecha chametz, velo year'eh lecha se'or bechol gevulecha - "neither chametz nor se'or shall be visible to you in all your boundaries." Chametz is defined as the result of grain that ferments, i.e. almost any bread-like product. Se'or is sourdough -- highly fermented dough that is used to make another dough ferment. Instead of using yeast, what they did in the olden days (and many people do today as well) is to take a little piece of old dough, mix that with the fresh dough, and it causes the fresh dough to rise. So those are the two forbidden categories. What about make-up and toiletries? You would neither eat them nor use them to ferment dough. However, some years ago, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein said that even if something in its present state is inedible, but if you can possibly distill it and produce edible chametz, then we would call that "chametz." As a result, he ruled that anything containing grain alcohol (ethyl alcohol) is considered chametz. Therefore, any liquid cosmetic that has any form of grain alcohol is considered chametz and must be gotten rid of for Passover. This idea only applies to liquids -- because you can't distill a solid. Technically, you could even use grain-based solids on Pesach, although the custom is not to use any stuff that has chametz in it as a cosmetic.
More important than not owning any chametz, is the prohibition against eating chametz. So make sure whatever you eat during this time is “Kosher for Passover,” even if it doesn’t seem to be a grain-based food. When you’re cleaning for Pesach, make sure you don’t leave any edible chametz around. This means that
1) anything that will touch your Pesach food, including books, toys, and the table (unless it’s covered with a waterproof tablecloth), must be thoroughly cleaned and
2) anything that will not touch your table should be cleaned such that there is no kezayis (about 30 grams) of chametz lying around, i.e. cookies in coat pockets.
This does NOT mean that you are required to clean every corner in every closet for the smallest crumbs. If you don’t see it and you won’t eat it, then you’re still fulfilling the halacha! Anything you cook in on Pesach must be immersed in boiling water, although the custom is to have a separate set of dishes, pots and pans for Pesach.
After you’re done cleaning, you may sell whatever chametz food you’d like to keep past Pesach to a goy. The prevailing custom is not to sell real edible chametz like bread, crackers, etc. But food that’s not “real chametz” like a can of tuna fish that is not Kosher for Passover can be put away in a cabinet. and sold to a non-Jew. If you would like to sell your chametz through BHI, please print out and fill out this form, and fax it directly to the school--the number is on the form.
SHOSHANA REZNITSKY
