My musings, reflections on life here in Shiloh, Israel. Original, personal, spiritual and political. Peace, security and Israeli sovereignty. While not a "group blog," Shiloh Musings includes the voices of other Jews in The Land of Israel.
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For years I've loved the pre-Passover series, #blogExodus and #Exodusgram, that the Bima Ima, aka Phyllis Sommer, blogs and teaches about. That's because she reminds us that there is a lot of mental, emotional, spiritual efforts needed for us to prepare for Passover. We shouldn't think that the chametz is just in the kitchen or the house.
Today is already the 2nd of the Jewish Month of Nisan. That means that we must catch up. We have to Begin the process and Bless Gd and all that we have.
I look forward to these blog posts every year. The Bima Ima's blog used to be updated almost daily, but now it hibernates most of the time. And as Purim rolls around I start getting anxious and wonder if she'll resume posting in time for Nisan. Thank Gd, the Bima Ima is back blogging.
Begin- Here in Shiloh, we began the Month of Nisan with a special Kiddush after blessing the fruit blossoms, Birkat Ha'Ilanot, which show that Gd is giving us fruit from/via the trees. In our neighborhood we go to neighbors who have a lot of fruit trees in the yard, and some still have flowers.
Bless- I wish to bless my family, community and friends near and far that they have good health and enjoy the gifts that Gd has given us. It is truly a blessing, when we know how to see the good in our lives.
Shavua Tov, Chodesh Tov
BlogExodus Topics 2018/5778 1 Nisan - Begin 2 Nisan - Bless 3 Nisan - Cleanse 4 Nisan - Grow 5 Nisan - Hide 6 Nisan - Tell 7 Nisan - Ask 8 Nisan - Rise 9 Nisan - Thank 10 Nisan - Join 11 Nisan - Celebrate 12 Nisan - Find 13 Nisan - Welcome 14 Nisan - Praise
It seems like Passover is always on my mind. I look at my house and can't imagine how I'm going to get it ready. OK, yes, I certainly know the drill. Not every room really needs to be considering as harboring hidden chametz. We don't eat chametz all over the house. But since my house is a real mess, I do need to clean up, at least once a year.
Here's the freezer. We are trying to empty it. We ate some defrosted rolls for our Shushan Purim Seudah, festive meal.
I gave my daughter all the flour a couple of weeks ago. She bakes; I don't.
I wonder what treasures I will find while trying to empty it.
It may sound funny to hear this, but truth is that getting the kitchen ready for Passover is easier than cleaning the rest of the house. We have too much unnecessary unused junk including books. I'm in charge of the kitchen, and I've been getting rid of things, old useless pots, a bunch of my books and cd's. One of my children had needed tablecloths, so I gave him a nice supply. It's shocking how many I don't use at all. Anyone who wants any of the books here can just take them. I've gotten rid of quite a few. In the process of going over them I found old family recipes my kids had been hoping to discover. So I sent over all the files.
I've been having trouble with my hip, so I won't be able to do the usual cleaning in the other rooms. But I'll try to throw more things out, Gd willing. In a sense, that's what chametz is. The increase in possessions we have but don't need is very much like how yeast makes the dough rise. We shouldn't be slaves to our possessions. We need to unshackle ourselves and be free.
Let's start with the basic and true that I'm an awful housekeeper, always was and I guess I'll always be one.
my kitchen in Passover mode
this is chametz
A lot of what's accepted as "cleaning for Passover" has absolutely nothing to do with ridding the house of the forbidden Chametz.
Chametz is any food product made from wheat, barley, rye, oats or spelt that has come into contact with water and been allowed to ferment and "rise.”
In practice, just about anything made from these grains—other than Passover matzah, which is carefully controlled to avoid leavening—is to be considered chametz. This includes flour (even before it is mixed with water1), cake, cookies, pasta, breads and items that have chametz as an ingredient, like malt. (Chabad)
And a lot of products that proudly and sometimes more expensively display "Kosher for Passover" labels and certification have absolutely nothing to do with chametz at all, no matter how and where it's produced. I'm happy to have found this list, NON-FOOD ITEMS – 2016, OU Kosher Staff:
The consensus of the OU’s poskim (rabbinic authorities) is that the following may be used on Passover without certification:
Aluminum foil
Aluminum foil baking pans
Baby ointments
Bags (paper or plastic)
Body wash
Bowl and tub cleaners
Candles
Cardboard
Carpet cleaners
Charcoal
Conditioners
Copper and metal cleaners
Cork
Cosmetics (except possibly lipsticks, see below)
Cupcake holders
Cups (paper, plastic or styrofoam)
Deodorants
Detergents
Dishwashing Detergents
Drain openers
Fabric protectors
Furniture polish
Glass cleaners
Hair gels, sprays and mousse
Hair removers and treatments
Insecticides
Isopropyl alcohol
Jewelry polish
Laundry detergents
Lotions
Napkins (paper)
Oven cleaners
Paper towels
Perfumes
Plastic containers
Plates (paper, plastic or styrofoam)
Scouring pads and powders
Shampoos
Shaving cream and gel
Shaving lotion
Silver polish
Skin cream
Soaps
Suntan lotion
Talcum powder (100% talc)
Toilet bowl cleaner
Water filters
And to tell the truth, since I've never allowed eating in bedrooms, meaning no breakfast in bed, and my kids (and their friends) even at the youngest ages did not wander the house eating cookies, crackers, etc. there never is any actual chametz in the bedrooms. I clean what I can, but my real focus is on the kitchen. And as I wrote on my blog, A Jewish Grandmother, Tolerance, Acceptance, Pesach Can Be Complicated.
