Preparing our homes for Passover (Pesach, in Hebrew) involves following various steps and ritualistic traditions. How thoroughly we follow them depends on how religiously observant we are, but the most basic and important step is to clean and clear our homes of all foods and beverages that contain contain fermented grain products or yeast, and “chametz,” which is five grains (wheat, rye, barley, oats and spelt) that, when mixed with water, cause food to rise, or become “leavened.”
Therefore, all grain products such as bread, cereal and other breakfast foods, grain alcohol, grain vinegar and malts are forbidden during Passover. Because of the history behind Passover, bread is replaced by matzoh, a flat, unleavened bread similar to crackers that is made out of flour and water, but with no additives that will allow it to rise. Matzoh meal is used for baking cakes, etc.
All other foods, besides utensils and appliances, that have come in contact with these leavened foods and beverages must also be thoroughly cleared and cleaned, and set aside. Dishes, silverware, glassware, and pots and pans–even soap and dish towels–should be replaced by an entirely different set to be used only for Passover.
Besides the basics, I’ve added extended steps, and rituals, that should be followed if you want your home to be completely and properly prepared for Passover. At the very end, I’ve included a section about Moses, and the historic events leading up to the celebration of Passover besides some fabulous links for more information, including the deadline for “selling” your chametz (a ritual that can be done online), specific foods that are or aren’t acceptable, and candle lighting times.
The dates of Jewish holidays never change from year to year. They fall on the same date every year because, unlike the Gregorian calendar, which is based on solar years, the Jewish calendar is based on lunar years, with the beginning of each month coinciding with the new moon. Also, all Jewish holidays begin the evening before the date specified, because a Jewish day begins and ends at sunset, rather than at midnight.
Passover always begins on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nissan. Therefore, since the Jewish day begins at sundown the night before, the first night of Passover and the first Seder in 2006, for example, was on April 12th. Passover lasts eight days (or seven in Israel), and during this time observant Jews will not eat or drink or come into contact with any edible or non-edible product that has leaven on or in it.
SPECIFIC FOODS THAT ARE or AREN’T ACCEPTABLE (“Kosher for Passover”): Fresh raw meat, fish and chicken, eggs, fresh fruits and vegetables, and whole (unground) spices are acceptable. Items that aren’t include butter, coffee, tea, candy, soda pop, and the list is endless. (See the conclusion of this article for two excellent sites that not only list specific food items that aren’t acceptable unless marked “Kosher for Passover” or with a “P,” and an in-depth coverage about the holiday itself.)
While the steps in preparing for the holiday may seem endless, you can make them fun!
WATCH THE MOVIE “EXODUS,” since work is prohibited on the first two and last two days of Passover (only the first and last day in Israel), and rules similar to the Sabbath are followed. This personable 1960 epic, starring Paul Newman and Eva St. Marie, depicts the history behind the founding of Israel.
WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK! Or sing Passover and other Hebrew songs during your preparations. After all, this isn’t a solemn holiday. It’s a time for rejoicing; for commemorating the freedom of the Israelites from bondage. The parting and crossing of the Red Sea was a miracle, too!
IF YOU HAVE CHILDREN, MAKE THIS A FAMILY AFFAIR. It’s fun when you make a game out of clearing your house of chametz (or doing any house-cleaning year-long) and let them help. Not only will they learn valuable lessons for later in life, but you’ll be passing on your values. In the kitchen, they can set up a “store” when they help empty and clean your cabinets or drawers. When the food is ready to go back in, they can set up a “display.” As for cleaning under the beds or in any other room, this can become a food-related game of hide-and-seek.
WHERE and WHAT TO CLEAR AND CLEAN During Your Search for Leavened Foods (chametz):
The Kitchen: Don’t forget the floors and walls, and under your big appliances like the refrigerator and stove. The stove should be thoroughly cleaned, and the refrigerator emptied and cleaned. (See further down for what to do with your chametz, or leavened food.) After cleaning your toaster and toaster oven, you’ll either have to pack them away or seal them off. Your microwave should be cleaned inside and out, whether or not you’ll use it during Passover.
All the shelves, drawers and cabinets in your kitchen should be emptied and washed. All the items inside (silverware, dishes, pots and pans, etc.) should be washed, too. Since you’ll be using an entirely different set of items during the holiday, you can either pack and store your usual set away and put your Passover utensils in the shelves, or you can put your usual items back in and seal the shelves and drawers off.
Other Rooms, Too: (While many don’t consider this step necessary, it should be followed if you want to be thorough.) Your bedroom, guest room, living and dining room, sewing room, attic and basement, inside porch: All of your rooms should be cleared of all chametz, including any crumbs. This includes their shelves, cabinets and drawers, wastebaskets, and don’t forget by your computer and television.
Purses, Briefcases and Backpacks, Pockets, Desk Drawers, Vacuum Cleaners, Automobiles, Garage and Garbage Pans, too. Also, don’t forget your areas at work or school, including your locker.
SAVE A FEW BITS OF BREAD (a ritual): While clearing your house of chametz, tightly wrap a few small bits of bread in aluminum foil, place them in different areas around the house, and leave them there during your regular search. A final, formal search for chametz is traditionally held throughout the household at sundown on the night before Passover begins (see “Candle Search Ceremony” further down, under “Steps and Rituals”). At this time, you’ll “find” the wrapped bread and can use it to complete your “Nullification Declaration” (again see further down, under “Steps and Rituals”).
DEADLINE for EATING CHAMETZ: The absolute deadline is two “seasonal hours” before midday on the morning before Passover. After that it is forbidden to eat chametz until the holiday ends.
OTHER PASSOVER STEPS and RITUALS:
WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR CHAMETZ, OR LEAVENED FOOD: Some people throw their bread into the yard for the birds, and give the rest of their chametz to their neighbors and friends. Others find it easier to just destroy it, although non-perishable foods can be stored in sealed areas until after Passover. Traditional Jews, however, go through a procedure called “Selling the Chametz.”
Selling the Chametz: On the day before Passover begins (A fascinating ritual!) After all the cleaning is completed and the chametz collected, those who are more observant will “give” their chametz to non-Jews by selling it to their Rabbi, who will then sell it to a non-Jew, with the stipulation that the former owner will be able to buy the food back from the non-Jew after Passover for a nominal amount. The sale has to be legal and binding, so the non-Jew is the actual owner of the chametz during Passover. In some cases nowadays, the “selling” and “buying back” are merely symbolic and money doesn’t actually change hands.
Since Jewish law requires that the chametz be sold by a specified deadline for the location in which each owner will be on the day before Passover, at the end of this article I have included a link to a site where you can actually find the correct time in your area. On that same page is a form you can fill out so you can sell your chametz to a Rabbi online!
Candle Search Ceremony: On the night before the first Seder, the night of the 14th of Nissan (according to the Jewish calendar), a final search for leaven is performed throughout the house, just after dusk, with a candle, a wooden spoon, a feather and a piece of linen. (This is when you’ll “find” the chametz you purposely left out earlier. Otherwise, some parents put out some crumbs of bread so their children will find them.) The feather is used to sweep any crumbs or leaven that is found onto the wooden spoon. Then the candle, leaven and spoon are all tightly wrapped in the linen (some people just use a paper bag) and placed outside the house, to be burned in the morning.
Nullification Declaration: When your search for chametz is completed, a legal declaration is made in which you renounce all ownership of any chametz that may still remain in your possession (other than the “sample” you will be burning). The following should be recited: “Any leavened food or leaven that is in my possession which I have not seen, have not removed and do not know about, should be annulled and become ownerless, like the dust of the earth.”
Burning the Chametz:The actual deadline for burning your chametz is one “seasonal hour” before midday, which is one-twelfth of the time between daybreak and nightfall. (Generally around 10 a.m.) During the morning after the candle search, take the piece of linen (or bag) containing your last bits of chametz, besides any leftover chametz you’re not going to sell or give away, and burn it. As the chametz goes up in smoke, so too can our inflated self-pride and egotism, leaving us with a clean heart towards G-d, those we love, and mankind in general.