I pray for good health and good humor. Let's not go crazy and make ourselves sick and forget that Passover is a holiday which shouldn't be tortuous.
I'm going to take a quick break from Israeli Politics, World Peace, Terrorism etc. to let you know what is most important this week.
PASSOVER AKA PESACH פסח
First of all to try to clarify something very basic, the Jewish Holidays are celebrated according to the Jewish Calendar. That's why although Israeli Independence was declared on May 14, 1948, it's very rarely celebrated on that day. We celebrate it on, or around, the 5th of Iyyar on the Jewish Calendar. That can be in late April or later in May, and sometimes we don't celebrate it on the 5th of Iyyar if that date falls too close to Shabbat. Then it gets moved in order to prevent desecration of Shabbat which is a much holier day than Israeli Independence Day.
Passover doesn't get "moved." It's always on the fifteenth 15th of the Jewish Month of Nissan, Miracles. Jewish Months are lunar, starting when there's barely a smidgen of a moon crescent. So the middle means that we're at full-moon. The Jewish Calendar is also adjusted so that Holidays always happen in the correct season, unlike the Moslem Calendar. Our Holidays are also connected to the agriculture of the Land, further proof that we have a Land, and it is in one place and one place only, HERE!
The Bible gives a pretty good description of the narrative of the Passover Story, but as my Bible Teacher, Yael Ziegler always says:
"The Tanach, Bible isn't a history book; it's a book of theology."
From what you see in Israel and many Jewish neighborhoods all over the world, you'd think that Passover is a celebration of kitchen hygiene, spring cleaning and then feasting. That's not actually what Passover is about. Nor is this supposed to be the official OCD Holiday, when those who always take cleaning and other things a few steps too far.
To summarize:
עבדים היינו במצרים, עתה עתה בני חורין
עבדים היינו לפרעה We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and now we are free men.
The main thing is supposed to be our freeing ourselves from non-Jewish rule and values. That is the Chametz, the forbidden aspect of life for a Jew.
To return to the usual politics you find on this blog, it means that the campaign platform of Herzog-Livni's party which was to please the Americans, mainly the American President Barack Hussein Obama is 1,000% totally forbidden!! That is a prime example of what slavery to Pharaoh would be today.
And Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's constant and unabashed flip-flopping and tricky words about building for Jews all over the Land f Israel and creating a Palestinian sic state are also totally forbidden. That's the political chametz that must be burnt/scrubbed out of Israeli (and Jewish) policy and mentality.
We have been singing the song, "Avodim hayinu liparoh bamitzrayim, attoh, attoh binai chorin, עבדים היינו במצרים, עתה עתה בני חורין עבדים היינו לפרעה
We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and now,now we are free men" for thousands of years, but the truth is that we are still enslaved by foreign values and allow those who want our destruction to rule us.
And for too many, the food, the lightness of the kneidlach, the taste of the wine, the fashion of the clothes are more important than the actual words we are supposed to say and discuss at the Seder.
The real message of Passover for us to internalize and activate is that we are supposed to please G-d and G-d alone. That will make us free of foreign rule. We must do what is truly best for the Jewish People and the Jewish Land. Only then can we truly say:
Avodim hayinu
עבדים היינו
We were slaves
PS Just in case I gave you the wrong impression, we are still supposed to do all of the ritual mitzvot, Torah Commandments concerning Passover preparation, cleaning the home of Chametz and using special Passover kitchen equipment etc.
When I was down at Tel Shiloh on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, I revelled in the beauty nature had miraculously revealed. I took picture after picture, as if I was photographing my grandchildren at play. Bli neder (not an oath) I will post them at a later time, like when we have a better computer. This year, we were blessed with more rain than recent years, though according to our neighbor Rabbi Dov Berkovits who keeps records, only about 85% of the official annual quantity. Maybe it's also because we had a relatively warm winter, but the almond trees were full of delicious green almonds. At this stage, they are totally edible.
There are many animals which "change their skin" every year. Is that related to our Passover cleaning?
In the fall, we move into temporary homes, succot, to remind us that we're on a path and the material possessions are just fleeting, temporary. Is there a relationship to Passover and the need to change all the dishes and kitchen equipment?
Chametz חמץ in Hebrew also means "spoiled." If food is too old and dangerous to eat, it smells חמוץ "chamootz," spoiled. If we hold on to things and feelings too long, do we endanger ourselves?
Is this why so many people, present company excluded, go "whole hog" (rather an oxymoron, outrageous idiom considering) cleaning for Passover? People scrub their windows and ceilings, while for sure there's no food, nor does anyone eat on their ceilings and windows.
I don't expect to find food in the clothes closet, since only clean clothes are hung there, so a year like this (and too many others) year I don't pull out all my clothes to check every pocket. There's no way I could have sandwich or cookie crumbs in a pocket, especially since I don't eat those foods. A year and a half ago, I changed my eating/menu and lost weight. Chametz, bread, cakes, noodles etc aren't on my daily menu.
For almost six months, my father has been living with us, so the grandkids have only come for short visits. We don't get food all over.
What's the best thing about Passover? It's reaching the deadline, biyur chametz, burning the chametz, that time the morning before the seder when I know that I'm finished. Nothing more can be done. What's done is done. Make peace with it and go on with Passover. Until we make the "Hamotzy," prayer on the matzah during the seder, we can eat neither chametz nor matzah or any matzah meal based food.
Then I wonder why the holiday is only a week long. All that work for only a week...
If Passover is only a week, maybe we should calculate our preparation time for just the same, a week?
What are your thoughts?That's what comments are for...