L’shana Haba B’Yerushalayim! Next Year In Jerusalem!
The HISTORY and STORY BEHIND MOSES and PASSOVER: The Jewish holiday of Passover (Pesach, in Hebrew), dates back to about 3,000 years ago, when the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptian Pharoah Ramses II, who “worked them ruthlessly” and forced them to build Pithom and Raamses as store cities for him. Moses, a shepherd, was chosen by G-d to appeal to Pharoah to give the Israelites their freedom, but the tyrant refused.
Moses then warned him that if the Israelites weren’t freed, G-d would release ten plagues on Egypt (Blood, Frogs, Lice, Beasts, Cattle Plague, Boils, Hail, Locusts, Darkness and Slaying of the Firstborn), but Pharoah remained adamant. (Note: The Israelites marked their homes with lamb’s blood to signify that they were Jewish, so G-d would “pass over” their homes, which is why the holiday was named Passover.) It wasn’t until the onset of the last plague, the Slaying of the Firstborn (both man and animals), that Pharoah finally relented, because his own son was slain, too. Finally, he granted the Israelites their freedom.
(Slaying of the Firstborn: Prior to this time, the Israelites had been welcome in Egypt, where they prospered and multiplied. But once the Pharoahs became rulers, they felt threatened that the Israelites may one day fight against them. Therefore, besides subjecting the Israelites to labor, they decreed that all Hebrew baby boys be drowned at birth in the Nile River. Moses’ mother raised him until he was three months old , but then, fearful that his crying would attract attention, she hid him in a basket among the tall grasses in the Nile. The Pharoah’s daughter found him and decided to keep him as her son. Moses’ 10-year-old sister Miriam came out of hiding and suggested a Hebrew woman nurse the baby, and Moses’ mother was chosen. Pharoah’s daughter named him Moses, which means “take out,” since he was taken out of the river. When he became a teenager, he moved into the Pharoah’s palace.)
Before Ramses (the Pharoah) could change his mind again, Moses and his people packed their belongings and fled from Israel. Since there wasn’t enough time for their dough to ferment and be baked into bread, they took the raw dough with them. As they fled through the desert, they baked the dough in the hot sun and made unleavened bread, or matzoh, which is similar to crackers. (Matzoh is eating during Passover as a symbol of both the suffering the Hebrews suffered in bondage, and the haste in which they left Egypt.)
When Pharoah realized that Moses and the Israelites had actually fled from Egypt, he sent his army after them to bring them back. When the Israelites reached the Red Sea, they were trapped…until Moses parted the waters so his people could cross to the other side. The Egyptian soldiers tried following, but the waters closed up and swept them away. The Israelites were finally free.
Moses then led the Israelites to Mt. Sinai, where he eventually presented the tablets with the Ten Commandments, and the rest is history.
THREE EXCELLENT WEBSITES TO VISIT:
To learn the specific deadline for selling chametz in your city (scroll down the page about halfway, to where it says “click here” in green lettering) or to fill out a form so you can sell your chametz to a Rabbi (scroll down further on the same page), go to Chabad’s (chabad.org) page at http://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/sell_chometz.asp?aid=111191. They also have a wonderful in-depth coverage about the holiday.
For a list of food items that aren’t acceptable unless marked “Kosher for Passover” go to http://www.angelfire.com/pa2/passover/passoverpreparation.html, hosted by Angelfire. Look on pages 11-12, under “Some Examples of Kitniyot.” This site also has a very extensive in-depth coverage about Passover.
For further help in finding out what’s kosher for Passover and what isn’t, see the Orthodox Union’s (www.ou.org.) specific page at http://www.ou.org/chagim/pesach/pesachguide/maze/about.html, and for candle lighting times and more see their page http://www.ou.org/chagim/pesach/default.htm.
Chag Sameach! Remember, however you choose to prepare for Passover, whichever steps and rituals you use, you can make them fun. Just don’t forget the holiday’s history. Maybe raise your kiddush cup to Moses during your seders, too? Happy Passover, from my house to yours!
